At least a dozen similar apps have been
launched in the past month, with momentum picking up after Clubhouse was
blocked in China in early February. Clubhouse had seen a surge in users who
participated in discussions on sensitive topics such as Xinjiang detention
camps and Hong Kong independence.
New offerings include Xiaomi's reworking of
its Mi Talk app into an invitation-only audio service targeted at professionals
last week. More are currently under development, industry executives say.
But similar apps in China are expected to
take on Chinese characteristics that will accommodate censorship and government
oversight.
One such example is Nasdaq-listed Lizhi's
Zhiya app which was launched in 2013 and whose users usually talk about video
games or sing songs.
The app requires real name registration, a
trait Lizhi CEO Marco Lai says is key in China. The company also employs staff
to listen to conversations in every room and deploys artificial intelligence
tools to weed out "unwanted" content, such as pornography or
politically sensitive issues.
The app was briefly taken down by Chinese
regulators in 2019, but reinstated after Lizhi made rectifications.
Lizhi's Lai said that outside of politics
there was plenty of room for audio chat apps in China.
"Adults in China do not like to
express their views in public, we have been taught to keep a low profile since
we were young," he said. "A good approach in China, though, is
entertainment, you invite everybody to have fun."
Some new entrants to the market have had hiccups.
Inke, best known for its livestreaming
platform, launched a similar app, Duihuaba, this month that recruited venture
capitalists, fashion critics and other celebrities to host conversations.
However, it abruptly pulled the app two
weeks after its debut, saying that it needed further improvements without
elaborating.
© Reuters
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