But ByteDance, TikTok's owner, operates it's own analogous app in China, Douyin

Which means Tiktok was banned.

TikTok is Douyin with a different coat of paint. They're near identical apps run by the same company, ByteDance. It's not banned in China, it just has a different name.

And different content, which is what matters.

Sure, by virtue of China's stricter regulation of social media. But for all intents and purposes, Douyin is TikTok in China. Or rather TikTok is Douyin in the rest of the world outside of China.

Americans spend a lot of time complaining about artificial Chinese filtering. It makes sense they'd serve them different content.

Why isn't TikTok available in China? Do you think it makes business sense to operate two different apps if they're "analogous"?

Douyin is TikTok in China. Or perhaps it's more appropriate to say that TikTok is the export version of Douyin.

Reasons for having two apps are rife with speculation. One is that censorship in Douyin is more prevalent than on the export version (that one is pretty obvious). There's also speculation that the export version of Douyin has an algorithm tuned to be more addictive.

But let's be clear, by ByteDance's own statements the two apps have shared management and technology.