A view of ByteDance's stand at the Digital China Summit 2021 Photo: cnsphoto

TikTok's owner ByteDance is trialing a new social media app named "Paidui Dao" (Party Island) which has similar functions to some metaverse products, according to media report on Thursday. 

However, ByteDance told the Global Times on Thursday that the "Paidui Dao" has no connection with metaverse. 

ByteDance said the app is undergoing small scale testing at present and can only be accessed through a specific invitation code.

Local media reported that users of "Paidui Dao" can build avatars to interact with friends in the app and the app is the second metaverse liked social media platform, following Baidu's Xirang. 

Baidu on December 27, 2021 launched its metaverse app Xirang signaling that Chinese internet giants are joining the global competition using the latest technology.

Meanwhile, local governments of China in Shanghai, Wuhan in Central China's Hubei Province, and Hefei in East China's Anhui Province, are starting to include the metaverse in their government work reports for 2022, indicating potential government support for the popular new concept. 

Global Times