TikTok owner ByteDance kills news aggregator app TopBuzz

TopBuzz, which used machine-learning technology similar to TikTok’s to help recommend content to users, was launched in 2015. The move to shut down TopBuzz shows how ByteDance has struggled to crack the overseas news app market. — SCMP

ByteDance, parent company of popular short video app TikTok, has closed its artificial intelligence-enabled news aggregator app TopBuzz, which had failed to capture a vast international audience in five years of operation.

“We are proud of the work that we accomplished with TopBuzz, but have determined that other areas of the business should be our priority going forward,” a ByteDance representative said on Friday in a statement sent via WeChat. The app’s Japanese version, however, was still on Google Play as of Friday.