These days we have much cheaper ways to handle uploading and downloading insane amounts of video content (if you’re interested, I recommend checking out some System Design resources on TikTok or YouTube), but it’s pretty much all CDN and slightly more efficient backend services). We also have better ways to monetize platforms. Like data. Buttt ByteDance is also trying to do things like set up physical goods stores/etc, and it’s 2024 where userbase and brand name is more important than actual revenue anyways.