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TikTok is exploring a feature that would allow users to send money to each other in direct messages, in a move that would extend the social media app’s push into financial services.
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The in-development feature, if launched, would use the TikTok Pay offering already available in Southeast Asia to handle the transactions. Evidence of the addition was found inside of code hidden in the current version of TikTok’s United States iPhone app.
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The code suggests that receivers can “tap to accept” payments sent to them before an expiration date, and senders can be notified about the status of the transaction via push notifications or their inbox. There are also references to the ability to add a message with the payment, similar to the captions in PayPal Holdings Inc.’s Venmo service.
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A TikTok spokesperson said the feature is not currently in testing in any market, indicating it remains in early development. TikTok Pay is currently only available in Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand and is used to pay for TikTok Shop purchases. There is no guarantee the company will ultimately launch the peer-to-peer payment feature, but the engineering work on it indicates global owner ByteDance Ltd. is exploring such a move.
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Social media platforms are expanding their business models into commerce to capture more consumer data and spending. Beijing-based ByteDance, which operates the global TikTok platform and several key pieces of TikTok’s U.S. business, has been pushing into the fintech space for years, building and investing in its own payments tools to help increase spend and engagement in the video app.
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Consumers worldwide have spent more than US$2.9 billion so far this year on TikTok, which has been the top app globally by in-app purchase revenue since 2022, according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower. In the U.S., users spend more on TikTok than on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.
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In addition to vendor transactions happening through its popular e-commerce hub TikTok Shop, TikTok users can purchase digital coins to send virtual gifts to creators and hosts of livestreams that can ultimately be converted to cash, for example. Many people also list their Venmo, Cash App or other payment method in their TikTok bios so that individuals they connect with on the app can send them money off-platform. Features allowing users to pay each other directly through direct messages, or the app more generally, would help TikTok keep users inside its ecosystem and capture more value from those transactions.
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Fintech Focus
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Both TikTok and ByteDance are hiring, in the U.S. and abroad, for roles focused on its financial services products, according to public recruiting posts. A number of the ByteDance leaders who are involved in its push into payments are former executives of JPMorgan Chase & Co., which previously partnered with the Chinese company to help it develop its payments infrastructure, despite national security concerns in years past from top American government leaders.
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