The international version of TikTok has been banned, India has banned AliExpress, and China's cross-border sellers are about to split

It has been a long time since I wrote to my Chinese colleagues. The last time was when the epidemic broke out. Today I want to talk to you about the recent situation.

It's stormy season again

Because of the news that the company will sell TikTok's US business, many people scolded the company and me on Weibo. I saw someone in Toutiao circle saying that they were upset by Weibo comments in the middle of the night, someone argued with others on my behalf until their hands were sore, and many colleagues cheered and encouraged me. I worked overtime until dawn yesterday, and opened Toutiao circle before going to bed, and saw someone posted a photo of the Shenzhen Raffles Building at 5:30 in the morning. The lights on the floor belonging to the company were still on.

Recently, many colleagues have worked hard together. Zhenyuan, Dingkun and colleagues in the technical department often work until midnight to upgrade the architecture and build the European data center. Many colleagues in other departments are on call 24 hours a day and can be called up to work at any time. It feels like an extraordinary day, like a special journey.

Thank you all

I want to specifically thank my Chinese colleagues. I have always felt this in my heart, but this is the first time I say it out loud.

To be honest, with the global development of the company, many Chinese colleagues have made a lot of sacrifices. They have been on frequent business trips since 2016, or have to work in China to overcome time differences and language barriers, and often have to deal with many emergency tasks. I always push everyone to step out of their comfort zone and embrace change, emphasizing that the next 18 months are very important.

Later, as more and more positions were localized, such as TikTok's market operations (many of which came from the Shanghai-based musical.ly team), non-China business content review and other functions were fully moved out of China from the end of 2018, and many colleagues who were doing well were transferred. R&D colleagues were also affected by the adjustment of data access policies.

Fortunately, the company is growing fast, and everyone is doing well in their new positions. There are some complaints from time to time in the headlines circle, but overall everyone has really achieved a big picture and a small ego.

Global Company

As a company founded by Chinese, why do we often emphasize that we are a global company and that everyone should have a Martian perspective at work? Because our colleagues come from all over the world, have different cultural backgrounds, and face different public opinions. And everyone has information limitations, and is more likely to start from their own perspective, especially when geopolitics is intensifying and globalization is de-globalizing, problems often arise.

If you don’t stand in the Martian perspective, you may accidentally offend the culture and values ​​of different countries at work, or impose your own customary standards on colleagues from different cultural backgrounds. There are many such examples. This is also one of the reasons why we added "diversity and compatibility" to ByteDance's model.

Cultural conflict is a problem that most Chinese companies will not encounter. The international business of many Chinese companies is mainly the sales of physical products, so the team can be efficient if it is mainly composed of Chinese people. However, a large platform like ours that connects different cultures must be operated and managed by teams in various countries. We respect local culture in each country, so we can attract talents from different countries to join ByteDance. After 2-3 years of twists and turns, we have established a good employer brand in many countries. I think this is also a reflection of a big picture and a small ego.

Public opinion on social media

I actually understand that people have high expectations for a Chinese-founded global company, but there is not enough and accurate information. In addition, the public is resentful of many actions of the current US government, so it is easy for them to criticize us particularly fiercely.

It's just that most people have misunderstood the focus of this incident. The focus is not that CFIUS forced TikTok's US business to be sold to a US company on the grounds that the acquisition of musical.ly endangers national security (although this is unreasonable, it is still within the legal process. As a company, we have no choice but to abide by the law). This is not the other party's purpose, and they don't even want to see it. Their real purpose is to hope for a comprehensive ban and more...

Complex things are not suitable to be discussed in public at certain times. Just like in the past, there were many times when we could not elaborate on the criticism of the company. After everyone experienced it together, they had more trust in the management team. We should be able to accept misunderstandings for a period of time regarding public opinions. I hope everyone will not care about short-term reputational damage and patiently do the right thing. This is also a big picture and a small ego.

The challenge of anti-China sentiment

Over the past two years, and especially recently, anti-China sentiment has risen significantly in many countries.

For example, in April, our Indian company donated protective materials to Indian medical staff. After the Sino-Indian conflict escalated in June, the Indian Minister of Women and Children's Affairs, who worked hard to assist us in transporting and completing the donation, was heavily attacked by netizens on social media.

At least a certain atmosphere has been formed in the short term, and even people with more comprehensive perspectives and fair opinions cannot speak openly and fairly. Therefore, we must also understand the situation of non-Chinese employees and expect more difficulties in the future.

Nevertheless, we should still look at the challenges and pressures ahead from the perspective of long-term development. We should continue to pursue a good product experience, build a good team culture, be transparent and open, and pursue high standards in protecting user interests and corporate social responsibility. I believe that this will not only win users, but also add points to Chinese companies.

Occasionally, some people say that the company demands more from the Chinese team. I think that is indeed the case at the moment. I would like to thank everyone for working together.

Yiming