When the Chinese video app Zynn was launched in May, it quickly topped the charts and became the most downloaded free iOS app. Now, it has been removed from Google Play Store following accusations of plagiarism.
Zynn is being accused of duplicating the highly popular Chinese video app TikTok. According to Wired, highly profiled TikTok users claimed that their content was uploaded to Zynn without their permission, while others said that their accounts have been cloned all together - this includes names, pictures and other content. In some cases, the videos seem to be uploaded to Zynn before the app was officially launched in the U.S.
Many people wondered why the app was topping charts. The reason for that growth was that the app used a reward scheme, which pays users to watch videos and recruit other individuals. Some users got paid for recruiting and they posted videos of their payments while some say they have not been paid or seen any rewards.
Users can earn as much as $1 for signing up, $20 for the person they recruit and $10 for every five users they get to sign up for the app. The money can be redeemed as gift cards or cash.
According to the Financial Times, part of the reason why Zynn was paying its users was that they did not want to pay big corporations like Facebook or Google so they used the same exact money to pay their ‘frontline’ users instead.
A spokesperson for Zynn has told FT that indeed the app was removed from Play Store because of plagiarism and that the company was in talks with Google on fixing the matter.