聊聊张一鸣和他的Tiktok
最近大家都在关注 Tiktok 是被卖掉还是被封禁的事情，我想以我的认知来聊聊张一鸣和他的 Tiktok。
Recently, everyone has been focused on whether Tiktok will be sold or banned. I’d like to share my understanding about Zhang Yiming and his Tiktok.
张一鸣在八年前成立了 Tiktok 的母公司 “字节跳动” 并在公司成立之初就主张推动海外扩张，他认为只有业务遍布世界各地的公司才能在技术上位于领先地位。
Eight years ago, Zhang Yiming founded ByteDance, Tiktok’s parent company, and advocated for overseas expansion from the very beginning. He believed that only companies with global operations could maintain technological leadership.
技术出身的张一鸣始终坚持 “技术无罪” 的价值观，导致他在今日头条上遭遇了很多监管压力，曾一度被有关部门下架整改。而字节跳动最早的一款产品 “内涵段子” 则没那么幸运，直接被监管部门永久叫停，损失上百亿美元。
As someone with a technical background, Zhang Yiming consistently upheld the value that “technology is innocent,” which led to significant regulatory pressure on Toutiao. The app was once taken down for rectification by relevant departments. ByteDance’s earliest product, “Neihan Duanzi,” wasn’t so lucky and was permanently shut down by regulators, resulting in losses of billions of dollars.
后来张一鸣在一封道歉信中写道 “一直以来，我们过分强调技术的作用，却没有意识到，技术必须要用社会主义核心价值观来引导。”
Later, Zhang Yiming wrote in an apology letter: “We have always overemphasized the role of technology without realizing that technology must be guided by socialist core values.”
至此，更加坚定了张一鸣带领他的产品出海的决心。
This further strengthened Zhang Yiming’s determination to take his products overseas.
几年前我用过一款叫做 “Musical.ly” 的对口型唱歌的应用，在国外已经小有名气，当时傅盛拥有对这家公司的一票否决权，要求将另外两笔交易打包出售，最终字节跳动多花了7亿，以10亿成交被狠狠地宰了一笔，张一鸣为了国际增长的野心咽下了这口气。
A few years ago, I used an app called “Musical.ly” for lip-syncing songs, which was already quite popular abroad. At that time, Fu Sheng had veto power over the company and demanded that two other deals be bundled together for sale. In the end, ByteDance had to pay an extra 700 million, closing the deal at 1 billion, taking a significant hit. Zhang Yiming swallowed this bitter pill for his international growth ambitions.
我们知道在移动互联网领域消费内容远比生产内容占比要高得多，而从盈利方式来看目前大部分产品仍以广告分成为主，那么从表现形式来看视频也要比文字媒体、图片、音频更丰富，这就是短视频领域的基本逻辑。
We know that in the mobile internet field, content consumption far outweighs content production, and from a profit perspective, most products still rely mainly on advertising revenue. From a presentation perspective, video is richer than text media, images, and audio, which is the basic logic of the short video field.
由于有了头条和内涵段子的前车之鉴，Tiktok 会在运行时检测 SIM 卡归属地来屏蔽国内用户从而规避国内监管机构的审查所带来的风险。
Learning from the experiences of Toutiao and Neihan Duanzi, Tiktok detects SIM card location during operation to block domestic users, thereby avoiding risks from domestic regulatory scrutiny.
这导致我想要在 Tiktok 上看日区的小姐姐跳舞还要把手机卡拔出来才行。
This means that to watch Japanese girls dancing on Tiktok, I have to remove my phone’s SIM card.
上个月，香港实行的新国安法让许多美国科技企业开始从新评估它们在香港的业务，而 Tiktok 则更加决断，直接关停了在那里的业务，以免被卷入政治漩涡。
Last month, the implementation of the new National Security Law in Hong Kong led many American tech companies to reassess their business there. Tiktok was even more decisive, directly shutting down its operations there to avoid being caught in political turmoil.
尽管如此，由于中美关系因特朗普的行事风格而不断紧张，导致中兴、华为等跨国科技巨头不断遭到调查，而 Tiktok 在年初开始也被 CFIUS 调查 Musically 收购案是否存在问题。
Nevertheless, due to the increasing tension in Sino-US relations under Trump’s leadership, multinational tech giants like ZTE and Huawei have been continuously investigated. Tiktok also came under CFIUS investigation at the beginning of the year regarding potential issues with the Musical.ly acquisition.
Tiktok 可以说是中国移动互联网迄今为止出海最成功的产品没有之一，这离不开张一鸣对国际化业务布局的执念以及字节跳动以此的宏大叙事。
Tiktok can be said to be the most successful overseas product from China’s mobile internet to date, which is inseparable from Zhang Yiming’s obsession with international business layout and ByteDance’s grand narrative.
无论是 Tiktok 被封禁还是被收购都势必会对张一鸣的国际化野心以致命的打击，以及对字节跳动以广告业务产生深远的影响。
Whether Tiktok is banned or acquired, it will inevitably deal a fatal blow to Zhang Yiming’s international ambitions and have a profound impact on ByteDance’s advertising business.
在周一写给员工的信中，张一鸣写道：”为了解决美国担忧的问题，该公司多次强调愿意做出技术调整，但美国仍然下令让其出售。我们不认同这个决定，因为一直以来我们都坚持确保用户数据安全、平台中立性和透明度。”
In a letter to employees on Monday, Zhang Yiming wrote: “To address US concerns, the company has repeatedly emphasized its willingness to make technical adjustments, but the US still ordered it to sell. We don’t agree with this decision because we have always insisted on ensuring user data security, platform neutrality, and transparency.”
我觉得张一鸣还是没明白，这是一个政治问题，而不是技术问题。
I think Zhang Yiming still doesn’t understand that this is a political issue, not a technical one.