As it doubles down on the region amid increasing international scrutiny over its data security, China's ByteDance, the owner of the short video app TikTok, announced on Thursday that it would invest billions of dollars in Southeast Asia over the coming years.Southeast Asia, which has a population of 630 million people, half of whom are under 30, is one of TikTok's largest user markets, bringing in more than 325 million monthly users. The site, however, has struggled to convert its massive user base into a significant source of regional e-commerce revenue because of the stiff competition it faces from larger rivals like Sea's Shopee, Alibaba's Lazada, and GoTo's Tokopedia.
