TikTok might soon let you send money straight through DMs

TikTok is reportedly developing a feature that would allow users to send money through direct messages, according to Bloomberg. If implemented, this would expand the app's financial services, following in the tracks of competitors like PayPal and Venmo. The feature was discovered in the code of TikTok's US iPhone application, and it seems to operate on TikTok Pay, a payment system currently used in Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand for TikTok Shop purchases.

The receiver would need to tap to accept the money before it expires. Senders will receive updates via push notifications or their inbox, and there appears to be an option to attach a message to the payment, similar to Venmo's transaction captions. A TikTok representative stated that the feature is not currently being tested in any market, indicating that this is still in the early stages.

ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, has not confirmed the feature's arrival, but the groundwork suggests the company is considering it. Social media apps currently dominate how we spend our time, and now they aim to capture a portion of our payments as well. TikTok already leads in global app revenue charts, with users spending over $2.9 billion on the app this year alone in the US.

Currently, TikTok users can buy coins to send as gifts to creators, and many include their Venmo or Cash App links in their bios for easy fan payments. However, TikTok's payment features have faced controversy, with multiple lawsuits accusing the app of enabling exploitation and questionable money transfers. It remains to be seen if this new DM payment feature will ever be released, but the trajectory is clear: TikTok aims to be more than just a video-watching platform.