ByteDance rival Kuaishou is shutting down controversial app Zynn ' TechCrunch

Kuaishou Technology, a Chinese company that many consider a ByteDance competitor, announced Wednesday that it would shut down Zynn, its controversial short-video app Zynn, later in the month. This app was available only in the U.S.Last month, the firm claimed that it had 1 billion monthly active users. It didn't give any explanation as to why it was closing down the app. The app has been controversial since its launch in May last year.Zynn paid users to view videos in order to improve its position on the US iOS App Store, according to an investigation. After reports that the app was cloned from TikTok, the Play Store pulled it from the store. The platform had been rife with stolen videos. Following similar complaints, it was pulled from the Apple App Store.A spokesperson for Kuaishou stated that Zynn's suspension will not affect any users in other markets. Kuaishou also has similar apps in other markets, including South America (as Kwai), and South Asia (as Snack Video).The firm raised $5.4 billion in Hong Kong's IPO earlier this year, and our strategy for international markets is unchanged.Zynn app failed in the U.S. to attract users. According to App Annie, a mobile insight platform that tracks users on the go, there were only 200,000 active users per month in June, compared with 3 million in August 2020. (Data shared by an industry executive with TechCrunch.