We may be reaching the point where someone needs to take Triller’s shovel away and gently remind it of the merits of stopping digging.
Earlier this week, the company was the focus of a Billboard report claiming it had half the monthly active users [MAUs] that it claimed last year, rebutting that by claiming there was “no legal definition” of MAUs.
Now the company has come out with another statement, with CEO Mike Lu simultaneously telling The Wrap that “we have never inflated any user numbers” while also saying that “the allegation being made that Triller’s real numbers were 25 million MAU last year values Triller at a $10 billion plus valuation (using TikTok as a benchmark)”.
However, it’s also clear that the company and its boss see music rightsholders (and you can guess which one in particular) as the source of the recent figure-inflation claims. “The only ‘rights holders’ Triller has ever had are the labels who don’t receive the information in question and if anything, have just accused us of understating our numbers.”