陌陌 (Momo)
Platform · this deep dive is built from the official pages of the platform itself and of the tools that support it.
Overview
陌陌 (Chinese Momo, “mòmò”) is a Chinese mobile app for social discovery and video broadcasting. The company describes the product like this: “a location-based mobile video social communication app, released by the Zhiwen group in August 2011, one of China's leading open social platforms”. The home page adds a practical explanation: through Momo you can meet strangers around you at any radius, look at their profile and location and exchange messages.
The operator is 北京陌陌科技集团有限公司 (“Beijing Momo Keji Jituan”, Beijing Momo Technology Group), named as a party to the user agreement; the parent company is Hello Group Inc. (挚文集团, “Zhiwen Jituan”), listed on NASDAQ under the ticker MOMO since 11 December 2014, which changed its name from Momo Inc. in August 2021.
For work with an audience it is important to understand: this is not a publishing platform in the usual sense. Momo's economics are built on live broadcasts and paid virtual gifts, not on the reach of posts.
Who's here
The company does not publish current monthly audience figures. In its report on the results of the first quarter of 2026, released on 2 June 2026, only paying users are given: 3.7 million payers in the Momo app against 4.2 million a year earlier, and 0.6 million payers in Tantan against 0.8 million. There are no MAU figures in this release.
The company gives historical numbers on its “About us” page as a chronology — these are its own claims about the past, not the current state: as of 30 September 2014 — 180 million registered users and 60.2 million monthly audience; in December 2016 — 81.1 million; in December 2017 — 99.1 million. After 2017 the company switched in this chronology from audience to revenue.
Geography: the app works primarily in China and is licensed by Chinese regulators — the site's footer lists a licence for value-added telecommunications services, a licence for activity in the sphere of internet culture No. 京网文〔2023〕4601-129号 and a licence for the production of television and radio programmes. At the same time the overseas direction is growing: the company reports that revenue outside China in the first quarter of 2026 grew by 44.1% year on year to 597.4 million yuan out of total revenue of 2,386.0 million yuan. The platform publishes no breakdown by language.
Getting started
Registration is age-restricted and strict. The agreement opens with a warning: the platform forbids registration and use of the services by those under 18, and if you are under 18 you cannot register. The same place says that the platform applies mechanisms for detecting minors and assesses an account's behaviour.
An account is tied to a mobile phone number: the agreement describes the procedure for changing the linked number through the “Account and security” settings section and requires you to keep the number up to date. The company also warns that at registration it collects your name, gender, age, date of birth, identity document number, address, information about your studies and work, industry, interests, frequently visited places and personal description and has the right to verify the registration data submitted.
The account does not belong to you. The agreement puts it plainly: ownership of a Momo account belongs to the company, the user receives only a right of use, and it belongs exclusively to the original registrant. Gifting, lending, renting, transferring and selling an account are forbidden.
We found no separate business account on the open pages. The only described role that produces income is that of a broadcast host (主播, “zhubo”).
What you can publish
The agreement lists the composition of the services like this: instant messaging, adding friends, joining groups, following others, publishing posts on the “message board”, online live broadcasts and interactive communication. The home page adds formats of self-presentation: video, text, voice and images.
There are no numeric limits on the length of posts, file size or broadcast duration on the open pages — the agreement is silent about them.
What is forbidden is described in two lists. The first is content that breaches legislation. The second, more practical one, lists what “interferes with the normal operation of the service and harms the online ecosystem”: clickbait headlines that do not match the content; the promotion of gossip and scandal; inappropriate comments about natural disasters and accidents; sexual innuendo; bloody and cruel scenes; incitement to discrimination, including on the basis of place of origin; propaganda of vulgarity; material that encourages minors towards unsafe behaviour; insults and threats; harassment, “junk advertising”, malicious and deceptive messages; infringement of image rights and intellectual property.
Separately forbidden is coercing or deceiving other users into following, clicking links or sharing material — a direct ban on common schemes of artificial growth.
For material created by neural networks there is a rule of its own: the agreement requires you to label clearly information created with the help of deep learning and similar new technologies, not to mislead others, and not to remove or deceptively alter the labels applied by the app itself.
How to grow
The platform gives no description of a ranking algorithm. Neither the agreement nor the corporate pages explain how the “people nearby” listing or the list of broadcasts is formed.
There is advertising on the platform, and the agreement records this from the user's side: the services provided may contain advertising, and the user consents to being shown advertising from the company, third-party suppliers and partners. The company dates its own advertising history: in July 2015 a system for placing RTB advertising in the feed was launched. We found no open ad manager page with rates and entry conditions for an advertiser on the domains we checked.
The platform describes no built-in public statistics for authors on the open pages.
Path to monetization
Momo does pay authors — but not for views: through virtual gifts in broadcasts.
How the money works. The internal currency is 陌陌币 (“momobi”, Momo coins). The agreement describes the scheme: the user pays in yuan through WeChat, Alipay or other payment channels, receives Momo coins and then buys paid services with the coins according to a published price list. The exchange rate is not fixed: the ratio of coins to yuan depends on the purchase channel and is shown on the page of the relevant channel, and the company has the right to change it at any moment. Coins can only be spent inside the platform: reverse exchange and refunds are not provided for, and private transactions with coins outside the platform are forbidden.
What a host receives. There is no direct number — the platform's share or a withdrawal rate — on the open pages. But there is unambiguous confirmation that hosts do earn income and that it is formalized officially: the agreement obliges the company in the month when a user's income arises to declare and withhold income tax on their behalf, if this is required by Chinese tax legislation. This is indirect but firm proof that payouts exist and are tied to Chinese jurisdiction.
The rules of earning. For hosts there is a separate document to which the agreement refers: the “Negative list of actions for extracting profit from rewards in Momo broadcasts”. The link leads to a help centre page that does not open without signing in to the app — the contents of the list cannot be learned from outside.
A paid subscription for users. Membership exists separately: services are divided into VIP and SVIP, the rates are published in the app or on the site, and payment is in Momo coins or directly through third-party payment methods. The same place states that the company has the right to change the rates according to the needs of business development, and that Apple ID subscribers who have already received a preferential price are not entitled to a repeat discount.
The risk of a block. The agreement warns: when an account is blocked, the remaining coins are frozen or written off entirely, their monetary value is not returned and no compensation is paid. The same applies to voluntary deletion of an account: topped-up coins, purchased virtual gifts, game coins and membership rights are considered voluntarily abandoned.
Tools and automation
Momo does have an official open platform, but it is narrow and has not been updated for a long time. The documentation on the Momo open platform describes four blocks: OAuth authorization (obtaining information about a user and publishing through OAuth, with a list of scopes), an SDK for publishing (Android and iOS), an SDK for signing in (Android and iOS) and a JS SDK with a server-side and client-side API. The documentation version is given as 1.0 and the date as 18 November 2015; to connect, you are invited to write to the marketing department.
In other words: the interfaces are meant for a third-party app to authorize a user through Momo and share material into Momo, not for automating the running of an account. There is no separate API for posts, statistics or managing broadcasts.
The agreement also restricts do-it-yourself work: without the company's written permission, reverse engineering, decompilation and disassembly of the program are forbidden, and the licence for the service is called personal, revocable, non-transferable, non-exclusive and non-commercial.
We found no third-party scheduling services whose support for Momo is confirmed by a source.
Limits and rules
- Age: strictly 18 and over; below that age registration is impossible.
- The account: belongs to the company; transfer, sale, rental and inheritance are forbidden.
- Commercial use: the licence for the service is non-commercial; “junk advertising” and deceptive messages are forbidden by a separate clause.
- Artificial growth: coercion and deceptive encouragement to follow, click and share are forbidden.
- Virtual currency: internal use only, with no refunds and no reverse exchange; private transactions are forbidden; the company has the right to change the rate and to impose limits on the amount and number of operations.
- Jurisdiction: Chinese; the site publishes registration and licence numbers from Chinese regulators and a telephone number for complaints about illegal content.
Who it's for
It suits those who work with a Chinese audience in the live broadcast genre and are ready to host personally: that is exactly where income arises on the platform, and that is where the company gets most of its revenue.
It suits mobile app developers who need sign-in through Momo or publishing into Momo from their own app.
It does not suit brand presence as a “page”: there is no corporate account format on the open pages, the licence for the service is non-commercial, and no ad manager is publicly described. It does not suit automation: APIs for posts and statistics are absent, and reverse engineering is forbidden.
Verified data
The checked data this deep dive rests on.
About the platform
the platform describes itself as follows: «陌陌（momo）是一款基于地理位置的移动社交工具，你可以通过陌陌认识周围任意范围内的陌生人，查看TA的个人信息和位置，并同TA聊天互动。通过陌陌，你可以非常及时的将网络关系转换为线下的真实关系。»
Self-description: this is the platform's claim about itself, not an independent assessment
source, checked 2026-07-28
the operator is 北京陌陌科技集团有限公司 (Beijing Momo Technology Group), named as a party to the user agreement; the parent company is Hello Group Inc.
The agreement was opened directly
source, checked 2026-07-28
Hello Group Inc. has traded on NASDAQ under the ticker MOMO since 11 December 2014; in August 2021 the company changed its name from Momo Inc.
The chronology on the «About us» page — the company's claim about itself
source, checked 2026-07-28
the platform describes itself as a location-based mobile video social communication app, released in August 2011
source, checked 2026-07-28
Who's here
the platform reports 3.7 million paying users of the Momo app in the first quarter of 2026 against 4.2 million a year earlier; for Tantan — 0.6 million against 0.8 million · the source is dated 2026-06-02
A release of 2 June 2026; it contains no MAU figures
source, checked 2026-07-28
the company reports: as of 30.09.2014 — 180 million registered users and 60.2 million MAU; December 2016 — 81.1 million; December 2017 — 99.1 million
After 2017 MAU is not named in the chronology
source, checked 2026-07-28
revenue outside China in the first quarter of 2026 grew by 44.1% year on year to 597.4 million yuan out of total revenue of 2,386.0 million yuan
The company's statement
source, checked 2026-07-28
Getting started
the platform forbids registration and use of the services by those under 18; below that age you cannot register
Highlighted in the header of the agreement
source, checked 2026-07-28
at registration the platform collects your name, gender, age, date of birth, identity document number, address, information about your studies and work, industry, interests, frequently visited places and personal description
Section 1, clause 5
source, checked 2026-07-28
Account and access
ownership of the account belongs to the company; the user receives only a right of use, belonging exclusively to the original registrant; gifting, renting, transferring and selling are forbidden
Section 7, clause 1
source, checked 2026-07-28
What you can publish
the composition of the services: instant messaging, adding friends, joining groups, following others, publishing posts on the message board, online live broadcasts and interactive communication
Section 2, clause 1
source, checked 2026-07-28
Content
it is forbidden to coerce or deceive other users into following, clicking links or sharing material
Section 5, clause 2(2)
source, checked 2026-07-28
information created with the help of deep learning and similar technologies must be labelled clearly, and the labels applied by the app must not be removed or deceptively altered
Section 5
source, checked 2026-07-28
Advertising
the service may contain advertising; the user consents to being shown advertising from the company, third-party suppliers and partners and is responsible for transactions arising from the ads
Section 4, clause 4
source, checked 2026-07-28
the company dates the launch of a system for placing RTB advertising in the feed to July 2015
The chronology on the «About us» page
source, checked 2026-07-28
How the money works here
the internal currency is 陌陌币 (Momo coins): they are bought with yuan through WeChat, Alipay and other channels; reverse exchange and refunds are not provided for; the rate depends on the purchase channel and may change at any moment
Section 6, clauses 1–8
source, checked 2026-07-28
the company undertakes, in the month when a user's income arises, to declare and withhold income tax on their behalf if this is required by Chinese tax legislation
Section 6, clause 15 — indirect confirmation of payouts to hosts
source, checked 2026-07-28
when an account is blocked, the remaining coins are frozen or written off entirely with no return of their monetary value; on voluntary deletion of an account the coins, gifts, game coins and membership rights are considered voluntarily abandoned
Section 6, clauses 12–13
source, checked 2026-07-28
for hosts there is a «Negative list of actions for extracting profit from rewards in Momo broadcasts»; the link from the agreement leads to a help centre page with session parameters
The existence of the document is confirmed, but the contents cannot be read without signing in to the app
source, checked 2026-07-28
Paid subscriptions
paid membership is divided into VIP and SVIP; payment is in Momo coins or directly through third-party methods; the rates are published in the app or on the site and may change
There are no numeric rates on the open page
source, checked 2026-07-28
Legal
the site's footer gives a licence for value-added telecommunications services, a licence for activity in the sphere of internet culture No. 京网文〔2023〕4601-129号 and a licence for the production of television and radio programmes
Chinese jurisdiction
source, checked 2026-07-28
API access
the open platform includes OAuth authorization, a publishing SDK for Android and iOS, a sign-in SDK for Android and iOS and a JS SDK; the documentation version is 1.0 and the date is 18 November 2015
There is no API for posts, statistics or managing broadcasts
source, checked 2026-07-28
without the company's written permission, reverse engineering, decompilation and disassembly of the program are forbidden; the licence for the service is called personal, revocable, non-transferable, non-exclusive and non-commercial
Sections 2 and 4
source, checked 2026-07-28
Languages
the interface language is not specified in the markup; the site has a switch to English
source, checked 2026-07-28
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