Clapper is an American short-form video-hosting service headquartered in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

. It was founded in 2020 by Edison Chen as an alternative for

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

for mature audiences. The app is functionally similar to TikTok and includes tipping and

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) refers to commercial activities including the electronic buying or selling products and services which are conducted on online platforms or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile co ...

features. Following an influx of far-right content in early 2021, Clapper strengthened its moderation practices. It achieved 2 million monthly active users by 2023, and the number of downloads increased after a U.S. bill that would potentially ban TikTok in the country was signed in 2024.

History

With its offices in

, Clapper was founded in July 2020 by Chinese-American entrepreneur Edison Chen. Chen considered that most online platforms, such as TikTok, were being targeted to young generations, such as

Generation Z Generation Z (often shortened to Gen Z), also known as zoomers, is the demographic cohort succeeding Millennials and preceding Generation Alpha. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1990s as starting birth years and the early 2 ...

. He then concepted Clapper as a service with short-form content for mature audiences among

Generation X Generation X (often shortened to Gen X) is the Demography, demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort following the Baby Boomers and preceding Millennials. Researchers and popular media often use the mid-1960s as its starting birth years and the ...

and

millennials Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000s a ...

, while not intending to compete directly with TikTok. Clapper averaged fewer than ten thousand daily active users during 2020, reaching 500 thousand downloads in the next year. Initially without paying for external advertising, the company raised about $3 million during a 2021 seed funding round. In 2023, the app reportedly reached about 300 to 400 thousand daily active users and 2 million monthly active users. The average user was between the ages of 35 and 55. Following the April 2024 signing of the

Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA), signed into law on April 24, 2024, bans social networking services within 270 days defined as an "foreign adversary controlled application" if the president d ...

, which would potentially enact a ban on TikTok in the U.S. in January 2025, Clapper averaged 200 thousand weekly downloads. In 2025, before the day scheduled for the ban (January 19), TikTok users migrated to other apps. As a result, Clapper received 1.4 million new downloads in a week preceding the date. It was listed as the third most-downloaded free app on Apple's

App Store An app store, also called an app marketplace or app catalog, is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not i ...

on January 14, behind

Xiaohongshu Xiaohongshu (XHS; zh, s=小红书, p=Xiǎohóngshū, l=little red book), known in English as RedNote, is a Chinese social networking and E-commerce in China, e-commerce platform. , 70% of the platform's users are reportedly born after 1990, a ...

and

Lemon8 Lemon8 is a social media app owned by Heliophilia Pte. Ltd., a Singaporean company connected to the Chinese internet company ByteDance. It was launched in 2020 and modeled after Xiaohongshu. History The app was first launched in Japan in May 2 ...

, and the term "TikTok refugee" became a trending term.

Features

Clapper presents similarities with TikTok in its layout, including "Following" and "For You" tabs with videos up to three minutes long that can be liked, commented on or shared. A "Clapback" feature allows users to create responses to videos from others. Users can create

livestream Livestreaming, live-streaming, or live streaming is the streaming media, streaming of video or Digital audio, audio in real-time communication, real time or near real time. While often referred to simply as ''streaming'', the real-time nature ...

s and

chat room The term chat room, or chatroom (and sometimes group chat; abbreviated as GC), is primarily used to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing. The term can thus mean any technology, ranging from ...

s in the app. Users can tip Clapper creators through its Clapper Fam monetization feature, in place of in-app advertisements. The Clapper Shop allows for e-commerce between users. The service had distributed $10 million to its users in total by 2023, according to Clapper CEO Chen.

Content

Clapper includes a policy requiring users to be at least 17 years of age, although Clapper CEO Chen described that "there is no adult content" on the platform. Lindsay Dodgson of ''

Business Insider ''Business Insider'' (stylized in all caps: BUSINESS INSIDER; known from 2021 to 2023 as INSIDER) is a New York City–based multinational financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Inside ...

'' described the content as generally outdated and "reminiscent of 'getting owned' compilations of the earlier internet." ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' Tatum Hunter characterized Clapper as including sexual or engagement baiting content more prevalently than TikTok.

Moderation

Clapper's team, which had fifteen employees in early 2021, initially stated it would not moderate content as strictly as TikTok and would mostly rely on user reports. Following that year's

January 6 United States Capitol attack On January 6, 2021, the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., was attacked by a mob of supporters of Donald Trump, President Donald Trump in an attempted self-coup,Multiple sources: * * * * * * * * * * * * * two months afte ...

, far-right

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

videos promoting

QAnon QAnon ( ) is a far-right conspiracy theories in United States politics, American political conspiracy theory and political movement that originated in 2017. QAnon centers on fabricated claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals kno ...

and

anti-vaccine Anti-vaccine activism, which collectively constitutes the "anti-vax" movement, is a set of organized activities expressing opposition to vaccination, and these Social networking, collaborating networks have often sought to increase vaccine h ...

conspiracy theories appeared on Clapper's "For You" page to a substantial degree for weeks. The videos were made in protest against decisions by platforms, particularly TikTok, to ban such content. Clapper's team stated in January 10 that its rules prohibiting incitements to violence would be strictly enforced. By February, videos and accounts promoting the conspiracy theories had been removed, and QAnon-related content was banned permanently. Clapper's team hired more content auditors and implemented moderation by artificial intelligence for further community guideline violations.

References

External links

Official website
{{Online social networking 2020 establishments in the United States 2020 software American social networking websites Android (operating system) software Internet properties established in 2020 IOS software Mobile applications Social networking services Vertical video Video hosting Video software