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| TikTok plans to offer group chats this year |
According to Reuters, video-sharing platform TikTok could launch a group chat feature this year that put the China-owned app in more direct competition with competitors on social media (such as Facebook).
The group chat is part of the parent company ByteDance's plan, which aims to develop TikTok as an app not just for social interactions.
As of 2019, this feature will be part of the Chinese version of Tofu TikTok.
With the TikTok group chat function, users can stay in the app for longer.
The platform is especially popular with young men and women. It is also expanding its real-time streaming and e-commerce products, and group chats can make it easier for influencers to communicate with fans.
Last year, ByteDance had internal discussions about introducing the group chat feature, but after the app was banned by the Trump administration and banned in India, the app stopped a lot of updates.
ByteDance is currently investigating when and where group chats could be triggered via TikTok.
New United States President (Joe Biden) has ended a government lawsuit that may lead to an effective ban on use of the app in the United States and the company's sponsors to re-enter the service.
The White House said last month that it had taken no further precautions about the US TikTok business plan that US investors in the Trump administration had obtained.
The Trump administration claims that TikTok has caused national security concerns because the Chinese government can obtain personal information from US users.
TikTok, which has 100 million users in the US, denies the allegations.
The newsgroup messaging service may be unencrypted, and Hany Farid, a digital expert and member of the US advisory board for TikTok, said he has yet to receive any notification that group chats are starting in the US.
However, he added that the platform needs to be prepared for the risks that could arise from the expansion of social messages.
He said, "If you are a site the size of TikTok or Facebook, even if you don't have encryption, you still have to worry about how to modify that material and deal with the damage."