Facebook Secretly Launched a New App in China
After quietly letting go of its version of Snapchat called LifeStage, Facebook is attempting to become something more than a social media site by testing a new photography app in China. Recent reports reveal that it is called Colorful Balloons and it looks similar to Facebook's Moments. Considering Facebook has been banned form China for a long time now, this might be the giant's biggest move yet.
"We have long said that we are interested in China, and are spending time understanding and learning more about the country in different ways. Our focus right now is on helping Chinese businesses and developers expand to new markets outside China by using our ad platform," a representative of Facebook told Business Insider.
Colorful Balloons is part of Facebook's chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg's mission to penetrate the world's largest online market. According to reports, the debut was authorized by Facebook back in May and there is nothing on the information of the photography app that indicates that they are involved. Instead, it released through a local company and no one really had any information on it until recently.
So far, Facebook and the local company, now identified as Yogue Internet Technology owned by Zhang Jingmei, have declined to comment further as the move is incredibly politically sensitive. Although Zuckerberg has been publicly meeting with China in the past few months, the launch of Colorful Balloons was unprecedented and unexpected. China's Cyberspace Administration also declined to give comment on the matter.
Although Colorful Balloons has successfully made it into the market, its success is yet to be seen. Considering China's strict rules over their internet, Facebook may have to do something more drastic than visiting them or secretly launching a new app that does not affiliate them. There is also the fact that the launch might actually undermine the trust between Facebook and the Chinese government.
