Chinese apps move to block ByteDance’s Doubao AI phone assistant, prompting feature rollback

Summary

Several major Chinese apps, including WeChat, Alibaba’s Taobao ecosystem, Alipay and multiple banking and gaming apps, have begun restricting or blocking logins from phones running ByteDance’s deeply integrated Doubao AI assistant, citing security and misuse concerns around its cross‑app automation features. In response, the Doubao team issued a statement saying it will temporarily curtail AI control in incentive, financial and certain gaming scenarios, while industry commentators warn that AI-driven "phone automation" could upend existing mobile app business models and trigger a broader technical and policy battle over AI’s role on smartphones.