The specter of global ByteDance: platforms, regulatory arbitrage, and politics

Historically, capital has employed varied methods, both discursive and material, to bypass regulatory frictions. Regulatory arbitrage is one such corporate tactic; it leverages more favorable regulatory regimes in one jurisdiction or category to avoid stricter regulation in another, thus reducing regulatory costs. While regulatory arbitrage underpins much of the gig economy’s development, it has received scant attention in critical studies of digital media. Using mixed methods of documentary research and expert interviews, this article examines the regulatory arbitrage strategy that the Chinese social media giant ByteDance deploys in its global expansion and sheds light on the intricate tech politics occurring between the firm and national regulators. Rather than interpreting ByteDance’s global foray through the prevailing geopolitical lens, which often posits a simplistic, antagonistic framework, this article demonstrates how the firm manages and adapts its structure to exploit more lenient regulatory regimes outside of China, such as that in the US. This allows ByteDance to reach deeper into the global market and avoid potential breaches of China’s internal political economic control. Consequently, the article emphasizes the cunning, resilient nature of capital and the complexity and intricacies in global flows of capital, characteristics often overlooked in an increasingly geopolitically charged world, and it considers their implications for platform governance.