TABLE OF CONTENTS

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INTRODUCTION

Unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, references in this annual report on Form 20-F to:

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FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This annual report on Form 20-F contains forward-looking statements that reflect our current expectations and views of future events. Known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including those listed under “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors,” may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

You can identify some of these forward-looking statements by words or phrases such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “aim,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “is/are likely to,” “potential,” “continue” or other similar expressions. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. These forward-looking statements include statements relating to:

You should read this annual report and the documents that we refer to in this annual report and have filed as exhibits to this annual report completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from what we expect. Other sections of this annual report discuss factors which could adversely impact our business and financial performance. Moreover, we operate in an evolving environment. New risk factors emerge from time to time and it is not possible for our management to predict all risk factors, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. We qualify all of our forward-looking statements by these cautionary statements.

You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. The forward-looking statements made in this annual report relate only to events or information as of the date on which the statements are made in this annual report. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

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PART I

ITEM 1.   IDENTITY OF DIRECTORS, SENIOR MANAGEMENT AND ADVISERS

Not applicable.

ITEM 2.   OFFER STATISTICS AND EXPECTED TIMETABLE

Not applicable.

ITEM 3.   KEY INFORMATION

Our Selected Consolidated Financial Data

The following selected consolidated statements of operations data for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2019 and 2020, selected consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2019 and 2020, and selected consolidated cash flow data for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2019 and 2020 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this annual report. The selected consolidated statements of operation data and cash flow data for the year ended December 31, 2016 and 2017, and the consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2016, 2017 and 2018, are derived from our audited consolidated financial statements not included in this annual report. Our consolidated financial statements are prepared and presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or U.S. GAAP.

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Not applicable.

C.Reasons for the Offer and Use of Proceeds

Not applicable.

D.Risk Factors

Risks Related to Our Business

If we fail to maintain or expand our user base, our business, financial condition and operating results may be materially and adversely affected.

The size of our active user base with our products are critical to our success. Our portfolio products had an average of 27.8 million DAUs in December 2020, which grew from 24.7 million DAUs in December 2019. Our financial performance has been and will continue to be significantly affected by our ability to grow and engage our active user base. As the size of our user base increases and our business enters a more mature stage of development over time, the growth rate of our user base may decline or become flat as a result of market saturation. In addition, we may fail to maintain or increase our user base or our users’ engagement if, among other things:

If we are unable to maintain or increase our user base, our advertising services may become less attractive to our advertising customers, which may have a material and adverse impact on our business, financial condition and operating results.

We generate substantially all of our revenues from advertising. Our failure to attract or retain advertising customers, or a reduction in their spending with us, could seriously harm our business, operating results and growth prospects.

We generated 98.4% and 99.3% of our revenues from mobile advertising services in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Advertisers purchase advertising services either directly from us or through third-party advertising exchanges and advertising agencies. Our advertising customers, including advertisers and advertising exchanges and agencies, typically do not have long-term contractual arrangements with us. They may be dissatisfied with our advertising services or perceive our advertising services as ineffective. In addition, new advertising formats emerge from time to time and customer preferences can change. We may not be able to adapt our products and services to future advertising formats or changing customer preferences on a timely and cost-effective basis.

We compete for advertising customers not only with other providers of digital advertising spaces, but also with other types of platforms and advertising service providers such as newspapers, magazines, billboards, television and radio stations. Some of our competitors have access to considerably greater financial and other resources for expanding their product offerings and present considerable challenges to gaining and maintaining additional market share.

If we fail to deliver advertising services in an effective manner, or if our advertising customers believe that placing advertisements through our products and services does not generate a competitive return when compared to placing advertisements through our competitors’ products, they may not continue to do business with us or they may only be willing to advertise with us at reduced prices. If our existing advertising customers reduce or discontinue their advertising spending with us, or if we fail to attract new advertising customers, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

We depend on certain third-party advertising exchanges and agencies for a large portion of our mobile advertising revenues.

We generate a large portion of our mobile advertising revenues from a limited number of third-party advertising exchanges and advertising agencies in 2020. Our top two advertising customers, which are advertising exchanges, accounted for approximately 39.5% of our total revenues in 2020. Our dependence on a limited number of advertising exchange customers increases their bargaining power and the need for us to maintain good relationships with them. The major advertising customers we work with typically offer standard terms and conditions that govern their contractual relationships with us. We entered into distribution cooperation agreements with Chuan Shan Jia, a leading advertising exchange platform in China who is also our top advertising customer, in 2019 for the cooperation in placing advertisements on our mobile apps for the year of 2020 and 2021, which will expire on December 31, 2021. If any of these advertising customers we work with ceases to do business with us for any reason or alters its standard terms and conditions to our disadvantage, or if we fail to collect any significant amount of account receivables from these advertising customers timely, or at all, our business, financial conditions and operating results may be materially and adversely affected.

We rely on our business collaborations with third parties, including major digital distribution platforms and mobile device manufacturers, to maintain and expand our user base. Our failure to maintain good relationships with these business partners may materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.

We collaborate with various business partners to promote our products and enlarge our user base. We use third-party digital distribution platforms such as Apple App Store, Tencent YingYongBao App Store, Taptap and Google Play to distribute our mobile applications to users. We also advertise on third-party platforms, such as Douyin and Kuaishou, to acquire users. The promotion and distribution of our mobile applications are subject to such digital distribution platforms’ standard terms and policies for application developers, which are subject to the interpretation of, and frequent changes by, these platforms. In addition, our applications may be suspended by or removed from such platforms as a result of allegations or claims by third parties regardless of their merits. For instance, in July 2019, some of our global apps were disabled by Google from Google Play Store and Google Admob, and our access to Google Play Store and Google Admob was disabled too. See “—We have been and may continue to be subject to notices or complaints alleging, among other things, our infringement of copyrights and delivery of illegal or inappropriate content through our products, which could lead to suspension or removal of such products from digital distribution platforms, a decrease of our user base, and a significantly adverse impact on our financial results and our reputation.” We collaborate with mobile device manufacturers for the pre-installation of TouchPal Smart Input on new mobile devices as one way to distribute our product and to acquire users. Due to intense competition, these mobile device manufacturers may raise prices to a point where it becomes cost prohibitive for us to rely on them for user acquisition. There can be no guarantee that they will continue to pre-install TouchPal Smart Input or will agree to pre-install any of our other mobile applications on their devices.

If we are unable to maintain good relationships with our business partners or the business of our business partners declines, the reach of our products and services may be adversely affected and our ability to maintain and expand our user base may decrease. Most of the agreements with our business partners, including mobile device manufacturers and digital distribution platforms, do not prohibit them from working with our competitors or from offering competing services. If our partner distribution platforms change their standard terms and conditions in a manner that is detrimental to our business, or if our business partners decide not to continue working with us or choose to devote more resources to supporting our competitors or their own competing products, we may not be able to find a substitute on commercially favorable terms, or at all, and our competitive advantages may be diminished.

We have been and may continue to be subject to notices or complaints alleging, among other things, our infringement of copyrights and delivery of illegal or inappropriate content through our products, which could lead to suspension or removal of such products from digital distribution platforms, a decrease of our user base, and a significantly adverse impact on our financial results and our reputation.

We use third-party digital distribution platforms such as Apple App Store, Tencent YingYongBao App Store and Google Play to distribute our mobile applications to users. In the ordinary course of our business, we and digital distribution platforms have received, and may from time to time in the future receive, notices or complaints from third parties alleging that certain of our products infringe copyrights, deliver illegal, fraudulent, pornographic, violent, bullying or other inappropriate content, or otherwise fail to comply with applicable policies, rules and regulations. Upon receipt of such notices or complaints, those digital distribution platforms may suspend or remove such products from such platforms. The processes for appealing such suspensions and removals with those platforms could be time-consuming, and we cannot guarantee that our appeals will always prevail or that any such suspended or removed application will be made available again. Such suspensions and removals of our products could lead to a decrease of our user base and, if they occur frequently and/or in a large scale, could significantly adversely affect our reputation, business operation and financial performance.

For instance, in July 2019, some of our global apps were disabled by Google from the Google Play Store and Google Admob. These disabled apps were discontinued but users can still use the relevant apps already downloaded. The suspensions and removals of our global apps could lead to the difficulty in growing or sustaining our user base and could significantly adversely affect our reputation, business operation and financial performance in a certain period. Primarily as a result of the suspension, the DAUs of our portfolio products decreased from 27.6 million in June 2019 to 23.9 million in September 2019, and our net revenues decreased from US$37.6 million in the second quarter of 2019 to US$31.3 million in the third quarter of 2019. In addition, our access and developer account to Google Play Store and Google Admob was disabled in the same period. Consequently, we cannot use Google push notification to reach and activate our users, and the DAU/MAU ratio of our portfolio products decreased from 42.4% in June 2019 to 35.4% in September 2019, and further to 33.1% in December 2019. Although we have implemented several measures to mitigate the impact, for example, by distributing our products on other digital distribution platforms, such as Tencent YingYongBao App Store, and broadening our user acquisition channels, such as collaborating with third-party platforms in China, we cannot guarantee that these measures will be effective. In addition, these digital distribution platforms and third-party platforms may also receive, from time to time, notices or complaints from third parties alleging that certain of our products infringe copyrights, deliver illegal, fraudulent, pornographic, violent, bullying or other inappropriate content, or otherwise fail to comply with applicable policies, rules and regulations, consequently those digital distribution platforms may suspend or remove such products from their platforms and those third-party platforms may terminate their collaboration with us.

We have international operations and plan to continue expanding our operations globally. We may face challenges and risks presented by our growing global operations, which may have a material and adverse impact on our business and operating results.

We are headquartered in China and provide our products and services to a global user base. We intend to continue the international expansion of our business operations and grow our user base globally. In December 2020, the user base of our portfolio products reached an average of 27.8 million DAUs and our users of TouchPal Smart Input reached an average of 125.3 million DAUs , spanning more than 240 countries and regions. The headquarters of our major advertising customers are located in China and the U.S. and therefore substantially all of our advertising revenues in 2019 and 2020 were derived from China and the U.S.

We believe the sustainable growth of our business depends on our ability to increase the penetration of our products in both developed and emerging markets. Our continued international operations and global expansion may expose us to a number of challenges and risks, including:

Our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected by these challenges and risks associated with our global operations.

Our product development and monetization strategies are highly dependent on our technology capabilities and infrastructure. If the amount of user data generated on our products declines, or if we fail to enhance or upgrade our technologies at a competitive pace, the effectiveness of our business model may be harmed and our operating results may be materially and severely affected.

We depend on our technological capabilities and infrastructure to analyze our users’ preferences and needs and to generate valuable user insights. Active users of our products generate a large amount of data across our applications and in a variety of use cases on a daily basis. The data generated by our users lays the foundation for us to build our user profiles. By analyzing such user data with our big data analytics and other relevant technologies, we aim to understand our users’ interests and needs for content in order to develop products that deliver relevant content catering to their interests and needs. Therefore, the effectiveness of our product development and monetization strategies is dependent on our ability to obtain and process data and to refine the algorithms used in processing such data. If we fail to maintain and expand the user base of our products to continually generate large amounts of user data, or if we fail to keep up with the rapid development and upgrade of big data analytics and other relevant technologies on a timely and cost-effective basis, we may not be able to effectively grow and monetize our products, and our business and operating results may be materially and adversely affected.

We may not be able to sustain our historical growth and maintain the effectiveness of our monetization.

We have grown significantly over a relatively short period. Over the past three years, we have experienced rapid growth of the number of DAU and MAU of our portfolio products. At the same time, our net revenues grew rapidly from US$134.1 million in 2018 to US$177.9 million in 2019, and further to US$441.5 million in 2020. Our advertising revenue increased from US$131.3 million in 2018 to US$175.0 million in 2019, and further increased to US$438.4 million in 2020. We may not be able to sustain a rate of growth in future periods similar to what we experienced in the past.

In addition, growing our revenue in the future depends on successfully building our portfolio products besides TouchPal Smart Input. We monetize our user base primarily through mobile advertising. Advertising revenue derived from our portfolio products have accounted for approximately 63%, 85% and 99% in 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively. Most of the advertising revenues were generated from our portfolio products in 2020 attributable to the rapid growth of our portfolio products, in particular our online literature and casual games products. We launched our in-house developed advertising platform, CooTek Ads, to provide high-quality and tailored advertising services in 2019, and the revenue derived from CooTek Ads is estimated to have accounted for approximately 8% and 45% of our total revenue in 2019 and 2020, respectively. If we are unable to build new products which are attractive to users, our ability to effectively monetize our advertising services and grow our revenues may be materially impacted.

If we fail to correctly anticipate user preferences and develop and commercialize new products and services, we may fail to attract or retain existing users, the lifecycles of our mobile applications may end prematurely and our operating results may be materially and adversely affected.

Our success depends on our ability to maintain, grow and monetize our user base, which in turn depends on our ability to continually develop and commercialize new mobile applications, introduce new features or functions to our existing mobile applications and provide users with high-quality content and an enjoyable user experience. This is particularly important since the mobile internet industry is characterized by fast and frequent changes, including rapid technological evolution, shifting user demands, frequent introductions of new products and services, and constantly evolving industry standards, operating systems and practices. We launched our first mobile application, TouchPal Smart Input, in 2008, and have launched over 45 portfolio products as of December 31, 2020. In December 2020, the user base of our portfolio products reached an average of 27.8 million DAUs, and we intend to expand the scale of our core product, Fengdu Novel and continue developing new products and services to attract more users who match our targeted profiles in the future. Our ability to roll out new or enhanced products and services depends on a number of factors, including timely and successful research and development efforts by us as well as correctly analyzing and predicting users’ interests and demands for content using our big data analytical capabilities. If we fail to correctly analyze and predict users’ interests and demands for content, fail to cater to the anticipated needs and preferences of users, or fail to provide a superior user experience, our existing and new mobile applications may suffer from reduced user traffic or be unsuccessful in the market and our user base may decrease which in turn may impact our ability to earn advertising revenue. There can be no assurance that our new products and services will generate revenues or profits and we may not be able to recoup the investments and expenditures involved in such development. Our interim results may also experience significant fluctuations as we continue to invest in the development of new products and services.

In addition, as a result of rapidly evolving user preferences, our existing mobile applications may reach the end of their lifecycles prematurely. There can be no assurance that we will be able to correctly predict the lifecycles of our new mobile applications, our estimates regarding the lifecycles of our existing mobile applications may turn out to be incorrect, and our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

We had net loss, negative cash flows from operating activities and negative working capital in the past, and we may not achieve or sustain revenue growth and profitability.

We have grown rapidly over the past several years. Our net revenues have increased rapidly from US$134.1 million in 2018 to US$177.9 million in 2019, and further to US$441.5 million in 2020. However, you should not rely on our revenues and gross profit from any previous period as an indication of our future revenues. Our revenues might decline, or the growth rate of our revenues may slow down for a number of reasons, including declined demand for our products and services, increasing competition, emergence of alternative business models, changes in regulations and government policies, changes in general economic conditions, COVID-19 as well as other risks described in this annual report.

We had a net loss of US$36.8 million and negative cash flows from operations of US$15.7 million in 2019. We recorded a net loss of US$47.4 million and negative cash flows from operations of US$0.9 million in 2020.We had positive working capital, being the result of current assets minus current liabilities, of US$33.3 million as of December, 2019 and negative working capital of US$42.1 million as of December 31, 2020. Our ability to continue as a going concern is dependent on our ability to successfully execute our business plans including the implementation of a balanced growth strategy and an effective financial management which can contribute to the optimization of the operating cost and expense structure. To implement the plan, we will continue to improve the stickiness of our existing users by offering higher quality and diversified contents and user incentive program and optimize the new user acquisition strategy to efficiently control and reduce the these user related costs. We will further strengthen our monetization capability by diversifying our revenue structure and improving the return on investment of our key products.

We have concluded, after giving consideration to our plans as noted above, that we have alleviated the substantial doubt as to our ability to continue as a going concern and believe we have sufficient cash and other financial resources and liquidity to fund our operations for one year from the date of the filing of the consolidated financial statements, and that there is not substantial doubt about our ability to continue operations as a going concern for that one-year period.

We cannot assure you that we will be able to generate net profit or positive cash flows from operating activities in the future. Our future revenue growth and profitability will depend on a variety of factors, many of which are beyond our control. These factors include market acceptance of our products, effectiveness of our monetization strategy, our ability to control cost and expenses and to manage our growth effectively, market competition, macroeconomic and regulatory environment. We also expect to continue to make investments in research and development, which will place significant demands on our management and our operational and financial resources. Continuous expansion may increase the complexity of our business, and we may encounter various difficulties. We may fail to develop and improve our operational, financial and managerial controls, enhance our financial reporting systems and procedures, recruit, train and retain skilled professional personnel, or maintain customer satisfaction to effectively support and manage our growth. If we invest substantial time and resources to expand our operations but fail to manage the growth of our business and capitalize on our growth opportunities effectively, we may not be able to achieve profitability, and our business, financial condition, results of operations, liquidity and prospects would be materially and adversely affected.

We are out of compliance with certain financial covenants in our credit facility agreements. If we fail to receive any required waiver, we may be in default, which could impose operating and financial restrictions on us.

We entered into two credit facility agreements with a commercial bank, both of which were further renewed in June 2020, under which we can borrow up to a total of US$15.0 million collateralized by our accounts receivable by June 2021. In 2020, we had in the aggregate drawn down US$32.8 million and repaid US$31.3 million under these two credit facilities. The total outstanding balance of our short-term bank borrowings as of December 31, 2020 was US$11.0 million. These credit facility agreements contain financial covenants which require us to maintain minimum quarterly net income. We failed to meet such financial covenants as of December 31, 2020 and are negotiating a waiver of such financial covenants with the counterparty, which, if granted, will waive the financial covenants for such period.

We cannot assure you that we would be able to obtain such waivers in a timely manner, on acceptable terms or at all. If we were not able to obtain such waiver under any one or more of these credit facilities, we would be in default of such agreements, and the relevant counterparty could elect to declare the loans, together with accrued and unpaid interest and other fees, if any, immediately due and payable and proceed against any collateral securing such loans. If the loans under certain of our credit facility agreements that we entered into were to be accelerated, even though we believe that our assets would be sufficient to repay our loans in full, our business and liquidity could nevertheless be subject to adverse effects. In addition, such waiver, even if granted, may lead to increased costs, increased interest rates, additional restrictive covenants and other available counterparty protections that would be applicable to us under these credit facilities, including the granting of additional security our interests in collateral, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and our ability to acquire additional capital resources.

Our ability to comply with financial or other restrictive covenants under our credit facility agreements may be affected by factors beyond our control, including prevailing economic, financial and industry conditions, and our ability to issue additional equity. We may continue to fall out of compliance with such or other covenants in the future, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may require additional financing in the future to meet our business requirements. Such capital raising may be costly, difficult or not possible to obtain and, if obtained, could significantly dilute current stockholders’ equity interests or increase our debt service obligations.

We may continue to experience a material decrease in our cash and cash equivalents balance. We may require additional cash resources to fund our working capital and expenditure needs, such as content investment, sales and marketing expenses, product development expenses and investment or acquisition transactions. Although we may attempt to raise funds by issuing debt or equity instruments, additional financing may not be available to us on terms acceptable us or at all or such resources may not be received in a timely manner. If we are unable to raise additional capital when required or on acceptable terms, we may be required to scale back or to discontinue certain operations, scale back or discontinue the development of new business lines, reduce headcount, sell assets, file for bankruptcy, reorganize, merge with another entity or cease operations.

Our advertising services may display advertisements when our products are in use, or insert promoted marketing messages into users’ feeds, which may negatively affect user experience and may lead to a decline in user engagement and, in turn, a reduction in revenues generated from our advertising services.

We primarily generate revenues by distributing advertisements to targeted audience through our products. Advertisements are displayed in various formats when users launch or exit our products, in our theme stores or in-app stores, and in customized news feeds, among others. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Monetization.” It is important for us to balance the frequency, prominence, size and content of advertisements that we display against ensuring a favorable user experience of our products. If our users find the advertisements displayed irrelevant, disturbing or negatively affecting their user experience of our products, they may become less engaged or stop using our products altogether. Furthermore, if advertisements contain controversial, false or misleading content, or the marketing messages we display or the products or services we advertise result in negative emotions or associations in our users, the user experience of our products could be diminished, our financial results could suffer and our reputation could be damaged. If we are unable to deliver advertisements in a way that is acceptable or favorable to our users, our users may not maintain the current level of engagement, and our advertising customers may perceive our advertising services as ineffective in generating a competitive return for them. As a result, our revenues may decline and our business, financial conditions and operating results may be materially and adversely affected.

Data privacy concerns relating to our products and current practices may, particularly in light of increased regulatory scrutiny of and user expectations regarding the processing, collection, use, storage, dissemination, transfer and disposal of user data, require changes to our business practices and may result in declines in user growth or engagement, increased costs of operations and threats of lawsuits, enforcement actions and related liabilities, including financial penalties.

Recently, companies’ practices regarding collection, use, retention, transfer, disclosure and security of user data have been, and continue to be, the subject of enhanced regulations and increased public scrutiny. The regulatory frameworks regarding privacy issues in many jurisdictions are constantly evolving and can be subject to significant changes from time to time, and therefore we may not be able to comprehensively assess the scope and extent of our compliance responsibility at a global level. Moreover, certain of our users, particularly those in the United States and Europe, may have strong expectations for the level of privacy afforded to their personal data and the content of their communications. Further, the developing requirements around clear and prominent privacy notices (including in the context of obtaining informed and specific consent to the collection and processing of personal data, if applicable) can potentially deter users from consenting to certain uses of their personal information. In general, negative publicity of us or our industry regarding actual or perceived violations of our users’ privacy-related rights may also impair users’ trust in our privacy practices and make them reluctant to give their consent to share their data with us.

Many jurisdictions, including China and the U.S., continue to consider the need for greater regulation or reform to the existing regulatory framework. In the U.S., all 50 states have now passed laws to regulate the actions that a business must take in the event of a data breach, such as prompt disclosure and notification to affected users and regulatory authorities. In addition to the data breach notification laws, some states have also enacted statutes and rules requiring businesses to reasonably protect certain types of personal information they hold or to otherwise comply with certain specified data security requirements for personal information. Additionally, the U.S. federal and state governments will likely continue to consider the need for greater regulation aimed at restricting certain uses of personal data for targeted advertising. California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA, which creates new individual privacy rights for consumers (as that word is broadly defined in the law) and places increased privacy and security obligations on entities handling personal data of consumers or households. The CCPA, which went into effect on January 1, 2020, requires covered companies to provide new disclosures to California consumers, and provides such consumers new ways to opt-out of certain sales of personal information. The CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for data breaches that is expected to increase data breach litigation. The CCPA may increase our compliance costs and potential liability. Some observers have noted that the CCPA could mark the beginning of a trend toward more stringent privacy legislation in the U.S., which could increase our potential liability and adversely affect our business.

In the European Union, or EU, the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, which came into effect on May 25, 2018, increased our burden of regulatory compliance and requires us to change certain of our privacy and data security practices in order to achieve compliance. The GDPR applies to any company established in the EU as well as any company outside the EU that processes personal data in connection with the offering of goods or services to individuals in the EU or the monitoring of their behavior. The GDPR implements more stringent operational requirements for processors and controllers of personal data, including, for example, requiring expanded disclosures about how personal information is to be used, limitations on retention of information, mandatory data breach notification requirements, and higher standards for data controllers to demonstrate that they have obtained either valid consent or have another legal basis in place to justify their data processing activities. The GDPR further provides that EU member states may make their own additional laws and regulations in relation to certain data processing activities, which could further limit our ability to use and share personal data and could require localized changes to our operating model. Under the GDPR, fines of up to 20 million euros or up to 4% of the total worldwide annual turnover of the preceding financial year, whichever is higher, may be assessed for noncompliance, which significantly increases our potential financial exposure for non-compliance. However, with limited precedence on the interpretation and application of GDPR and limited guidance from EU regulators, the application of GDPR to the provision of internet services remains unsettled. The Company has adopted policies and procedures in compliance with the GDPR, however, such policies and procedures may need to be updated when additional information concerning the best practices is made available through guidance from regulators or published enforcement decisions. Finally, in China, the PRC Cybersecurity Law, which became effective in June 2017, leaves substantial uncertainty as to the circumstances and standard under which the law would apply and violations would be found. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Regulation—Regulations Relating to Personal Privacy and Data Protection.”

Outside of the U.S. and the EU, many jurisdictions have adopted or are adopting new data privacy and data protection laws that may impose further onerous compliance requirements, such as data localization, which prohibits companies from storing data relating to resident individuals in data centers outside the jurisdiction. The proliferation of such laws within jurisdictions and countries in which we operate may result in conflicting and contradictory requirements.

In order for us to maintain or become compliant with applicable laws as they come into effect, it may require substantial expenditures on resources to continually evaluate our policies and processes and adapt to new requirements that are or become applicable to us. Complying with any additional or new regulatory requirements on a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction basis would impose significant burdens and costs on our operations or may require us to alter our business practices. While we strive to protect our users’ privacy and data security and to comply with material data protection laws and regulations applicable to us, it is possible that our practices are, and will continue to be, inconsistent with certain regulatory requirements. Our international business expansion could be adversely affected if these laws and regulations are interpreted or implemented in a manner that is inconsistent with our current business practices or that requires changes to these practices. In particular, the large amount of user data generated on and collected from our products has been, and will continue to be, critical for our business model, including to enable us to understand our users’ interests and demands for content, improve their user experience with our products and services and deliver targeted advertising. Therefore, if these laws and regulations materially limit our ability to collect and use our users’ data, our ability to continue our current operations without modification, develop new services or features of the products and expand our user base will be impaired. Any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with applicable data privacy laws and regulations, including in relation to the collection of necessary end-user consents and providing end-users with sufficient information with respect to our use of their personal data may result in fines and penalties imposed by regulators, governmental enforcement actions (including enforcement orders requiring us to cease collecting or processing data in a certain way), litigation and/or adverse publicity. Proceedings against us, regulatory, civil or otherwise, could force us to spend money and devote resources in the defense or settlement of, and remediation related to, such proceedings. Furthermore, any of the foregoing consequences could damage our reputation and discourage current and potential users from using our mobile applications. In addition, as users’ expectations and regulatory attitudes with respect to personal privacy and data security continue to evolve, future regulations on the extent to which personal information and user-generated data can be used by us or shared with third parties may adversely affect our ability to leverage and derive economic value from the data that our users generate and share with us, which may limit our ability to carry out targeted advertising and thereby result in a decline in the mobile advertising revenues upon which our revenues are dependent.

If we fail to obtain or maintain the requisite licenses and approvals, or otherwise fail to comply with the rules and regulations applicable to our business operations in and outside China, or if we are required to apply for new licenses and approvals which are time-consuming or costly to obtain, our business and operating results may be materially and adversely affected.

We are incorporated in the Cayman Islands and our corporate affairs are governed by our memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands and the common law of the Cayman Islands. We primarily conduct our business through our subsidiaries and consolidated affiliated entities incorporated in mainland China, Hong Kong and the U.S. However, because our products and services are used worldwide, one or more other jurisdictions may claim that we are required to comply with their laws based on the location of our offices and staff, commercial operations, equipment or our users.

The internet industry, including the mobile internet industry, is highly regulated in China. Our VIEs are required to obtain and maintain applicable licenses and approvals from different regulatory authorities in order to provide their current services to our users. In addition to PRC laws and regulations, we face additional regulatory risks and costs outside of China as a portion of our active users and revenues are from markets outside of China. We are subject to a variety of laws and regulations in China and foreign jurisdictions that involve matters central to our business, including, but not limited to, privacy and data protection, rights of publicity, content, intellectual property, advertising, marketing, distribution, data security, data retention and deletion, national security, electronic contracts and other communications, competition, consumer protection, telecommunications, taxation, and economic or other trade prohibitions or sanctions. The introduction of new products, services or expansion of our business in certain jurisdictions may subject us to additional laws and regulations. Furthermore, PRC and foreign laws and regulations are constantly evolving and can be subject to significant change from time to time. As a result, the application, interpretation, and enforcement of these laws and regulations are often uncertain, particularly in the new and rapidly evolving mobile internet industry in which we operate, and may be interpreted and applied inconsistently from country to country and inconsistently with our current policies and practices. There can be no assurance that we will not be found in violation of any future laws and regulations or violation of any of the laws and regulations currently in effect due to changes in the relevant authorities’ implementation or interpretation of such laws and regulations.

Under the current PRC regulatory scheme, a number of regulatory agencies, including, but not limited to, the State Administration of Radio and Television (previously known as the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, or the SAPPRFT), or the SART, the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the National Administration of Press and Publication, or the NAPP, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (previously known as the Ministry of Culture, or the MOC), or the MCT, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, or the MIIT, the State Council Information Office, or the SCIO, and the Cyberspace Administration of China, or the CAC, jointly regulate all major aspects of the internet industry, including mobile internet businesses. Operators in this industry must obtain various government approvals and licenses for relevant internet or mobile business.

If we fail to obtain or maintain any of the required licenses or approvals, make any necessary filings, or otherwise fail to comply with the applicable laws and regulations, we may be subject to various penalties, such as confiscation of revenues that were generated through the unlicensed internet or mobile activities, the imposition of fines and the discontinuation or restriction of our operations. Any such penalties may disrupt our business operations and materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

The operation of our TouchPal Phonebook in China may require additional licenses and failure to obtain such licenses could subject us to severe penalties. Our TouchPal Phonebook provides VoIP services which enable our users to make calls to other users of this application or other mobile phone devices. We have obtained the value-added telecommunications service business operation license, or VAT License, with a service scope of information services, domestic multiparty communication services and domestic call center business. According to the PRC Telecommunications Regulations and other relevant laws and regulations, we may be required to obtain a basic telecommunications business service business operating license for our services to facilitate calls between users of the application and other mobile phone devices through internet and telecommunication network. Although we terminated the operation of our VoIP service in August 2019, according to the Administrative penalty Law of the People's Republic of China, an administrative penalty could be imposed within two years from the date the illegal act is terminated. Our TouchPal Phonebook also delivers personalized content to users, including news and videos. According to the Administrative Provisions for the Internet Audio-Video Program Service jointly issued by the SAPPRFT and the MIIT in 2007 and amended in August 2015, we may be required to obtain the internet audio-video program transmission license for displaying videos in TouchPal Phonebook. According to the Administrative Regulations for Internet News Information Services promulgated by the CAC in 2017, we may be required to obtain the internet news information service license for dissemination of political and other news. For detailed descriptions, see “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Regulation—Regulations Relating to Internet Audio-Visual Program Services,” “—Regulations Relating to Online News Services,” and “—Regulations Relating to Online Cultural Products.”

The operations of our online literature mobile apps and casual game mobile apps may require us to apply for additional license and permits or to update our existing licenses and permits. Under regulations issued by the SAPPRFT, the publication of each online game requires approval from the SAPPRFT. As of the date of this annual report, we have not obtained approvals from the SAPPRFT or its successor for those domestic online games operated by us. After the re-organization of SAPPRFT, we will apply with the NAPP for the approvals for publishing our games in the future. The NAPP at the national level had suspended the approval of game registration and issuance of publication codes for online games starting from March 2018. Although the NAPP later resumed game registration and issued game publication codes for the first batch of games with an effective date of December 19, 2018, the issuance of publication is still difficult to be obtained. Any delay in game registration with NAPP or obtaining game publication codes could negatively affect the operation results of our games. Pursuant to the Notice to Adjust the Scope of Online Culture Operation Permit Approval and to Further Regulate the Approval Work released in May 2019, the MCT no longer assumes the responsibility to regulate online game industry, and the provincial counterparts of MCT would no longer grant Online Culture Operation Permit covering the business scope of using the information network to operate online games. However, the licenses granted by the MCT before this notice will remain valid until the expiration dates of these licenses. On July 23, 2019, the MCT announced the abolishment of the Interim Measures on Administration of Online Games, which regulated the issuance of Online Culture Operation Permits relating to online games. For more information, see “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Regulation—Regulations Related to Online Games.” As of the date of this annual report, the governmental authorities have not issued laws or regulations to replace the Interim Measures on Administration of Online Games, or to clarify the new regulatory body of online games. If we are unable to comply with the new renewal procedures relating to our Online Culture Operating License, our ability to introduce, launch and operate new games may be adversely affected, and our financial condition and operating results could be adversely affected. In addition, we cannot assure you that we can obtain the NAPP’s approvals or complete the filings with the MCT for all games operated by us in a timely manner or at all, which could adversely and materially impact our ability to introduce new games, the timetable to launch new games and our business growth.

Moreover, the provisions of online games and online literature are deemed to be internet publication activities. According to the Administrative Measures for Internet Publication Services jointly issued by the SAPPRFT and the MIIT in 2016, we may be required to obtain an internet publication service license for the provisions of online games and online literature. According to the Notice on Administration of Mobile Game Publishing Services issued by the SAPPRFT in 2016, we may be required to obtain publishing and authorization codes for the online games. As of the date of this annual report, we have not obtained the approval for our internet publication service license and publication codes for those domestic online games operated by us. In the event of failure to obtain these licenses and approvals, an operator may face heavy penalties, such as being ordered by the regulatory authority to shut down services and delete all relevant internet publications. The regulatory authority may also confiscate all of such operator’s illegal income as well as major equipment and specialized tools used in illegal publishing activities. If the illegal income exceeds RMB10,000, such operator may face a fine of five to ten times of such illegal income; and if the illegal income is less than RMB10,000, such operator may face a fine of less than RMB50,000. Such operator may also bear civil liability if its operation has infringed on other persons’ legal rights and interests. For more information, see “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Regulation—Regulations Relating to Internet Publication Services.”

Furthermore, in August 2018, the National Office of Anti-Pornography and Illegal Publication, the MIIT, the Ministry of Public Security, the MCT, the SART and the CAC jointly issued the Notice on Strengthen the Management of Live Streaming Service, which required a real-name registration system for users to be put in place by live streaming service providers. On October 25, 2019, the NAPP issued the Notice on Preventing Minor’s Addiction to Online Games, which requires all online gamers to register accounts with their valid identity information and all game companies to stop providing game services to users who fail to do so. For more information, see “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Regulation—Regulations Related to Anti-fatigue System, Real-name Registration System and Parental Guardianship Project.” We plan to implement several measures to comply with the current real-name registration system. However, the PRC government may further tighten the real-name registration requirements or require us to implement a more thorough compulsory real-name registration system for all users on our platform in the future, in which case we will need to upgrade our system or purchase relevant services from third-party service providers and incur additional costs in relation thereto. If we were required to implement a more rigid real-name registration system for users on our platform, potential users may be deterred from registering with our platform, which may in turn negatively affect the growth of our user base and business prospects.

Our international VoIP product may be subject to laws, regulations and policies related to internet communications of multiple jurisdictions. These laws, regulations and policies may not specifically address the issues related to internet and its related technologies, and their interpretation and application remain largely uncertain. The laws, regulations and policies in certain countries may restrict the use of VoIP products, block access to such products or impose extensive regulatory requirements on operations of such products. We cannot be certain that we are in compliance with regulatory or legal requirements in the numerous countries in which such product is available for download and use. Regulators may disagree with our interpretations of existing laws or regulations or the applicability of such laws or regulations to our business, or they may alter their view of the products and services we provide, due to a change in laws or regulations or a change in the interpretation of existing laws or regulations or otherwise. Our failure to comply with existing or future regulatory requirements could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. We terminated the operation of our international VoIP product since March 2019.

If we fail to prevent security breaches, cyber-attacks or other unauthorized access to our systems or our users’ data, we may be exposed to significant consequences, including legal and financial exposure and loss of users, and our reputation, business and operating results may be materially and adversely affected.

We collect, store, transmit and process a large volume of personal and other sensitive data generated by our users through their interactions with our products. Although we have taken various security measures and adopted robust internal policies to protect our users’ personal privacy and data security, we may nevertheless be exposed to risks of security breaches or unauthorized access to or cyber-attacks on our systems or the data we store. Given the size of our user base, and the types and volume of personal data on our systems, we believe that we may be a particularly attractive target for security breaches and cyber-attacks. Our efforts to protect our data may be unsuccessful due to software “bugs,” system errors or other technical deficiencies, mistakes or malfeasance of our employees or contractors, vulnerabilities of our vendors and service providers, or other cybersecurity-related vulnerabilities. Any failure to prevent or mitigate security breaches, cyber-attacks or other unauthorized access to our systems or disclosure of our users’ data, including personal information, could result in loss or misuse of such data, interruptions to the services we provide, diminished user experience, loss of user confidence and trust in our products, impairment of our network and technological infrastructure, and harm to our reputation and business, significant legal and financial exposure and potential lawsuits brought by private individuals or regulators. We have invested and will continue to devote resources to maintain strong security protections that shield our systems and our users’ data against bugs, theft, misuse or security vulnerabilities or breaches. Although we have developed systems and processes that are designed to prevent and detect security breaches and protect our users’ data, we cannot guarantee that such measures will be sufficient defenses against the evolving techniques used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade services or sabotage systems. In addition, as our data centers and servers are dispersed around the world, we may incur significant costs in protecting them against, or remediating, security breaches and cyber-attacks.

Our products and internal systems rely on software that is highly technical, and if it contains undetected errors or vulnerabilities, our business could be adversely affected.

Our products and internal systems rely on numerous proprietary and licensed software that is highly technical and complex. In addition, our products and internal systems depend on the ability of certain software to encrypt, store, retrieve, process, and manage large amounts of data. The software on which we rely now or in the future may contain undetected errors, bugs, or vulnerabilities that may not be discovered until after the relevant source code is released and examined. Errors, vulnerabilities, or other design defects within the software on which we rely may result in a negative experience for users of our products, delay product introductions or enhancements, compromise our ability to protect the data of our users and/or our intellectual property or lead to reductions in our ability to provide some or all of our services. In addition, any errors, bugs, vulnerabilities, or defects discovered in the software on which we rely, and any associated degradations or interruptions of service, could result in damage to our reputation, loss of users, loss of revenue, or liability for damages, any of which could materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.

The industry in which our business operates is highly competitive. If we fail to compete effectively, our business will suffer.

We face intense competition in every aspect of our business, including competition for users, usage time, advertising customers, technology, and highly skilled employees. Our portfolio products compete with applications of the same or a similar kind.  Our Fengdu Novel competes with other leading free online literature applications in the Chinese market including Fanqie Novel and Qimao Novel. Our casual game products such as Farm Hero, Idle Land King Tycoon, Hi Hamster, Puzzle No.1 and Idiom Hero compete primarily with other online casual games developed by companies such as WebEye and Laiwan. Our TouchPal Smart Input competes primarily with default mobile device input methods, including Gboard, Samsung mobile keyboard and Apple’s default mobile device input method, as well as other alternative input method products for mobile devices that offer similar language prediction capabilities and other smart features, such as Microsoft/SwiftKey.  In addition, we compete with all major internet companies for user attention and advertising spend.

We compete with other developers of mobile applications for users, usage time and advertising customers on the basis of quality, features, availability and ease of use of products and services, and the number and quality of advertising distribution channels. We also compete with other developers for talented employees with technological expertise that is crucial for the sustained development of successful products and services. Our competitors may operate with more efficient business models and cost structures. They may prove more adaptable to new technological and other market developments than we are. Many of our competitors are larger and more established companies and may have significantly more financial, technological, marketing and other resources than we do and may be able to devote greater resources to the development, promotion, sales and support of their products and services. They may allow our competitors to respond to new or emerging technologies and changes in market requirements better than we can. Our competitors may also develop products, features, or services that are similar to ours or that achieve greater market acceptance. These products, features, and services may undertake more far-reaching and successful product development efforts or marketing campaigns. As a result, our competitors may acquire and engage users at the expense of our user growth or engagement, which may seriously harm our business. If we cannot effectively compete, our user engagement may decrease, which could make us less attractive to users, advertisers and seriously harm our business and have a material and adverse impact on our business, operating results and growth potential.

Our mobile applications are mainly designed for Android operating systems. A decrease in the popularity of Android operating systems may materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.

Our business is dependent on the compatibility of our products with popular mobile operating systems that we do not control, including Android and iOS operating systems. Most of our mobile applications are designed to operate on the Android operating system. Any significant decline in the overall popularity of the Android ecosystem or Android devices could materially and adversely affect the demand for, and revenues generated from, our mobile applications. There can be no assurance that the Android ecosystem will grow in the future and at what growth rate. Another operating system for mobile devices may replace Android and decrease its popularity, especially considering the constantly evolving nature of the mobile internet industry. To the extent that our mobile applications continue to mainly support Android devices, our mobile business could be vulnerable to any decline in popularity of the Android operating system or Android devices. In addition, any changes, bugs, or technical issues in Android operating system may degrade our products’ functionality and limit our ability to deliver, target, or measure the effectiveness of ads, or to charge fees related to our delivery of ads, which may have an adverse impact on our business and operating results.

User growth and engagement depend upon effective interoperation of our products with mobile devices, operating systems and standards that we do not control.

Our products and services are available across a variety of mobile devices and mobile operating systems. In order to deliver high quality products and services to a broad spectrum of mobile internet users, it is important for our products and services to work well with a range of mobile devices, operating systems, networks and standards that we do not control, including Android and iOS operating systems. Any changes in such devices or operating systems that degrade the functionality of our products and services would affect our users’ experience with our products. If we fail to develop relationships with the key participants in the mobile internet industry and mobile advertising industry, or if we fail to maintain the effective interoperation of our products and services with these mobile devices, operating systems, networks and standards, our user growth and user engagement could be harmed, and our business and operating results could be adversely affected.

We may be held liable for information or content displayed on, distributed by, retrieved from or linked to the mobile applications integrated into our products, which may adversely impact our brand image and materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.

We may display third-party content, such as videos, pictures, books, articles and other works, on our mobile applications without the explicit consent from such third party, and we may further explore market opportunities in the content-related business. Our users may misuse our products to disseminate content that contains inappropriate, fraudulent or illegal information or that infringes the intellectual property rights of third parties. We have implemented control measures and procedures to detect and block inappropriate, fraudulent or illegal content uploaded to or disseminated through our products, particularly those that violate our user agreements or applicable laws and regulations. However, such procedures may not be sufficient to block all such content due to the large volume of third-party content. Despite the procedures and measures we have taken, if the content displayed on our products are found to be fraudulent, illegal or inappropriate, we may suffer a loss of users and damage to our reputation. In response to any allegations of fraudulent, illegal or inappropriate activities conducted through our mobile applications or any negative media coverage about us, government authorities may intervene and hold us liable for non-compliance with laws and regulations concerning the dissemination of information on the internet and subject us to administrative penalties or other sanctions, such as requiring us to restrict or discontinue certain features and services provided by our mobile applications or to temporarily or permanently disable such mobile applications. If any of such events occurs, our reputation and business may suffer and our operating results may be materially and adversely affected.

We may not be able to prevent unauthorized use of our intellectual property, which could harm our business and competitive position.

We regard our patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, and other intellectual property as critical to our business. Unauthorized use of our intellectual property by third parties may adversely affect our business and reputation. We rely on a combination of intellectual property laws and contractual arrangements to protect our proprietary rights. It is often difficult to register, maintain, and enforce intellectual property rights in countries with less developed regulatory regimes or inconsistent and unreliable enforcement mechanisms. Sometimes laws and regulations are subject to interpretation and enforcement and may not be applied consistently due to the lack of clear guidance on statutory interpretation. In addition, our contractual agreements may be breached by our counterparties, and there may not be adequate remedies available to us for any such breach. Accordingly, we may not be able to effectively protect our intellectual property rights or to enforce our contractual rights in China and other jurisdictions in which we operate. Detecting and preventing any unauthorized use of our intellectual property is difficult and costly and the steps we have taken may be inadequate to prevent infringement or misappropriation of our intellectual property. In the event that we resort to litigation to enforce or protect our intellectual property rights, such litigation could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our managerial and financial resources. We can provide no assurance that we will prevail in such litigation. For a detailed description of such a litigation, see “Item 8. Financial Information—A. Consolidated Statements and Other Financial Information—Legal Proceedings.” In addition, our trade secrets may be leaked or otherwise become available to, or be independently discovered by, our competitors.

We may be subject to intellectual property infringement lawsuits which could be expensive to defend and may result in our payment of substantial damages or licensing fees, disruption to our product and service offerings, and reputational harm.

The success of our business relies on the quality of our products, which in turn depends on the underlying software and related technology, such as big data analytics. The protection of such software and related technologies primarily relies on intellectual property rights including patents and trade secrets. Meanwhile, for the purpose of our business expansion, we may from time to time display third-party content, such as videos, pictures, books, articles and other works, on our mobile applications without acquiring the explicit consent from such third party. Third parties, including our competitors, may assert claims against us for alleged infringements of their patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets and internet content.

For instance, in June 2019, a third-party company in China brought a lawsuit against Shanghai Chubao in Shanghai Intellectual Property Court for patent infringement. The plaintiff alleged that TouchPal Phonebook infringed its patent of IP telephone system and communication method, and claimed for stopping the usage of this involved patent and acts of using, offering to sell and selling the involved product according to the involved patent, disabling the involved product from app stores, and a compensation of RMB3,000,000. The lawsuit was voluntarily withdrawn by the plaintiff. In addition, in May 2019, a third-party company in China brought a lawsuit against Shanghai Chubao and Shanghai Chule in Shanghai Intellectual Property Court for design patent infringement. The plaintiff alleged that TouchPal Smart Input infringed its design patent of an input method, and claimed for stopping the infringement and compensation of RMB1,000,000. This case is still pending before the court. While we believe that the claims against us in these litigations are without merit and intend to defend the action vigorously, we cannot assure you that these lawsuits will be ultimately resolved in our favor. For more information, see “Item 8. Financial Information—A. Consolidated Statements and Other Financial Information—Legal Proceedings.”

The lengthy application procedures of software-related patents may lead to uncertainty on our intellectual property rights to our self-developed software because it increases the likelihood that there are pending patent applications whose priority dates pre-date the development of our own software that is identical or substantially similar to the software subject of the pending patent application. We have been subject to patent disputes, and expect that we may increasingly be subject to patent infringement claims as our products and monetization model expand in market share, scope and complexity. Claims have been threatened and brought against us for alleged copyright or trademark infringements based on the nature and content of information that is generated by us or by third parties, including our users, and posted in our products. In addition, we may in the future be subject to domestic or international actions alleging that certain content we have generated or third-party content that we have made available within our products and services violates the applicable laws in China or other jurisdictions.

Intellectual property claims against us, whether meritorious or not, are time consuming and costly to resolve, could divert management attention away from our daily business, could require changes of the way we do business or develop our products, could require us to enter into costly royalty or licensing agreements or to make substantial payments to settle claims or satisfy judgments, and could require us to cease conducting certain operations or offering certain products in certain areas or generally. We do not conduct comprehensive patent searches to determine whether the technologies used in our products infringe upon patents held by others. In addition, product development is inherently uncertain in a rapidly evolving technological environment in which there may be numerous patent applications pending, many of which are confidential when filed, with regard to similar technologies. While we believe that our products do not infringe in any material respect upon any intellectual property rights of third parties, we cannot be certain that this is the case.

In addition, in any potential dispute involving our patents or other intellectual property, our advertising customers and business partners could also become the target of litigation. We have certain contractual obligations to indemnify our advertising customers and the mobile device manufacturers that pre-install our products on their devices for liability that they may incur based on third-party claims of intellectual property infringement for the use of our products or technology. Many of our collaboration contracts with mobile device manufacturers provide for a cap on our indemnity obligations. In addition, in the event of any such claims, our advertising customers or business partners may decide not to use our products in the future, which could harm our financial condition and operating results. For example, one mobile device manufacturer that pre-installs input methods on its mobile devices, including our TouchPal Smart Input under a license agreement with us, was sued by a multinational company in the United States in 2015. The plaintiff alleged that, among others, certain feature of the input methods installed on the mobile devices produced and sold by the defendant infringed on the plaintiff’s input-related patent. In late 2016, a third-party requested that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or PTAB, to initiate inter parties review (IPR) proceedings against the input-related patent claim of the plaintiff and to invalidate such patent. The IPR request has been granted by the PTAB in 2016 and another third-party joined the IPR proceedings as a petitioner in 2017. On September 26, 2018, the PTAB issued the final written decision affirming the patentability of all challenged claims of this patent. The third party then appealed on January 6, 2020, and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit made an opinion, concluding that the plaintiff’s claims of the related patents are not patentable and the PTAB’s decision is reversed. The plaintiff and the defendant have executed a final, binding settlement agreement thereafter. As of the date of this annual report, we have not received the request to indemnify this mobile device manufacturer in relation to this proceeding.

Finally, we may also face infringement claims from the employees, consultants, agents and outside organizations we have engaged to develop our technology. While we have sought to protect ourselves against such claims through contractual means, there can be no assurance that such contractual provisions are adequate, and any of these parties might claim full or partial ownership of the intellectual property in the technology that they were engaged to develop for us.

Pending or future litigation could have a material and adverse impact on our financial condition and operating results.

We have been, and may continue to be, subject to lawsuits brought by our competitors, individuals or other entities against us. For example, in June 2020, a mobile device manufacturer sued us for unfair competition, alleging that one of our mobile applications had interfered with the normal use of their devices by ways of pop-up advertisements, and claimed for stopping the act and compensation of RMB4,900,000. The first-instance judgment was made in March 2021, which ordered the suspension of pop-up advertisements and awarded RMB3,000,000 to the plaintiff. However, we are now appealing with legal counsel, and the first-instance judgement is not a final judgment. We may also in the future be involved in legal proceedings between us and the mobile device manufactures who had contractual arrangements with us with respect to the pre-installation of our products on their mobile devices. In addition, we have been involved in lawsuits brought by our competitors alleging the infringement of intellectual property from time to time. See “—We may be subject to intellectual property infringement lawsuits which could be expensive to defend and may result in our payment of substantial damages or licensing fees, disruption to our product and service offerings, and reputational harm.”

Where we can make a reasonable estimate of the liability relating to pending litigation against us and can determine that an adverse liability resulting from such litigation is probable, we record a related contingent liability. As additional information becomes available, we assess the potential liability and revise estimated liability as appropriate. However, due to the inherent uncertainties of litigation, the amount of our estimated liability may be inaccurate, in which case our financial condition and results of operation may be adversely affected. In addition, the outcomes of actions we institute may not be successful or favorable to us. Lawsuits against us may also generate negative publicity that significantly harms our reputation, which in turn may adversely affect our user base and adverting customer base. In addition to the related cost, managing and defending litigation and related indemnity obligations can significantly divert our management’s attention from operating our daily business. We may also need to pay damages or settle lawsuits with substantial amounts of cash, which may adversely affect our cash flow and financial conditions. While we do not believe that any currently pending proceedings are likely to have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, if there were adverse determinations in legal proceedings against us, we could be required to pay substantial monetary damages or to materially alter our business practices, which could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations and cash flows.

Some of our mobile applications contain open source software, which may pose risks to our proprietary software.

We use open source software in our products and services and expect to continue to use open source software in the future. The terms of many open source licenses to which we are subject have not been interpreted by U.S. or foreign courts, and there is a risk that such licenses could be construed in a manner that imposes unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to sell or distribute our mobile applications. Additionally, we may from time to time face threats or claims from third-parties claiming ownership of, or demanding release of, the alleged open source software or derivative works we developed using such software, which could include our proprietary source code, or otherwise seeking to enforce the terms of the applicable open source license. These threats or claims could result in litigation and could require us to make our source code freely available, purchase a costly license or cease offering the implicated mobile applications unless and until we can re-engineer them to avoid infringement. Such a re-engineering process could require significant additional research and development resources, and we may not be able to complete it successfully. In addition to risks related to license requirements, our use of certain open source software may lead to greater risks than use of third-party commercial software, as open source licensors generally do not provide warranties or controls on the origin of the software. Additionally, because any software source code we contribute to open source projects is publicly available, our ability to protect our intellectual property rights with respect to such software source code may be limited or lost entirely, and we are unable to prevent our competitors or others from using such contributed software source code. Any of these risks could be difficult to eliminate or manage and, if not addressed, could adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

Any financial or economic crisis, or perceived threat of such a crisis may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The global financial markets experienced significant disruptions in 2008 and the United States, European and other economies went into recession. The recovery from the lows of 2008 and 2009 was uneven and the global financial markets are facing new challenges, including the escalation of the European sovereign debt crisis since 2011, the hostilities in the Ukraine, the end of quantitative easing by the U.S. Federal Reserve, the economic slowdown in the Eurozone in 2014 and the volatility in financial markets across the world due to the recent outbreak of coronavirus, later renamed COVID-19. It is unclear whether these challenges will be contained and what effects they each may have. There is considerable uncertainty over the long-term effects of the expansionary monetary and fiscal policies that have been adopted by the central banks and financial authorities of some of the world’s leading economies, including China’s. Recently there have been signs that the rate of China’s and global economic growth is declining. Any prolonged slowdown in global economic development might lead to tighter credit markets, increased market volatility, sudden drops in business and market confidence and dramatic changes in business and consumer behaviors.

A severe or prolonged downturn in the Chinese or global economy could materially and adversely affect our business and financial condition.

The global macroeconomic environment is facing numerous challenges. The growth rate of the Chinese economy has gradually slowed in recent years, and the trend may continue especially in light of the challenges the global economy is facing due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. There is considerable uncertainty over the long-term effects of the expansionary monetary and fiscal policies adopted by the central banks and financial authorities of some of the world’s leading economies, including the United States and China. Unrest, terrorist threats and the potential for war in the Middle East and elsewhere may increase market volatility across the globe. There have also been concerns about the relationship between China and other countries, including the surrounding Asian countries, which may potentially have economic effects. In particular, there is significant uncertainty about the future relationship between the United States and China with respect to trade policies, treaties, government regulations and tariffs. Economic conditions in China are sensitive to global economic conditions, as well as changes in domestic economic and political policies and the expected or perceived overall economic growth rate in China. Any severe or prolonged slowdown in the global or Chinese economy may materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Changes in international trade policies and international barriers to trade, or the escalation of trade tensions, may have an adverse effect on our business.

International trade disputes could result in tariffs and other protectionist measures that could adversely affect our business. Tariffs could increase our operating costs as well as the cost of the goods and products which could affect our customer's discretionary spending level. In addition, any escalation in existing trade tensions or the advent of a trade war, or news and rumors of the escalation of a potential trade war, could affect consumer confidence and have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and, ultimately, the trading price of our ADSs.

Political tensions between the United States and China have escalated due to, among other things, the COVID-19 outbreak, the PRC National People's Congress' passage of Hong Kong national security legislation, sanctions imposed by the U.S. Department of Treasury on certain officials of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the central government of the PRC, and the executive orders issued by U.S. President in August 2020 that prohibit certain transactions with ByteDance Ltd., Tencent Holdings Ltd. and the respective subsidiaries of such companies. In addition, on December 31, 2020, the New York Stock Exchange commenced proceedings to delist securities of three major telecommunications service providers in China in light of an executive order prohibiting any transaction in publicly traded securities of certain China-based companies by any U.S. person. There remains uncertainty as to whether the New York Stock Exchange or relevant regulatory authorities will finally determine the executive order or additional regulatory rules or orders to be applicable and proceed with the delisting proceedings against these companies or any other China-based issuers listed in the United States. Rising political tensions could reduce levels of trades, investments, technological exchanges and other economic activities between the two major economies, which would have a material adverse effect on global economic conditions and the stability of global financial markets. Any of these factors could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations. Furthermore, there have been media reports on deliberations within the U.S. government regarding potentially limiting or restricting China-based companies from accessing U.S. capital markets. If any such deliberations were to materialize, the resulting legislation may have a material and adverse impact on the stock performance of China-based issuers listed in the United States. It is currently unclear whether the proposed or additional legislations would be enacted that would have the effect of potentially limiting or restricting China-based companies from accessing U.S. capital markets.

If relations between China and the United States deteriorate, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

At various times during recent years, the United States and China have had significant disagreements over monetary, economic, political and social issues, including currently in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, and future relations between these two countries may deteriorate. Changes in political conditions and changes in the state of China-U.S. relations are difficult to predict and could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, because of our extensive operations in the Chinese market, any deterioration in political or trade relations might cause a public perception in the United States or elsewhere that might cause our products to become less attractive. We cannot predict what effect any changes in China-U.S. relations may have on our ability to access capital or effectively do business in China or the United States. Moreover, any political or trade controversies between the United States and China, whether or not directly related to our business, could cause investors to be unwilling to hold or buy our ADSs and consequently cause the trading price of our ADSs to decline.

Our business depends on a number of key employees, including our executive officers and other employees with key technical skills and knowledge. If we fail to hire, retain, or motivate our key employees, our business and operating results may be materially and adversely affected.

We depend on the continued contributions of our executive officers and other key employees, including those with key technological expertise, many of whom are difficult to replace. Any loss of the services of any of our senior management or other key employees could harm our business. Competition for qualified employees in and outside China is intense. Some of the companies with which we compete for experienced employees may have greater resources than we do and may be able to offer more attractive terms of employment. Our future success is dependent on our ability to attract a significant number of qualified employees and retain our existing key employees. If our key employees cease to work for us, our business may be materially and adversely affected and we may incur additional expenses to recruit, train and retain qualified personnel to replace them.

Although we have entered into confidentiality and non-compete agreements with our key employees, our key employees may join our competitors or form a competing business. If any dispute arises between our current or former officers and us, we may have to incur substantial costs and expenses in order to enforce such agreements in China or we may be unable to enforce them at all. We commit significant time and other resources to training our employees, which increases their value to competitors if they subsequently leave us for our competitors.

Our failure to effectively manage our growth or implement our business strategies may harm our business and operating results.

We have experienced rapid growth in the number of active users, and we plan to continue to expand our product offerings in the global market. Managing our growth requires allocation of valuable management time and resources, and significant expenditures. As part of our strategy, we intend to continue making investments to expand our user base, strengthen our research and development efforts, and enhance our ability to deliver highly targeted content. To execute our business plan and growth strategy, we need to continuously improve our operational and financial systems, procedures and controls, and hire, train, manage and maintain good relations with our employees. Continued growth could also strain our ability to maintain reliable service levels for our users, advertising customers and business partners. We have limited operational experience in managing the business at the current scale and we cannot assure you we will be able to maintain the current level of growth rate in the future.

From time to time we may conduct strategic investments and acquisitions, which may require significant management attention, disrupt our business and adversely affect our financial conditions.

We may take advantage of opportunities to invest in or acquire additional businesses, services, assets or technologies. However, we may fail to select appropriate investment or acquisition targets, or we may not be able to negotiate optimal arrangements, including arrangements to finance any acquisitions. Acquisitions and the subsequent integration of new assets and businesses into our own could require significant management attention and could result in a diversion of resources away from our existing business. Investments and acquisitions could result in the use of substantial amounts of cash, increased leverage, potentially dilutive issuances of equity securities, goodwill impairment charges, amortization expenses for other intangible assets and exposure to potential liabilities of the acquired business. In addition, the invested or acquired assets or businesses may not generate the financial results we expect. Moreover, the costs of identifying and consummating these transactions may be significant. In addition to obtaining the necessary corporate governance approvals, we may also need to obtain approvals and licenses from relevant government authorities for the acquisitions and investments to comply with applicable laws and regulations, which could result in increased costs and delays.

We rely on our assumptions and estimates to calculate certain key operating metrics. Any real or perceived inaccuracies in our calculations may harm our reputation and negatively affect our business.

The numbers of daily and monthly active users of our products are calculated using our internal data that has not been independently verified. While these numbers are based on what we believe to be reasonable calculations for the applicable periods of measurement, there are inherent challenges in accurately measuring usage and user engagement across our large user base. For example, we treat each mobile device or each application on a mobile device as a separate user for purposes of calculating our DAU and MAU, and we may not be able to distinguish individual users who use multiple applications from us or have multiple mobile devices. Accordingly, the calculations of our active users may not accurately reflect the actual number of people using our products.

We regularly review and may adjust our processes for calculating our internal metrics to improve their accuracy. Our measures of user growth and user engagement may differ from estimates published by third parties or from similarly titled metrics used by our competitors due to differences in methodology. If our advertising customers, business partners or investors do not perceive our user metrics to be accurate representations of our user base or user engagement, or if we discover material inaccuracies in our user metrics, our reputation may be harmed and our advertising customers and business partners may be less willing to allocate their spending or resources to our products, which could negatively affect our business and operating results.

Our operating results are subject to seasonal fluctuations due to a number of factors, any of which could adversely affect our business and operating results.

We are subject to seasonality and other fluctuations in our business. Revenues from our mobile advertising services, which constituted substantially all of our revenues in 2020, are affected by seasonality in advertising spending in both international and China markets. We believe that such seasonality in advertising spending affects our quarterly results, partially resulting in the significant growth in our mobile advertising revenues between the first and the third quarters but a decline from the third quarter to the fourth quarter. Thus, our operating results for one or more future quarters or years may fluctuate or fall below the expectations of securities analysts and investors. In such event, the trading price of the ADSs may fluctuate.

The successful operation of our business depends upon the performance and reliability of the internet infrastructure in China and in other countries as well as the safety of our network and infrastructure.

Our growth and expansion will depend in part on the reliability of state-owned telecommunications services providers in China and similar providers in other countries in maintaining and expanding internet and telecommunications infrastructure, standards, protocols, and complementary products and services.

Almost all access to the internet in China is offered through China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, which are under the administrative control and regulatory supervision of the MIIT. We rely on the internet infrastructure of China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom to provide bandwidth and transmit data. Although the Chinese government has announced plans to develop China’s national information infrastructure, this infrastructure may not be developed in time or at all, and the existing internet infrastructure in China may not be able to support the continued growth of internet usage. In addition, it is unlikely that we will have access to alternative networks and services on a timely basis, if at all, in the event of any infrastructure disruption or failure.

Users of our mobile applications may employ existing or new technologies to block advertisements placed by us, which may limit our ability to generate revenues from our advertising services.

Existing or new technologies that can disable the display of our advertisements may impair the growth of our mobile advertising business. Most of our revenues are derived from fees paid to us by advertising exchange customers based on the effective price per impression, which is impacted by the number of our users’ valid clicks, conversions, impressions delivered or other measurable results. If technologies capable of blocking advertisements on our products are adopted by a significant number of our users, we may not be able to continue delivering such advertisements to our users and our revenues may decrease. In addition, advertisers may choose not to advertise on or through our products in light of the perceived use by our users of advertisement-blocking measures, which may adversely affect our business and growth prospects.

If we fail to detect click-through fraud, we could lose the confidence of our advertisers and our revenues may decline as a result.

Our business is exposed to the risk of click-through fraud on our mobile applications. Click-through fraud occurs when a person clicks an advertisement displayed by us for a reason other than to view the underlying content of such advertisement. If we fail to detect significant fraudulent click-throughs or otherwise are unable to prevent significant fraudulent activity, the affected advertisers may experience a reduced return on their investment in our mobile advertising services and may lose confidence in the integrity of our systems. As a result, we may have to issue refunds to our advertisers and we may be unable to retain existing advertising customers and attract new advertising customers for our advertising services, and our mobile advertising revenues may decline. In addition, affected advertisers may commence legal action against us for claims related to click-through fraud. Any such claims or similar claims, regardless of their merit, could be time-consuming and costly for us to defend against and could also adversely affect our brand and operating results.

Our business emphasizes rapid innovation and prioritizes the growth in user base and cultivation of content ecosystem of content-rich portfolio products. That strategy may produce results that do not align with investors’ expectation and our stock price may be negatively affected as a result.

Our growth depends on our ability to actively develop and launch new and innovative products and services. We intend to quickly adapt our products to changes in market trends and user needs, but we have no control over whether these adaptions will be well received by our users, advertising customers or business partners, and may result in unintended outcomes or consequences. We prioritize the growth in user base and cultivation of content ecosystem of content-rich portfolio products. For example, we monitor how our delivery of advertisements on our products affects our users’ experience with the products and we may decide to decrease the number of advertisements placed on our products to ensure our users’ satisfaction with our products. This could result in a loss of advertising customers and negatively impact our mobile advertising revenue. Our decisions may not be consistent with the short-term expectations of investors and may not produce the long-term benefits that we expect, in which case the maintenance and growth of our user base, our relationships with advertising customers, and our business and operating results could be adversely and materially harmed.

We have granted, and may continue to grant, options, restricted shares units and other types of share-based incentive awards, which may result in increased share-based compensation expenses.

We adopted a stock incentive plan in 2012 and a share incentive plan in 2018, as amended from time to time, for the purpose of granting share-based compensation awards to our directors, officers, employees and advisors to incentivize their performance and align their interests with ours. Expenses associated with share-based compensation have affected our net income and may reduce our net income in the future, and any additional securities issued pursuant to share-based incentive awards will dilute the ownership interests of our shareholders, including holders of the ADSs. On November 6, 2018, our Board of Directors approved an option modification to reduce the exercise price of certain options granted under our 2012 Plan to employees. Other terms of the share options granted remain unchanged. The modification resulted in incremental compensation costs of US$ 0.3 million, which is amortized over the remaining vesting period of the modified options, ranging from 2018 to 2021. We believe the granting of share-based incentive awards is of significant importance to our ability to attract and retain key employees, and we plan to grant share-based incentive awards in the future. As a result, our share-based compensation expenses may increase, which may have an adverse effect on our results of operations.

If we fail to build, maintain and enhance our brands, or if we incur a disproportionate amount of expenses pursuing this effort, our business, operating results and prospects may be materially and adversely affected.

We believe that maintaining and enhancing our brand is critical to expanding our user base and number of advertising customers. We also believe that maintaining and enhancing our brand will depend largely on our ability to continue to provide useful, reliable, trustworthy, and innovative products, which we may not be able to do successfully in the future. We will also continue to experience media, legislative, or regulatory scrutiny of our decisions regarding user privacy, content, advertising, and other issues, which may adversely affect our reputation and brands. We also may fail to respond expeditiously to the sharing and uploading of objectionable content on our products and services or objectionable practices by advertising customers, or may fail to otherwise address user concerns, which could erode confidence in our brands. In addition, maintaining and enhancing our brands may require us to make substantial investments and these investments may not be successful. We promote our brand and products through online advertising networks and platforms, which primarily include Douyin, Kuaishou and Facebook Ads. These branding and marketing efforts may not result in increased user traffic in a cost-effective way. If we fail to successfully promote and maintain our brands or if we incur excessive expenses in this effort, our business and financial results may be adversely affected. In addition, any negative publicity in relation to our mobile applications, regardless of its veracity, could harm our brands and reputation and, in turn, our business and financial results.

If we fail to implement and maintain an effective system of internal control, we may be unable to accurately report our operating results, meet our reporting obligations or prevent fraud.

In preparing our consolidated financial statements for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2019, we and our independent registered public accounting firm identified one material weakness and one significant deficiency in our internal control over financial reporting as well as other control deficiencies as of December 31, 2019, in accordance with the standards established by the PCAOB of the United States. As defined in the standards established by the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, a “material weakness” is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis, and a “significant deficiency” is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting that is less severe than a material weakness, yet important enough to merit attention by those responsible for oversight of financial reporting.

The material weakness that has been identified relates to our lack of accounting policies and procedures relating to financial reporting in accordance with U.S. GAAP and SEC financial reporting requirements. The significant deficiency that has been identified relates to our insufficient formal risk assessment process and monitoring activities. Following the identification of the material weakness and significant deficiency, we have taken measures and plan to continue to take measures to remediate these control deficiencies. See “Item 15. Controls and Procedures—Internal Control Over Financial Reporting.” As of December 31, 2020, based on our management’s assessment on the performance of the remediation measures, we determined that the material weakness and significant deficiency remain as they had not been fully remediated. The significant deficiency, if not remediated timely, may lead to material misstatements in our consolidated financial statements. Neither we nor our independent registered public accounting firm undertook a comprehensive assessment of our internal control for purposes of identifying and reporting material weaknesses and other deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting. Had we performed a formal assessment of our internal control over financial reporting or had our independent registered public accounting firm performed an audit of our internal control over financial reporting, additional deficiencies may have been identified.

We are a public company in the United States subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, adopted rules pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requiring every public company to include a management report on such company’s internal control over financial reporting in its annual report, which contains management’s assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. In addition, once we cease to be an “emerging growth company” as such term is defined under the JOBS Act, our independent registered public accounting firm must attest to and report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Our management may conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is not effective. Moreover, even if our management concludes that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, our independent registered public accounting firm, after conducting its own independent testing, may issue a report that is qualified if it is not satisfied with our internal controls or the level at which our controls are documented, designed, operated or reviewed, or if it interprets the relevant requirements differently from us. In addition, as we have become a public company, our reporting obligations may place a significant strain on our management, operational and financial resources and systems for the foreseeable future. We may be unable to timely complete our evaluation testing and any required remediation.

During the course of documenting and testing our internal control procedures, in order to satisfy the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, we may identify other weaknesses and deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting. In addition, if we fail to maintain the adequacy of our internal control over financial reporting, as these standards are modified, supplemented or amended from time to time, we may not be able to conclude on an ongoing basis that we have effective internal control over financial reporting in accordance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Generally, if we fail to achieve and maintain an effective internal control environment, we could suffer material misstatements in our financial statements and fail to meet our reporting obligations, which would likely cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information. This could in turn limit our access to capital markets, harm our results of operations, and lead to a decline in the trading price of our ADSs. Additionally, ineffective internal control over financial reporting could expose us to increased risk of fraud or misuse of corporate assets and subject us to potential delisting from the stock exchange on which we list, regulatory investigations and civil or criminal sanctions.

Non-compliance on the part of third parties with whom we conduct business could disrupt our business and adversely affect our financial conditions and operating results.

We may be implicated by the non-compliant or improper activities of our users, advertising customers and business partners. For example, we may be involved in litigation related to user-generated content uploaded to our mobile applications. See also “—We may be held liable for information or content displayed on, distributed by, retrieved from or linked to the mobile applications integrated into our products, which may adversely impact our brand image and materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.” Similarly, we may also be subject to disputes related to advertisements displayed on our mobile applications. Although we have adopted a comprehensive internal control and screening procedure over the content of advertisements, a third party may find advertisements displaying on our mobile applications improper or illegal, and may take actions against us over such advertisements. We incurred costs of US$1.7 million to compensate victims of the alleged illegal advertisements for our failure to supervise advertising contents displayed on our platform in compliance with relevant PRC laws and regulations. Besides, we may be subject to disputes related to certain alleged illegal act of our customers, the advertising service fees paid by the customers to us in the course of normal advertising business may be deemed to involve illegal funds and be confiscated. As of December 31, 2020, our bank accounts with a total balance of US$21.7 million were frozen by a local authority in connection with an ongoing investigation related to an alleged illegal act of certain customers.

In addition, we may be impacted by lawsuits against our business partners, such as mobile devices manufacturers that have contractual arrangements with us. Although we have no control over the design, system, network or standard of the manufacturing of smartphones by these business partners, any lawsuits against them claiming infringement of intellectual property and any cessation of handset production resulting from such lawsuits may interrupt our collaborative operations and result in the reduction of our delivery of products and services to potential users.

We are a “controlled company” within the meaning of the NYSE Listed Company Manual and, as a result, we may rely on exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements that provide protection to shareholders of other companies.

We are a “controlled company” as defined under the NYSE Listed Company Manual because Mr. Karl Kan Zhang owns more than 50% of our total voting power. For so long as we remain a controlled company under that definition, we are permitted to elect to rely, and may rely, on certain exemptions from corporate governance rules, including an exemption from the rule that a majority of our board of directors must be independent directors or that we have to establish a nominating committee and a compensation committee composed entirely of independent directors. As a result, you will not have the same protection afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to these corporate governance requirements.

We lease premises and may not be able to fully control the rental costs, quality, maintenance and our leasehold interest in these premises, nor can we guarantee that we will be able to successfully renew or find suitable premises to replace our existing premises upon expiration of the existing leases.

We lease all premises used in our operations from third parties and we require the landlords’ cooperation to effectively manage the condition of such premises, buildings and facilities. In the event that the condition of the office premises, buildings and facilities deteriorates, or if any or all of our landlords fail to properly maintain and renovate such premises, buildings or facilities in a timely manner or at all, the operation of our offices could be materially and adversely affected. In addition, with respect to our leased premises, at the end of each lease term, we may need to negotiate an extension of the lease when the lease expires. If we are unable to successfully extend or renew our leases upon expiration of the current term on commercially reasonable terms or at all, we may be forced to relocate our offices, or the rental costs may increase significantly.

Moreover, certain lessors have not provided us with valid ownership certificates or authorizations of sublease for our leased properties. Under relevant PRC laws and regulations, if the lessors are unable to obtain certificate of title because such real estates were built illegally or failed to pass the inspection, such lease contracts may be recognized as void. In addition, if our lessors are not the owners of the properties and they have not obtained consents from the owners or their lessors or permits from the relevant government authorities, our leases could be invalidated. If this occurs, we may have to renegotiate the leases with owners or parties who have the right to lease the properties, and the terms of the new leases may be less favorable to us.

As of the date of this annual report, we are not aware of any material claims or actions being contemplated or initiated by government authorities, property owners or any other third parties with respect to our leasehold interests in or use of such properties. However, we cannot assure you that our use of such leased properties will not be challenged. In the event that our use of properties is successfully challenged, we may be subject to fines and forced to relocate the affected operations. In addition, we may become involved in disputes with the property owners or third parties who otherwise have rights to or interests in our leased properties. We can provide no assurance that we will be able to find suitable replacement sites on terms acceptable to us on a timely basis, or at all, or that we will not be subject to liabilities resulting from third parties’ challenges on our use of such properties. As a result, our business operations may be interrupted, and our financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected.

We have limited business insurance coverage. Any interruption of our business may result in substantial costs to us and the diversion of our resources, which could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and operating results.

Insurance products available in China currently are not as extensive as those offered in more developed economies. Consistent with customary industry practice in China, our business insurance is limited and we do not carry business liability or disruption insurance to cover our operations. We have determined that the costs of insuring for related risks and the difficulties associated with acquiring such insurance on commercially reasonable terms make it impractical for us to obtain or maintain such insurance. Any uninsured damage to our systems or disruption of our business operations could require us to incur substantial costs and divert our resources, which could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

We face risks related to natural disasters, health epidemics and other outbreaks, which could significantly disrupt our business operations.

Our business could be adversely affected by the effects of epidemics. In recent years, there have been breakouts of epidemics in and outside China. Our business operations could be disrupted if any of our employees is suspected of having COVID-19, H1N1 flu, avian flu or another epidemic, since it could require our employees to be quarantined and/or our offices to be disinfected. In addition, our results of operations could be adversely affected to the extent that the outbreak harms the Chinese or global economy or our business environment in particular. We are also vulnerable to natural disasters and other calamities, which may give rise to server interruptions, breakdowns, system failures, technology platform failures or internet failures, and may adversely affect our ability to provide advertising services through our products.

Changes in the method for determining the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) or China Loan Prime Rate ("LPR") and the potential replacement of LIBOR or LPR may affect our cost of capital and net investment income.

We entered into a credit facility agreement with a commercial bank in July 2018, as renewed in October 2019 and further renewed in June 2020, under which agreement we can borrow up to US$15.0 million collateralized by our accounts receivable by June 2021. The interest rate for this credit facility is London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) or China Loan Prime Rate (“LPR”), plus an applicable margin. We have used the credit facility of US$11.0M as of December 2020.

The LIBOR benchmark has been subject to national, international, and other regulatory guidance and proposals for reform. In July 2017, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority announced that it intends to stop persuading or compelling banks to submit rates for calculation of LIBOR after 2021. These reforms may cause LIBOR to perform differently than in the past and LIBOR may ultimately cease to exist after 2021 or be unsuitable to use as a benchmark. The consequences of any potential cessation, modification or other reform of LIBOR cannot be predicted at this time. Any new benchmark rate will likely not replicate LIBOR exactly, which could impact new credit facilities and derivative transaction entered into after 2021. We may need to negotiate with the commercial bank to determine an alternative reference rate for our credit facility agreement, which may perform differently than LIBOR. Any changes to benchmark rates could have an impact on our cost of funds and our access to the capital markets, which could impact our results of operations and cash flows. Uncertainty as to the nature of such potential changes may also adversely affect the trading market for our securities.

The LPR refers to the one-year loan market quoted interest rate issued by the National Bank Interbank Funding Center on the 20th of each month starting from August 20, 2019, and the one-year loan market quoted interest rate issued by the National Bank Interbank Funding Center on September 21, 2020 was 3.85%.

Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure

If the PRC government finds that the agreements that establish the structure for operating our businesses in China do not comply with PRC regulations on foreign investment in internet and other related businesses, or if these regulations or their interpretation change in the future, we could be subject to severe penalties or be forced to relinquish our interests in those operations.

Current PRC laws and regulations impose certain restrictions or prohibitions on foreign ownership of companies that engage in internet and other related businesses, including the provision of internet information services. Specifically, foreign ownership of an internet information services provider may not exceed 50%. We are a company incorporated in the Cayman Islands and Shanghai Chule (CooTek) Information Technology Co., Ltd., which we refer to as Shanghai Chule or the WFOE, is our wholly owned PRC subsidiary and therefore is considered as a foreign-invested enterprise. To comply with PRC laws and regulations, we conduct our  business in China through our consolidated affiliated entities, including Shanghai Chubao (CooTek) Information Technology Co., Ltd., or Shanghai Chubao, and three other PRC domestic entities, based on a series of contractual arrangements by and among Shanghai Chule, our consolidated affiliated entities and their respective shareholders. As a result of these contractual arrangements, we exert control over our consolidated affiliated entities and consolidate or combine their operating results in our financial statements under U.S. GAAP. Our consolidated affiliated entities hold the licenses, approvals and certain key assets that are essential for our business operations.

In the opinion of our PRC counsel, JunHe LLP, based on its understanding of the relevant PRC laws and regulations, the contractual arrangements among our PRC subsidiary, our consolidated affiliated entities and their respective shareholders are valid and binding under the existing PRC laws and regulations. There are, however, substantial uncertainties regarding the interpretation and application of current or future PRC laws and regulations. Thus, we cannot assure you that the PRC government will not ultimately take a view contrary to the opinion of our PRC counsel. If we are found in violation of any PRC laws or regulations or if the contractual arrangements among Shanghai Chule, our consolidated affiliated entities and their respective shareholders are determined as illegal or invalid by the PRC court, arbitral tribunal or regulatory authorities, the relevant governmental authorities would have broad discretion in dealing with such violation, including, without limitation:

The imposition of any of these penalties may result in a material and adverse effect on our ability to conduct the business. In addition, if the imposition of any of these penalties causes us to lose the rights to direct the activities of our consolidated affiliated entities or the right to receive their economic benefits, we would no longer be able to consolidate our consolidated affiliated entities. We do not believe that any penalties imposed or actions taken by the PRC government would result in the liquidation of our company, Shanghai Chule, or our consolidated affiliated entities.

We rely on contractual arrangements with our consolidated affiliated entities and their respective shareholders for our operations in China, which may not be as effective in providing operational control as direct ownership.

Due to the PRC restrictions or prohibitions on foreign ownership of internet and other related businesses in China, we operate our business in China through our consolidated affiliated entities, in which we have no ownership interest. We rely on a series of contractual arrangements with our consolidated affiliated entities and their respective shareholders, including the powers of attorney, to control and operate their business.

Our ability to control the consolidated affiliated entities depends on the powers of attorney, pursuant to which Shanghai Chule can vote on all matters requiring shareholder approval in our consolidated affiliated entities.

We believe these powers of attorney are legally enforceable but may not be as effective as direct equity ownership. These contractual arrangements are intended to provide us with effective control over our consolidated affiliated entities and allow us to obtain economic benefits from them. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—C. Organizational Structure” for further details.

Although we have been advised by our PRC counsel, JunHe LLP, that the contractual arrangements among our PRC subsidiary, our consolidated affiliated entities and their respective shareholders are valid and binding under existing PRC laws and regulations, these contractual arrangements may not be as effective in providing control over our consolidated affiliated entities as direct ownership. If our consolidated affiliated entities or their shareholders fail to perform their respective obligations under the contractual arrangements, we may incur substantial costs and expend substantial resources to enforce our rights. All of these contractual arrangements are governed by and interpreted in accordance with PRC laws, and disputes arising from these contractual arrangements will be resolved through arbitration in China. Such disputes do not include claims arising under the United States federal securities laws and therefore these arbitration provisions do not prevent you from pursuing claims arising under the United States federal securities laws. However, the legal system in China, particularly as it relates to arbitration proceedings, is not as developed as in other jurisdictions, such as the United States. See “—Risks Related to Doing Business in China—Uncertainties in the interpretation and enforcement of PRC laws and regulations could limit the legal protections available to you and us.” There are very few precedents and little official guidance as to how contractual arrangements in the context of a variable interest entity should be interpreted or enforced under PRC law. There remain significant uncertainties regarding the ultimate outcome of arbitration should legal action become necessary. These uncertainties could limit our ability to enforce these contractual arrangements. In addition, arbitration awards are final and can only be enforced in PRC courts through arbitration award recognition proceedings, which could cause additional expenses and delays. In the event we are unable to enforce these contractual arrangements or we experience significant delays or other obstacles in the process of enforcing these contractual arrangements, we may not be able to exert effective control over our affiliated entities and may lose control over the assets owned by our consolidated affiliated entities. As a result, we may be unable to consolidate our consolidated affiliated entities in our consolidated financial statements, our ability to conduct our business may be negatively affected, and our business operations could be severely disrupted, which could materially and adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

We may lose the ability to use and maintain the benefit of assets held by our consolidated affiliated entities that are important to the operation of our business if our consolidated affiliated entities declare bankruptcy or become subject to a dissolution or liquidation proceeding.

Our consolidated affiliated entities hold certain assets that are important to our business operations, including the VAT License concerning information services, domestic multiparty communication services and domestic call center services and the Online Culture Operating Permit. Under our contractual arrangements, the shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities may not voluntarily liquidate our consolidated affiliated entities or approve them to sell, transfer, mortgage or dispose of their assets or legal or beneficial interests exceeding certain threshold in the business in any manner without our prior consent. However, in the event that the shareholders breach this obligation and voluntarily liquidate our consolidated affiliated entities, or our consolidated affiliated entities declare bankruptcy, or all or part of their assets become subject to liens or rights of third-party creditors, we may be unable to continue some or all of our business operations, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Furthermore, if our consolidated affiliated entities undergo a voluntary or involuntary liquidation proceeding, their shareholders or unrelated third-party creditors may claim rights to some or all of their assets, thereby hindering our ability to operate our business, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Contractual arrangements we have entered into with our consolidated affiliated entities and their respective shareholders may be subject to scrutiny by the PRC tax authorities. A finding that we owe additional taxes could significantly reduce our consolidated net income and the value of your investment.

Pursuant to applicable PRC laws and regulations, arrangements and transactions among related parties may be subject to audit or challenge by the PRC tax authorities. We may be subject to adverse tax consequences if the PRC tax authorities determine that the contractual arrangements among our PRC subsidiary, our consolidated affiliated entities and their shareholders are not on an arm’s length basis and therefore constitute favorable transfer pricing. As a result, the PRC tax authorities could require that our consolidated affiliated entities adjust its taxable income upward for PRC tax purposes. Such an adjustment could adversely affect us by increasing our consolidated affiliated entities’ tax expenses without reducing the tax expenses of our PRC subsidiary, subjecting our consolidated affiliated entities to late payment fees and other penalties for under-payment of taxes, and resulting in our PRC subsidiary’s loss of its preferential tax treatment. Our consolidated results of operations may be adversely affected if our consolidated affiliated entities’ tax liabilities increase or if it is subject to late payment fees or other penalties.

If the chops of our PRC subsidiary, our consolidated affiliated entities, are not kept safely, are stolen or are used by unauthorized persons or for unauthorized purposes, the corporate governance of these entities could be severely and adversely compromised.

In China, a company chop or seal serves as the legal representation of the company towards third-parties even when unaccompanied by a signature. Each legally registered company in China is required to maintain a company chop, which must be registered with the local Public Security Bureau. In addition to this mandatory company chop, companies may have several other chops which can be used for specific purposes. The chops of our PRC subsidiary, our consolidated affiliated entities are generally held securely by personnel designated or approved by us in accordance with our internal control procedures. To the extent those chops are not kept safe, are stolen or are used by unauthorized persons or for unauthorized purposes, the corporate governance of these entities could be severely and adversely compromised and those corporate entities may be bound to abide by the terms of any documents so chopped, even if they were chopped by an individual who lacked the requisite power and authority to do so.

The shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities may have potential conflicts of interest with us, which may materially and adversely affect our business.

The shareholders of our major consolidated affiliated entities include Karl Kan Zhang, Susan Qiaoling Li, Michael Jialiang Wang, Jim Jian Wang and Haiyan Zhu. Karl Kan Zhang, Susan Qiaoling Li, Michael Jialiang Wang are our co-founders, directors and executive officers. Jim Jian Wang is one of our directors. Haiyan Zhu is one of our early investors. Conflicts of interest may arise between the roles of these persons as shareholders, directors or officers of our company and as shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities. We rely on these individuals to abide by the laws of the Cayman Islands, which provide that our directors and officers owe a fiduciary duty to our company to act in good faith and in the best interest of our company and not to use their positions for personal gain. The shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities have executed powers of attorney to appoint Shanghai Chule, our PRC subsidiary, or a person designated by Shanghai Chule to vote on their behalf and exercise voting rights as shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities. We cannot assure you that when conflicts arise, shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities will act in the best interest of our company or that conflicts will be resolved in our favor. If we cannot resolve any conflicts of interest or disputes between us and these shareholders, we would have to rely on legal proceedings, which may be expensive, time-consuming and disruptive to our operations. There is also substantial uncertainty as to the outcome of any such legal proceedings.

We may rely on dividends paid by our PRC subsidiary to fund cash and financing requirements. Any limitation on the ability of our PRC subsidiary to pay dividends to us could have a material adverse effect on our ability to conduct our business and to pay dividends to holders of the ADSs and our ordinary shares.

We are a holding company, and we may rely on dividends to be paid by our PRC subsidiary for our cash and financing requirements, including the funds necessary to pay dividends and other cash distributions to the holders of the ADSs and our ordinary shares and service any debt we may incur. If our PRC subsidiary incur debt on their own behalf in the future, the instruments governing the debt may restrict their ability to pay dividends or make other distributions to us.

Under PRC laws and regulations, our wholly owned subsidiary in the PRC, Shanghai Chule, may pay dividends only out of its accumulated profits as determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations. In addition, a wholly foreign-owned enterprise is required to set aside at least 10% of its after-tax profits each year, after making up previous years’ accumulated losses, if any, to fund certain statutory reserve funds, until the aggregate amount of such a fund reaches 50% of its registered capital. The PRC company could distribute the remaining after-tax profits after making up losses and funding reserve funds in accordance with the provisions of the PRC Company Law. Any limitation on the ability of our wholly owned PRC subsidiary to pay dividends or make other distributions to us could materially and adversely limit our ability to grow, make investments or acquisitions that could be beneficial to our business, pay dividends, or otherwise fund and conduct our business.

Substantial uncertainties exist with respect to the interpretation and implementation of the newly enacted PRC Foreign Investment Law and how it may impact the viability of our current corporate structure and business operations.

The National People’s Congress approved the Foreign Investment Law (the “FIL”) on March 15, 2019, and the State Council approved the Regulation on Implementing the Foreign Investment Law (the “Implementation Regulations”) on December 12, 2019, effective from January 1, 2020, which replaced the trio of existing laws regulating foreign investment in China, namely, the Sino-foreign Equity Joint Venture Enterprise Law, the Sino-foreign Cooperative Joint Venture Enterprise Law and the Wholly Foreign-invested Enterprise Law, together with their implementation rules and ancillary regulations. The Supreme People’s Court of China issued a judicial interpretation on the Foreign Investment Law on December 26, 2019, effective from January 1, 2020, to ensure fair and efficient implementation of the Foreign Investment Law. According to this judicial interpretation, courts in China shall not, among other things, support contracted parties to claim foreign investment contracts in sectors not on the Special Administrative Measures for Access to Foreign Investment (Negative List) (2019), or the 2019 Negative List, as void because the contracts have not been approved or registered by administrative authorities. The Foreign Investment Law grants national treatment to foreign invested enterprises, except for those operating in “restricted” or “prohibited” industries in the “negative list,” where if a foreign invested enterprise proposes to conduct business in an industry subject to foreign investment “restrictions” in the “negative list,” the foreign invested enterprise must go through a MOFCOM pre-approval process. The internet content service, internet audio-visual program services and online culture activities that we conduct through our consolidated affiliated entities, which are our VIEs, are subject to foreign investment restrictions set forth in the 2019 Negative List. The Foreign Investment Law and Implementation Regulations embody an expected PRC regulatory trend to rationalize its foreign investment regulatory regime in line with prevailing international practice and the legislative efforts to unify the corporate legal requirements for both foreign and domestic investments.

However, since these rules are relatively new, uncertainties still exist in relation to their interpretation. For instance, under the Foreign Investment Law, “foreign investment” refers to the investment activities directly or indirectly conducted by foreign individuals, enterprises or other entities in China. Though it does not explicitly classify contractual arrangements as a form of foreign investment, there is no assurance that foreign investment via contractual arrangement would not be interpreted as a type of indirect foreign investment activities under the definition in the future. In addition, the definition contains a catch-all provision which includes investments made by foreign investors through means stipulated in laws or administrative regulations or other methods prescribed by the State Council. Therefore, it still leaves leeway for future laws, administrative regulations or provisions promulgated by the State Council to provide for contractual arrangements as a form of foreign investment. In any of these cases, it will be uncertain whether our contractual arrangements will be deemed to be in violation of the market access requirements for foreign investment under the PRC laws and regulations. Furthermore, if future laws, administrative regulations or provisions prescribed by the State Council mandate further actions to be taken by companies with respect to existing contractual arrangements, we may face substantial uncertainties as to whether we can complete such actions in a timely manner, or at all. Failure to take timely and appropriate measures to cope with any of these or similar regulatory compliance challenges could materially and adversely affect our current corporate structure, corporate governance and business operations.

Risks Related to Doing Business in China

Adverse changes in China's economic, political or social conditions or government policies could have a material and adverse effect on overall economic growth in China, which could materially and adversely affect our business.

Our principal offices are based in China. Accordingly, our operating results, financial condition and prospects are influenced by economic, political and legal developments in China. Economic reforms begun in the late 1970s have resulted in significant economic growth. However, any economic reform policies or measures in China may from time to time be modified or revised. China's economy differs from the economies of most developed countries in many respects, including with respect to the amount of government involvement, level of development, growth rate, control of foreign exchange and allocation of resources. While the PRC economy has experienced significant growth in the past 30 years, growth has been uneven across different regions and among different economic sectors. In addition, the rate of growth has been slowing since 2012, and the impact of COVID-19 on the Chinese and global economies in 2020 and 2021 is likely to be severe. In particular, the National Bureau of Statistics of China reported a 2.3% growth in GDP for the full year of 2020, compared with the full year of 2019.

The PRC government exercises significant control over China's economic growth through strategically allocating resources, controlling the payment of foreign currency-denominated obligations, setting monetary policy and providing preferential treatment to particular industries or companies. Although the Chinese economy has grown significantly in the past decade, that growth may not continue, as evidenced by the slowing of the growth of the Chinese economy in recent years. Any adverse changes in economic conditions in China, in the policies of the Chinese government or in the laws and regulations in China could have a material adverse effect on the overall economic growth of China. Such developments could adversely affect our business and operating results, lead to reduction in demand for our services and adversely affect our competitive position.

Uncertainties in the interpretation and enforcement of PRC laws and regulations could limit the legal protections available to you and us.

The PRC legal system is based on written statutes and court decisions have limited precedential value. The PRC legal system evolves rapidly, and the interpretations of many laws, regulations and rules may contain inconsistencies and enforcement of these laws, regulations and rules involves uncertainties.

From time to time, we may have to resort to administrative and court proceedings to enforce our legal rights. However, since PRC judicial and administrative authorities have significant discretion in interpreting and implementing statutory and contractual terms, it may be more difficult to predict the outcome of a judicial or administrative proceeding than in more developed legal systems. Furthermore, the PRC legal system is based, in part, on government policies and internal rules, some of which are not published in a timely manner, or at all, but which may have retroactive effect. As a result, we may not always be aware of any potential violation of these policies and rules. Such unpredictability towards our contractual, property (including intellectual property) and procedural rights could adversely affect our business and impede our ability to continue our operations.

Content posted or displayed on our platform may be found objectionable by PRC regulatory authorities and may subject us to penalties and other severe consequences.

The PRC government has adopted regulations governing internet and wireless access and the distribution of information over the internet and wireless telecommunication networks. Under these regulations, internet content providers and internet publishers are prohibited from posting or displaying over the internet or wireless networks content that, among other things, violates PRC laws and regulations, impairs the national dignity of China or the public interest, or is obscene, superstitious, fraudulent or defamatory. Furthermore, internet content providers are also prohibited from displaying content that may be deemed by relevant government authorities as “socially destabilizing” or leaking “state secrets” of the PRC. Failure to comply with these requirements may result in the revocation of licenses to provide internet content or other licenses, the closure of the concerned platforms and reputational harm. The operator may also be held liable for any censored information displayed on or linked to their platform. For a detailed discussion, see “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Regulation—Regulations Relating to Cyber Security.”

We operate a number of portfolio products in China, including Fengdu Novel. We have implemented procedures to monitor the content displayed on our products in order to comply with relevant laws and regulations. However, it may not be possible to determine in all cases the types of content that could result in our liability as a distributor of such content and, if any of the content posted or displayed on our products is deemed by the PRC government to violate any content restrictions, we would not be able to continue to display such content and could become subject to penalties, including confiscation of income, fines, suspension of business and revocation of required licenses, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may also be subject to potential liability for any unlawful actions by our users on our products. It may be difficult to determine the type of content or actions that may result in liability to us and, if we are found to be liable, we may be prevented from operating our business in China. Moreover, the costs of compliance with these regulations may continue to increase as a result of more content being made available by an increasing number of users of our platform, which may adversely affect our results of operations. Although we have adopted internal procedures to monitor content and to remove offending content once we become aware of any potential or alleged violation, we may not be able to identify all the content that may violate relevant laws and regulations or third-party intellectual property rights. Even if we manage to identify and remove offensive content, we may still be held liable. As of the date of this annual report, we have not received government sanctions in connection with content posted on our platform. However, we cannot assure you that our business and operations will be immune from government actions or sanctions in the future. To the extent that PRC regulatory authorities find any content displayed on our platform objectionable, they may require us to limit or eliminate the dissemination of such content on our platform in the form of take-down orders or otherwise. In addition, these laws and regulations are subject to interpretation by the relevant authorities, and it may not be possible to determine in all cases the types of content that could result in our liability as a platform operator.

Advertisements shown on our platform may subject us to penalties and other administrative actions.

Under PRC advertising laws and regulations, we are obligated to monitor the advertising content shown on our platform to ensure that such content is true and accurate and in full compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Advertisements shall not hinder public order, violate social morality or contain illegal contents, including, but not limited to, obscenity, pornography, gambling, superstition, terror and violence contents. Otherwise, the administration of market regulation may (i) order to stop publishing of the advertisement and; (ii) confiscate the advertising fees; (iii) impose a penalty ranging from RMB200,000 to RMB1,000,000; or (iv) in serious cases, cancel the business license and cancel the registration certificate for publishing advertisements. In addition, where a special government review is required for specific types of advertisements prior to internet posting, such as advertisements relating to pharmaceuticals, medical instruments, agrochemicals and veterinary pharmaceuticals, we are obligated to confirm that such review has been performed and approval has been obtained. Violation of these laws and regulations may subject us to penalties, including fines, confiscation of our advertising income, orders to cease dissemination of the advertisements and orders to publish an announcement correcting the misleading information. In circumstances involving serious violations by us, PRC governmental authorities may force us to terminate our advertising operations or revoke our licenses.

While we have made significant efforts to ensure that the advertisements shown on our platform are in full compliance with applicable PRC laws and regulations, we cannot assure you that all the content contained in such advertisements or offers is true and accurate as required by the advertising laws and regulations or otherwise in full compliance with applicable PRC laws and regulations, especially given the uncertainty in the interpretation of these PRC laws and regulations. If we are found to be in violation of applicable PRC advertising laws and regulations, we may be subject to penalties and our reputation may be harmed, which may negatively affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations and prospects. Although the advertisements displayed on our platform may not directly contain sensitive or illegal contents, including, but not limited to, gambling and pyramid selling, the advertisers may use inducing words to indirectly attract advertisement viewers to participate in gambling, pyramid selling, or other illegal activities. If we receive a complaint that any superficially compliant advertisement is linked to one or more webpages that feature non-compliant advertising content, we will remove the related advertisement. Although our agreements with the advertising agencies provide that the advertisements provided by the advertisers shall comply with the requirements of relevant laws and regulations, we cannot control or supervise advertising contents and the linked webpages all the time. Therefore, we cannot guarantee you that all of the advertisements displayed on our platform will comply with relevant laws and regulations.

In April 2015, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress promulgated the PRC Advertising Law, effective on September 1, 2015, and amended on October 26, 2018. According to the Advertising Law, advertisements shall not have any false or misleading content, or defraud or mislead consumers. Furthermore, an advertisement will be deemed as a “false advertisement” if any of the following situations exist: (i) the advertised product or service does not exist; (ii) there is any inconsistency that has a material impact on the decision to purchase in what is included in the advertisement with the actual circumstances with respect to the product’s performance, function, place of production, usage, quality, specification, ingredient, price, producer, term of validity, sales condition and honors received, among others, or the service’s content, provider, form, quality, price, sales condition, and honors received, among others, or any commitments, among others, made on the product or service; (iii) using fabricated, forged or unverifiable scientific research results, statistical data, investigation results, excerpts, quotations or other information as supporting material; (iv) effect or results of using the good or receiving the service are fabricated; or (v) other circumstances where consumers are defrauded or misled by any false or misleading content.

The laws and regulations of advertising are relatively new and evolving and there is substantial uncertainty as to the interpretation of “false advertisement” by the State Administration for Market Regulation (formerly known as the State Administration for Industry and Commerce), or the SAMR. We have published certain relatively aggressive advertisements on some of our portfolio products to acquire and retain users. For example, we publish advertisements for our lucky draw events on Fengdu Novel, and some users have filed complaints with the SAMR because, among other reasons, the possibilities of winning these lucky draws are overstated in the advertisements. If any of the advertisements, such as those for the lucky draw events, that we publish is deemed to be a “false advertisement” by the SAMR or its local branch, we could be subject to various penalties, such as discontinuation of publishing the relevant advertisement, imposition of fines and obligations to eliminate any adverse effects incurred by such false advertisement, revocation of our business license and other approvals, rejection of our other advertisement examination application, or even criminal liabilities under circumstances of serious violations. For detailed descriptions, see “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Regulation—Regulations Relating to Online Advertising Services.” Any resulting penalties may disrupt our business and materially adversely affect our results of operations and financial conditions.

Under the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law, we may be classified as a PRC “resident enterprise,” which could result in unfavorable tax consequences to us and our shareholders and have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and the value of your investment.

Under the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law, or the EIT Law, which became effective in January 2008 and most recently amended in December 2018, an enterprise established outside the PRC with “de facto management bodies” within the PRC is considered a “resident enterprise” for PRC enterprise income tax purposes and is generally subject to a uniform 25% enterprise income tax rate on its worldwide income. In 2009, the State Administration of Taxation, or the SAT, issued the Notice Regarding the Determination of Chinese-Controlled Overseas Incorporated Enterprises as PRC Tax Resident Enterprise on the Basis of De Facto Management Bodies, or SAT Circular 82, which provides certain specific criteria for determining whether the “de facto management body” of a PRC-controlled enterprise that is incorporated offshore is located in China. Further to SAT Circular 82, in 2011, the SAT issued the Administrative Measures for Enterprise Income Tax of Chinese-Controlled Offshore Incorporated Resident Enterprises (Trial), or SAT Bulletin 45, amended in 2018, to provide more guidance on the implementation of SAT Circular 82. SAT Bulletin 45 clarified certain issues in the areas of resident status determination, post-determination administration and competent tax authorities’ procedures.

According to SAT Circular 82, an offshore incorporated enterprise controlled by a PRC enterprise or a PRC enterprise group will be considered as a PRC tax resident enterprise by virtue of having its “de facto management body” in China and will be subject to PRC enterprise income tax on its worldwide income only if all of the following conditions are met: (a) the senior management and core management departments in charge of its daily operations function have their presence mainly in the PRC; (b) its financial and human resources decisions are subject to determination or approval by persons or bodies in the PRC; (c) its major assets, accounting books, company seals, and minutes and files of its board and shareholders’ meetings are located or kept in the PRC; and (d) more than half of the enterprise’s directors or senior management with voting rights habitually reside in the PRC. SAT Bulletin 45 specifies that when provided with a copy of Chinese tax resident determination certificate from a resident Chinese controlled offshore incorporated enterprise, the payer should not withhold 10% income tax when paying the Chinese-sourced dividends, interest, royalties, etc. to the Chinese controlled offshore incorporated enterprise.

Although SAT Circular 82 and SAT Bulletin 45 only apply to offshore incorporated enterprises controlled by PRC enterprises or PRC enterprise groups and not those controlled by PRC individuals or foreigners, the determination criteria set forth therein may reflect the SAT’s general position on how the term “de facto management body” could be applied in determining the tax resident status of offshore enterprises, regardless of whether they are controlled by PRC enterprises, individuals or foreigners.

In addition, the SAT issued the Announcement of the State Administration of Taxation on Issues concerning the Determination of Resident Enterprises Based on the Standards of Actual Management Institutions in January 2014 to provide more guidance on the implementation of SAT Circular 82. This bulletin further provides that, among other things, an entity that is classified as a “resident enterprise” in accordance with the circular shall file the application for classifying its status of residential enterprise with the local tax authorities where its main domestic investors are registered. From the year in which the entity is determined to be a “resident enterprise,” any dividend, profit and other equity investment gain shall be taxed in accordance with the enterprise income tax law and its implementing rules.

Although our offshore holding entity is not controlled by PRC enterprises or a PRC enterprise group, our revenues are primarily generated from business operations conducted in PRC, and we cannot rule out the possibility that the PRC tax authorities determine that we or any of our non-PRC subsidiaries is a PRC resident enterprise for PRC enterprise income tax purposes, which could subject our company or any of our non-PRC subsidiaries to PRC tax at a rate of 25% on its world-wide income, which could materially reduce our net income. In addition, we may also be subject to PRC enterprise income tax reporting obligations.

If the PRC tax authorities determine that our company is a PRC resident enterprise for PRC enterprise income tax purposes, gains realized on the sale or other disposition of ADSs or ordinary shares may be subject to PRC tax, at a rate of 10% in the case of non-PRC enterprises or 20% in the case of non-PRC individuals (in each case, subject to the provisions of any applicable tax treaty), if such gains are deemed to be from PRC sources. Any such tax may reduce the returns on your investment in the ADSs.

There are significant uncertainties under the EIT Law relating to the withholding tax liabilities of our PRC subsidiary, and dividends payable by our PRC subsidiary to our offshore subsidiaries may not qualify to enjoy certain treaty benefits.

Under the EIT Law and its implementation rules, the profits of a foreign-invested enterprise generated through operations, which are distributed to its immediate holding company outside China, will be subject to a withholding tax rate of 10.0%. Pursuant to a special arrangement between Hong Kong and China, such rate may be reduced to 5.0% if a Hong Kong resident enterprise owns more than 25.0% of the equity interest in the PRC company. Our current PRC subsidiary is wholly owned by our Hong Kong subsidiary, CooTek Hong Kong Limited, or CooTek HK. Accordingly, CooTek HK may qualify for a 5.0% tax rate in respect of distributions from its PRC subsidiary. Under the Notice of the State Administration of Taxation on Issues regarding the Administration of the Dividend Provision in Tax Treaties promulgated on February 20, 2009, the taxpayer needs to satisfy certain conditions to enjoy the benefits under a tax treaty. These conditions include: (1) the taxpayer must be the beneficial owner of the relevant dividends, and (2) the corporate shareholder to receive dividends from the PRC subsidiary must have continuously met the direct ownership thresholds during the 12 consecutive months preceding the receipt of the dividends. Further, the SAT promulgated the Notice on How to Understand and Recognize the “Beneficial Owner” in Tax Treaties in 2009, most recently amended on February 3, 2018, and effective from April 1, 2018, which sets forth several non-rebuttable presumptions to be a “beneficial owner,” and certain detailed factors in determining the “beneficial owner” status.

Entitlement to a lower tax rate on dividends according to tax treaties or arrangements between the PRC central government and governments of other countries or regions is subject to Administrative Measures on Entitlement of Non-residents to Treatment under Tax Treaties, or SAT Circular 60, replaced by SAT Circular 35 in 2019, which provides that non-resident enterprises are not required to obtain pre-approval from the relevant tax authority in order to enjoy the reduced withholding tax. Instead, non-resident enterprises and their withholding agents may, by self-assessment and on confirmation that the prescribed criteria to enjoy the tax treaty benefits are met, directly apply the reduced withholding tax rate, and file necessary forms and supporting documents when performing tax filings, which will be subject to post-tax filing examinations by the relevant tax authorities. As a result, we cannot assure you that we will be entitled to any preferential withholding tax rate under tax treaties for dividends received from our PRC subsidiary.

We face uncertainty with respect to indirect transfer of equity interests in PRC resident enterprises by their non-PRC holding companies.

We face uncertainties regarding the reporting on and consequences of previous private equity financing transactions involving the transfer and exchange of shares in our company by non-resident investors.

In February 2015, the SAT issued the Bulletin on Issues of Enterprise Income Tax on Indirect Transfers of Assets by Non-PRC Resident Enterprises, or SAT Bulletin 7, as amended in 2017, which replaced certain clauses of the Notice of the State Administration of Taxation on Strengthening the Administration of Enterprise Income Tax on Non-resident Enterprises’ Equity Transfer Income issued by the SAT in December 2009. Pursuant to this bulletin, an “indirect transfer” of assets, including equity interests in a PRC resident enterprise, by non-PRC resident enterprises may be re-characterized and treated as a direct transfer of PRC taxable assets, if such arrangement does not have a reasonable commercial purpose and was established for the purpose of avoiding payment of PRC enterprise income tax. As a result, gains derived from such indirect transfer may be subject to PRC enterprise income tax. According to SAT Bulletin 7, “PRC taxable assets” include assets attributed to an establishment in China, immovable properties located in China, and equity investments in PRC resident enterprises, in respect of which gains from their transfer by a direct holder, being a non-PRC resident enterprise, would be subject to PRC enterprise income taxes. When determining whether there is a “reasonable commercial purpose” of the transaction arrangement, features to be taken into consideration include: whether the main value of the equity interest of the relevant offshore enterprise derives from PRC taxable assets; whether the assets of the relevant offshore enterprise mainly consist of direct or indirect investment in China or if its income mainly derives from China; whether the offshore enterprise and its subsidiaries directly or indirectly holding PRC taxable assets have real commercial nature which is evidenced by their actual function and risk exposure; the duration of existence of the business model and organizational structure; the replicability of the transaction by direct transfer of PRC taxable assets; and the tax situation of such indirect transfer and applicable tax treaties or similar arrangements. In respect of an indirect offshore transfer of assets of a PRC establishment, the resulting gain is to be included with the enterprise income tax filing of the PRC establishment or place of business being transferred, and would consequently be subject to PRC enterprise income tax at a rate of 25%. Where the underlying transfer relates to the immovable properties located in China or to equity investments in a PRC resident enterprise, which is not related to a PRC establishment or place of business of a non-resident enterprise, a PRC enterprise income tax of 10% would apply, subject to available preferential tax treatment under applicable tax treaties or similar arrangements, and the party who is obligated to make the transfer payments has the withholding obligation. Where the payor fails to withhold any or sufficient tax, the transferor is required to declare and pay such tax to the tax authority by itself within the statutory time limit. Late payment of applicable tax will subject the transferor to default interest. SAT Bulletin 7 does not apply to transactions of sale of shares by investors through a public stock exchange where such shares were acquired from a transaction through a public stock exchange.

There is uncertainty as to the application of SAT Bulletin 7. We face uncertainties as to the reporting and other implications of certain past and future transactions where PRC taxable assets are involved, such as offshore restructuring, sale of the shares in our offshore subsidiaries or investments. Our company may be subject to filing obligations or taxed if our company is transferor in such transactions, and may be subject to withholding obligations if our company is transferee in such transactions under SAT Bulletin 7. In 2014, we repurchased certain number of ordinary shares in CooTek (Cayman) Inc. from an existing shareholder for the consideration of US$9.3 million. The existing shareholder undertook to make the necessary tax filings in relation to this repurchase by herself and to indemnify us against any losses arising from the failure to make such tax filings. However, we cannot assure you that, if the existing shareholder fails to make necessary tax filings, the tax authority would not require us to make such tax filings and even subject us to fines. As of the date of this annual report, we have neither received any notice of warning nor been subject to any penalties or other disciplinary action from the relevant government authorities regarding such tax filing. For transfer of shares in our company by investors that are non-PRC resident enterprises, our PRC subsidiary may be requested to assist in the filing under SAT Bulletin 7. As a result, we may be required to expend valuable resources to comply with SAT Bulletin 7 or to request the relevant transferors from whom we purchase taxable assets to comply with these circulars, or to establish that our company should not be taxed under these circulars.

China’s M&A Rules and certain other PRC regulations establish complex procedures for some acquisitions of Chinese companies by foreign investors, which could make it more difficult for us to pursue growth through acquisitions in China.

The Regulations on Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, or the M&A Rules, and other recently adopted regulations and rules concerning mergers and acquisitions established additional procedures and requirements that could make merger and acquisition activities by foreign investors more time consuming and complex. For example, the M&A Rules require that MOFCOM be notified in advance of any change-of-control transaction in which a foreign investor takes control of a PRC domestic enterprise, if (i) any important industry is concerned, (ii) such transaction involves factors that impact or may impact national economic security, or (iii) such transaction will lead to a change in control of a domestic enterprise which holds a famous trademark or PRC time-honored brand. Moreover, the Anti-Monopoly Law promulgated by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress in August 2007 and effective in August 2008 requires that transactions which are deemed concentrations and involve parties with specified turnover thresholds (i.e., during the previous fiscal year, (i) the total global turnover of all operators participating in the transaction exceeds RMB10 billion and at least two of these operators each had a turnover of more than RMB400 million within China, or (ii) the total turnover within China of all the operators participating in the concentration exceeded RMB2 billion, and at least two of these operators each had a turnover of more than RMB400 million within China) must be cleared by MOFCOM before they can be completed. In addition, in February 2011, the General Office of the State Council promulgated a Notice on Establishing the Security Review System for Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, or the Circular 6, which officially established a security review system for mergers and acquisitions of domestic enterprises by foreign investors. Further, in August 2011, MOFCOM promulgated the Regulations on Implementation of Security Review System for the Merger and Acquisition of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, or the MOFCOM Security Review Regulations, to implement the Circular 6. Under Circular 6, a security review is required for mergers and acquisitions by foreign investors having “national defense and security” concerns and mergers and acquisitions by which foreign investors may acquire the “de facto control” of domestic enterprises with “national security” concerns. Under the MOFCOM Security Review Regulations, MOFCOM will focus on the substance and actual impact of the transaction when deciding whether a specific merger or acquisition is subject to security review. If MOFCOM decides that a specific merger or acquisition is subject to security review, it will submit it to the Inter-Ministerial Panel, an authority established under the Circular 6 led by the National Development and Reform Commission, or NDRC, and MOFCOM under the leadership of the State Council, to carry out security review. The regulations prohibit foreign investors from bypassing the security review by structuring transactions through trusts, indirect investments, leases, loans, control through contractual arrangements or offshore transactions. There is no explicit provision or official interpretation stating that the merging or acquisition of a company engaged in the internet information services, online games, online audio-visual program services and related businesses requires security review, and there is no requirement that acquisitions completed prior to the promulgation of the Security Review Circular are subject to MOFCOM review.

In the future, we may grow our business by acquiring complementary businesses. Complying with the requirements of the above-mentioned regulations and other relevant rules to complete such transactions could be time consuming, and any required approval processes, including obtaining approval from the MOFCOM or its local counterparts may delay or inhibit our ability to complete such transactions. It is unclear whether our business would be deemed to be in an industry that raises “national defense and security” or “national security” concerns. However, MOFCOM or other government agencies may publish explanations in the future determining that our business is in an industry subject to the security review, in which case our future acquisitions in the PRC, including those by way of entering into contractual control arrangements with target entities, may be closely scrutinized or prohibited.

PRC regulations relating to offshore investment activities by PRC residents may limit our PRC subsidiary’s ability to increase their registered capital or distribute profits to us or otherwise expose us to liability and penalties under PRC law.

In July 2014, the SAFE promulgated the Circular on Relevant Issues Relating to Domestic Resident’s Investment and Financing and Roundtrip Investment through Special Purpose Vehicles, or SAFE Circular 37, which replaced the Relevant Issues Concerning Foreign Exchange Control on Domestic Residents’ Corporate Financing and Roundtrip Investment through Offshore Special Purpose Vehicles, or Circular 75. Circular 37 requires PRC residents or entities to register with SAFE or its local branch in connection with their establishment or control of an offshore entity established for the purpose of overseas investment or financing. In addition, such PRC residents or entities must update their SAFE registrations when the offshore special purpose vehicle undergoes material events relating to any change of basic information (including change of such PRC citizens or residents, name and operation term), increases or decreases in investment amount, transfers or exchanges of shares, or mergers or divisions. According to the Notice on Further Simplifying and Improving Policies for the Foreign Exchange Administration of Direct Investment released on February 13, 2015, by the SAFE, as amended in 2019, local banks will examine and handle foreign exchange registration for overseas direct investment, including the initial foreign exchange registration and amendment registration, under SAFE Circular 37 from June 1, 2015.

If our shareholders who are PRC residents or entities do not complete their registration with the local SAFE branches, our PRC subsidiary may be prohibited from distributing their profits and proceeds from any reduction in capital, share transfer or liquidation to us, and we may be restricted in our ability to contribute additional capital to our PRC subsidiary. Moreover, failure to comply with the SAFE registration described above could result in liability under PRC laws for evasion of applicable foreign exchange restrictions.

Karl Kan Zhang, Susan Qiaoling Li, Michael Jialing Wang, Jim Jian Wang and Haiyan Zhu, who directly or indirectly hold shares in CooTek (Cayman) Inc. and who are PRC residents, have completed the SAFE registration in connection with our financings and have committed to update their registration filings with SAFE under SAFE Circular 75 or Circular 37 when any changes should be registered under SAFE Circular 75 or Circular 37. However, we may not at all times be fully aware or informed of the identities of all our shareholders or beneficial owners that are required to make such registrations, and we cannot compel our beneficial owners to comply with SAFE registration requirements. As a result, we cannot assure you that all of our shareholders or beneficial owners who are PRC residents or entities have complied with, and will in the future make or obtain any applicable registrations or approvals required by, SAFE regulations. Failure by such shareholders or beneficial owners to comply with SAFE regulations, or failure by us to amend the foreign exchange registrations of our PRC subsidiary, could subject us to fines or legal sanctions, restrict our overseas or cross-border investment activities, limit our subsidiary’s ability to make distributions or pay dividends or affect our ownership structure, which could adversely affect our business and prospects.

Failure to comply with PRC regulations regarding the registration requirements for employee stock ownership plans or share option plans may subject the PRC plan participants or us to fines and other legal or administrative sanctions.

Pursuant to SAFE Circular 37, PRC residents who participate in share incentive plans in overseas non-publicly listed companies due to their position as director, senior management or employees of the PRC subsidiaries of the overseas companies may submit applications to SAFE or its local branches for the foreign exchange registration with respect to offshore special purpose companies. Our directors, executive officers and other employees who are PRC residents and who have been granted options may follow SAFE Circular 37 to apply for the foreign exchange registration before our company becomes an overseas listed company. In February 2012, SAFE promulgated the Notices on Issues Concerning the Foreign Exchange Administration for Domestic Individuals Participating in Stock Incentive Plans of Overseas Publicly Listed Companies, or the Stock Option Rules. Under the Stock Option Rules and other relevant rules and regulations, PRC residents who participate in stock incentive plan in an overseas publicly listed company are required to register with SAFE or its local branches and complete certain other procedures. Participants of a stock incentive plan who are PRC residents must retain a qualified PRC agent, which could be a PRC subsidiary of such overseas publicly listed company or another qualified institution selected by such PRC subsidiary, to conduct the SAFE registration and other procedures with respect to the stock incentive plan on behalf of its participants. Such participants must also retain an overseas entrusted institution to handle matters in connection with their exercise of stock options, the purchase and sale of corresponding stocks or interests and fund transfers. In addition, the PRC agent is required to amend the SAFE registration with respect to the stock incentive plan if there is any material change to the stock incentive plan, the PRC agent or the overseas entrusted institution or other material changes. We and our PRC employees who have been granted stock options are subject to these regulations. We have completed such SAFE registrations for our PRC stock option holder employees in March 2019. However, we cannot assure you that we will be able to complete the relevant registration for new employees who participate in such stock incentive plan in the future in a timely manner or at all. Failure of our PRC stock option holders to complete their SAFE registrations may subject these PRC residents to fines and legal sanctions and may also limit our ability to contribute additional capital into our PRC subsidiary, limit our PRC subsidiary’s ability to distribute dividends to us, or otherwise materially adversely affect our business.

PRC regulation of loans to, and direct investment in, PRC entities by offshore holding companies and governmental control of currency conversion may restrict or prevent us from using the proceeds of our initial public offering to make loans to our PRC subsidiary and consolidated affiliated entities, or to make additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiary.

We are an offshore holding company conducting our operations in China through our PRC subsidiary and consolidated affiliated entities. We may make loans to our PRC subsidiary and consolidated affiliated entities, or we may make additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiary, or we may establish new PRC subsidiary and make capital contributions to these new PRC subsidiaries, or we may acquire offshore entities with business operations in China in an offshore transaction.

Most of these ways are subject to PRC regulations and approvals. For example, loans by us to our wholly owned PRC subsidiary to finance its activities cannot exceed statutory limits and must be registered with the local counterpart of SAFE. If we decide to finance our wholly owned PRC subsidiary by means of capital contributions, these capital contributions are subject to the requirement of making necessary filings with the MOFCOM and registration with other governmental authorities in China. Due to the restrictions imposed on loans in foreign currencies extended to any PRC domestic companies, we are not likely to make such loans to our consolidated affiliated entities, which are PRC domestic company. Further, we are not likely to finance the activities of our consolidated affiliated entities by means of capital contributions due to regulatory restrictions relating to foreign investment in PRC domestic enterprises engaged in internet information services, online games, online audio-visual program services and related businesses.

The SAFE promulgated the Notice of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Reforming the Administration of Foreign Exchange Settlement of Capital of Foreign-invested Enterprises, or SAFE Circular 19, effective in June 2015. According to SAFE Circular 19, the flow and use of the RMB capital converted from foreign currency-denominated registered capital of a foreign-invested company is regulated such that RMB capital may not be used for the issuance of RMB entrusted loans, the repayment of inter-enterprise loans or the repayment of banks loans that have been transferred to a third party. Although SAFE Circular 19 allows RMB capital converted from foreign currency-denominated registered capital of a foreign-invested enterprise to be used for equity investments within the PRC, it also reiterates the principle that RMB converted from the foreign currency-denominated capital of a foreign-invested company may not be directly or indirectly used for purposes beyond its business scope. SAFE promulgated the Notice of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Reforming and Standardizing the Foreign Exchange Settlement Management Policy of Capital Account, or SAFE Circular 16, effective in June 2016, which reiterates some of the rules set forth in SAFE Circular 19, but changes the prohibition against using RMB capital converted from foreign currency-denominated registered capital of a foreign-invested company to issue RMB entrusted loans to a prohibition against using such capital to issue loans to non-associated enterprises. SAFE Circular 19 and SAFE Circular 16 may significantly limit our ability to transfer any foreign currency we hold, including the net proceeds from our initial public offering, to our PRC subsidiary, which may adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business in the PRC. On October 23, 2019, SAFE issued Notice of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Further Promoting the Facilitation of Cross-border Trade and Investment, or the Circular 28. Circular 28 allows non-investment foreign-invested enterprises to use their capital funds to make equity investments in China; provided that such investments do not violate the Negative List and the target investment projects are genuine and in compliance with PRC laws. Since Circular 28 was issued only recently, its interpretation and implementation in practice are still subject to substantial uncertainties.

In light of the various requirements imposed by PRC regulations on loans to and direct investment in PRC entities by offshore holding companies, we cannot assure you that we will be able to complete the necessary government registrations or obtain the necessary government approvals on a timely basis, if at all, with respect to future loans by us to our PRC subsidiary or with respect to future capital contributions by us to our PRC subsidiary. If we fail to complete such registrations or obtain such approvals, our ability to use the proceeds we received from our initial public offering and to capitalize or otherwise fund our PRC operations may be negatively affected, which could materially and adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business.

Fluctuation in the value of the RMB may have a material adverse effect on the value of your investment.

The conversion of Renminbi into foreign currencies, including U.S. dollars, is based on rates set by the People’s Bank of China. The Renminbi has fluctuated against the U.S. dollar, at times significantly and unpredictably. The value of Renminbi against the U.S. dollar and other currencies is affected by changes in China’s political and economic conditions and by China’s foreign exchange policies, among other things. We cannot assure you that Renminbi will not appreciate or depreciate significantly in value against the U.S. dollar in the future. It is difficult to predict how market forces or PRC or U.S. government policy may impact the exchange rate between Renminbi and the U.S. dollar in the future.

A certain percentage of our costs, expenses and revenues are denominated in RMB. Any significant depreciation of the RMB may materially adversely affect the value of, and any dividends payable on, our ADSs in U.S. Dollars. To the extent that we need to convert U.S. Dollars we received from our initial public offering into RMB for our operations, appreciation of the RMB against the U.S. Dollar would have an adverse effect on the RMB amount we would receive from the conversion. Conversely, if we decide to convert our RMB into U.S. Dollars for the purpose of paying dividends on our ordinary shares or ADSs or for other business purposes, appreciation of the U.S. Dollar against the RMB would have an adverse effect on the U.S. Dollar amount available to us.

Very limited hedging options are available in China to reduce our exposure to exchange rate fluctuations. To date, we have not entered into any hedging transactions in an effort to reduce our exposure to foreign currency exchange risk. While we may decide to enter into hedging transactions in the future, the availability and effectiveness of these hedges may be limited and we may not be able to adequately hedge our exposure or at all. In addition, our currency exchange losses may be magnified by PRC exchange control regulations that restrict our ability to convert Renminbi into foreign currency. As a result, fluctuations in exchange rates may have a material adverse effect on your investment.

Our ADSs may be delisted under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act if the PCAOB is unable to inspect auditors who are located in China. The delisting of our ADSs, or the threat of their being delisted, may materially and adversely affect the value of your investment. Additionally, the inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections deprives our investors with the benefits of such inspections.

The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, or the HFCA Act, was enacted on December 18, 2020. The HFCA Act states if the SEC determines that we have filed audit reports issued by a registered public accounting firm that has not been subject to inspection by the PCAOB for three consecutive years beginning in 2021, the SEC shall prohibit our shares or ADSs from being traded on a national securities exchange or in the over the counter trading market in the U.S.

Our auditor, the independent registered public accounting firm that issues the audit report included elsewhere in this annual report, as an auditor of companies that are traded publicly in the United States and a firm registered with the PCAOB, is subject to laws in the United States pursuant to which the PCAOB conducts regular inspections to assess its compliance with the applicable professional standards. Since our auditor is located in China, a jurisdiction where the PCAOB has been unable to conduct inspections without the approval of the Chinese authorities, our auditor is currently not inspected by the PCAOB.

On March 24, 2021, the SEC adopted interim final rules relating to the implementation of certain disclosure and documentation requirements of the HFCA Act. We will be required to comply with these rules if the SEC identifies us as having a “non-inspection” year under a process to be subsequently established by the SEC. The SEC is assessing how to implement other requirements of the HFCA Act, including the listing and trading prohibition requirements described above.

The SEC may propose additional rules or guidance that could impact us if our auditor is not subject to PCAOB inspection. For example, on August 6, 2020, the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, or the PWG, issued the Report on Protecting United States Investors from Significant Risks from Chinese Companies to the then President of the United States. This report recommended the SEC implement five recommendations to address companies from jurisdictions that do not provide the PCAOB with sufficient access to fulfil its statutory mandate. Some of the concepts of these recommendations were implemented with the enactment of the HFCA Act. However, some of the recommendations were more stringent than the HFCA Act. For example, if a company was not subject to PCAOB inspection, the report recommended that the transition period before a company would be delisted would end on January 1, 2022.

The SEC has announced that the SEC staff is preparing a consolidated proposal for the rules regarding the implementation of the HFCA Act and to address the recommendations in the PWG report. It is unclear when the SEC will complete its rulemaking and when such rules will become effective and what, if any, of the PWG recommendations will be adopted. The implications of this possible regulation in addition the requirements of the HFCA Act are uncertain. Such uncertainty could cause the market price of our ADSs to be materially and adversely affected, and our securities could be delisted or prohibited from being traded “over-the-counter” earlier than would be required by the HFCA Act. If our securities are unable to be listed on another securities exchange by then, such a delisting would substantially impair your ability to sell or purchase our ADSs when you wish to do so, and the risk and uncertainty associated with a potential delisting would have a negative impact on the price of our ADSs.

The PCAOB’s inability to conduct inspections in China prevents it from fully evaluating the audits and quality control procedures of our independent registered public accounting firm. As a result, we and investors in our ordinary shares are deprived of the benefits of such PCAOB inspections. The inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections of auditors in China makes it more difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of our independent registered public accounting firm’s audit procedures or quality control procedures as compared to auditors outside of China that are subject to the PCAOB inspections, which could cause investors and potential investors in our stock to lose confidence in our audit procedures and reported financial information and the quality of our financial statements.

In May 2013, the PCAOB announced that it had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding on Enforcement Cooperation with the CSRC and the PRC Ministry of Finance, which establishes a cooperative framework between the parties for the production and exchange of audit documents relevant to investigations undertaken by the PCAOB in the PRC or by the CSRC or the PRC Ministry of Finance in the United States. The PCAOB continues to be in discussions with the CSRC and the PRC Ministry of Finance to permit joint inspections in the PRC of audit firms that are registered with the PCAOB and audit Chinese companies that trade on U.S. exchanges.

It may be difficult for overseas regulators to conduct investigation or collect evidence within China.

Shareholder claims or regulatory investigation that are common in the United States generally are difficult to pursue as a matter of law or practicality in China. For example, in China, there are significant legal and other obstacles to providing information needed for regulatory investigations or litigations initiated outside China. Although the authorities in China may establish a regulatory cooperation mechanism with the securities regulatory authorities of another country or region to implement cross-border supervision and administration, such cooperation with the securities regulatory authorities in the Unities States may not be efficient in the absence of mutual and practical cooperation mechanism. Furthermore, according to Article 177 of the PRC Securities Law, which became effective in March 2020, no overseas securities regulator is allowed to directly conduct investigation or evidence collection activities within the PRC territory. While detailed interpretation of or implementation rules under Article 177 have yet to be promulgated, the inability for an overseas securities regulator to directly conduct investigation or evidence collection activities within China may further increase the difficulties you face in protecting your interests. See also "—Risks Related to Our ADSs—You may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through U.S. courts may be limited, because we are incorporated under Cayman Islands law."

The custodians or authorized users of our controlling non-tangible assets, including chops and seals, may fail to fulfill their responsibilities, or misappropriate or misuse these assets.

Under the PRC law, legal documents for corporate transactions, including agreements and contracts are executed using the chop or seal of the signing entity or with the signature of a legal representative whose designation is registered and filed with relevant PRC market regulation administrative authorities.

In order to secure the use of our chops and seals, we have established internal control procedures and rules for using these chops and seals. In any event that the chops and seals are intended to be used, the responsible personnel will submit a formal application, which will be verified and approved by authorized employees in accordance with our internal control procedures and rules. In addition, in order to maintain the physical security of our chops, we generally have them stored in secured locations accessible only to authorized employees. Although we monitor such authorized employees, the procedures may not be sufficient to prevent all instances of abuse or negligence. There is a risk that our employees could abuse their authority, for example, by entering into a contract not approved by us or seeking to gain control of one of our subsidiaries or our affiliated entities or their subsidiaries. If any employee obtains, misuses or misappropriates our chops and seals or other controlling non-tangible assets for whatever reason, we could experience disruption to our normal business operations. We may have to take corporate or legal action, which could involve significant time and resources to resolve and divert management from our operations, and we may not be able to recover our loss due to such misuse or misappropriation if the third party relies on the apparent authority of such employees and acts in good faith.

If additional remedial measures are imposed on major PRC-based accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm, our financial statements could be determined not to be in compliance with the SEC requirements.

Beginning in 2011, the Chinese affiliates of the “big four” accounting firms (including our independent registered public accounting firm) were affected by a conflict between the U.S. and Chinese law. Specifically, for certain U.S. listed companies operating and audited in the PRC, the SEC and the PCAOB sought to obtain access to the audit work papers and related documents of the Chinese affiliates of the “big four” accounting firms. The accounting firms were, however, advised and directed that, under Chinese law, they could not respond directly to the requests of the SEC and the PCAOB and that such requests, and similar requests by foreign regulators for access to such papers in the PRC, had to be channeled through the China Securities Regulatory Commission, or the CSRC.

In late 2012, this impasse led the SEC to commence administrative proceedings under Rule 102(e) of its Rules of Practice and also under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 against the “big four” accounting firms (including our independent registered public accounting firm). A first instance trial of these proceedings in July 2013 in the SEC’s internal administrative court resulted in an adverse judgment against the firms. The administrative law judge proposed penalties on the firms, including a temporary suspension of their right to practice before the SEC. Implementation of the latter penalty was postponed pending review by the SEC Commissioners. On February 6, 2015, before a review by the SEC Commissioners had taken place, the firms reached a settlement with the SEC. Under the settlement, the SEC accepts that future requests by the SEC for the production of documents will normally be made to the CSRC. The firms will receive matching Section 106 requests, and are required to abide by a detailed set of procedures with respect to such requests, which in substance require them to facilitate production via the CSRC. If the firms fail to follow these procedures and meet certain other specified criteria, the SEC retains the authority to impose a variety of additional remedial measures, including, as appropriate, an automatic six-month bar on a firm’s ability to perform certain audit work, commencement of new proceedings against a firm or, in extreme cases, the resumption of the current administrative proceeding against all four firms. If additional remedial measures are imposed on the Chinese affiliates of the "big four" accounting firms, including our independent registered public accounting firm, in administrative proceedings brought by the SEC alleging the firms' failure to meet specific criteria set by the SEC with respect to requests for the production of documents, we could be unable to timely file future financial statements in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act.

In the event that the SEC restarts administrative proceedings, depending upon the final outcome, listed companies in the U.S. with major PRC operations may find it difficult or impossible to retain auditors in respect of their operations in the PRC, which could result in their financial statements being determined to not be in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, including possible delisting. Moreover, any negative news about any such future proceedings against the firms may cause investor uncertainty regarding PRC-based, U.S.-listed companies and the market price of their shares may be adversely affected.

If our independent registered public accounting firm was denied, even temporarily, the ability to practice before the SEC and we were unable to timely find another registered public accounting firm to audit and issue an opinion on our financial statements, our financial statements could be determined not to be in compliance with the requirements of the Exchange Act. Such a determination could ultimately lead to the delisting of our ADSs from the New York Stock Exchange or deregistration from the SEC, or both, which would substantially reduce or effectively terminate the trading of our ADSs in the United States.

Risks Related to Our ADSs

The trading price of our ADSs is likely to be volatile, which could result in substantial losses to investors.

During the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, the trading price of our ADSs has ranged from US$2.61 to US$7.45 per ADS. On March 31, 2021, the closing price of the ADSs on the New York Stock Exchange was US$2.77 per ADS. The trading price of our ADSs is likely to be volatile and could fluctuate widely due to factors beyond our control. This may happen because of broad market and industry factors, including the performance and fluctuation of the market prices of other mobile internet companies based in China that have listed their securities in the United States. In addition to market and industry factors, the price and trading volume for our ADSs may be highly volatile for factors specific to our own operations, including the following:

Any of these factors may result in large and sudden changes in the volume and price at which our ADSs will trade.

In the past, shareholders of public companies have often brought securities class action suits against those companies following periods of instability in the market price of their securities. If we were involved in a class action suit, it could divert a significant amount of our management’s attention and other resources from our business and operations and require us to incur significant expenses to defend the suit, which could harm our operating results. Any such class action suit, whether or not successful, could harm our reputation and restrict our ability to raise capital in the future. In addition, if a claim is successfully made against us, we may be required to pay significant damages, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Techniques employed by short sellers may drive down the market price of our ADSs.

Short selling is the practice of selling securities that the seller does not own but rather has borrowed from a third party with the intention of buying identical securities back at a later date to return to the lender. The short seller hopes to profit from a decline in the value of the securities between the sale of the borrowed securities and the purchase of the replacement shares, as the short seller expects to pay less in that purchase than it received in the sale. As it is in the short seller's interest for the price of the security to decline, many short sellers publish, or arrange for the publication of, negative opinions regarding the relevant issuer and its business prospects in order to create negative market momentum and generate profits for themselves after selling a security short. These short attacks have, in the past, led to selling of shares in the market.

Public companies listed in the United States that have a substantial majority of their operations in China have been the subject of short selling. Much of the scrutiny and negative publicity has centered on allegations of a lack of effective internal control over financial reporting resulting in financial and accounting irregularities and mistakes, inadequate corporate governance policies or a lack of adherence thereto and, in many cases, allegations of fraud. As a result, many of these companies are now conducting internal and external investigations into the allegations and, in the interim, are subject to shareholder lawsuits and/or SEC enforcement actions.

We may be the subject of unfavorable allegations made by short sellers in the future. Any such allegations may be followed by periods of instability in the market price of our common shares and ADSs and negative publicity. If and when we become the subject of any unfavorable allegations, whether such allegations are proven to be true or untrue, we could have to expend a significant amount of resources to investigate such allegations and/or defend ourselves. While we would strongly defend against any such short seller attacks, we may be constrained in the manner in which we can proceed against the relevant short seller by principles of freedom of speech, applicable federal or state law or issues of commercial confidentiality. Such a situation could be costly and time-consuming and could distract our management from growing our business. Even if such allegations are ultimately proven to be groundless, allegations against us could severely impact our business operations and shareholders' equity, and the value of any investment in our ADSs could be greatly reduced or rendered worthless.

Our dual-class share structure with different voting rights will limit your ability to influence corporate matters and could discourage others from pursuing any change of control transactions that holders of our Class A ordinary shares and ADSs may view as beneficial.

We have created a dual-class share structure such that our ordinary shares shall consist of Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares. In respect of matters requiring the votes of shareholders, holders of Class A ordinary shares are entitled to one vote per share, while holders of Class B ordinary shares are entitled to twenty-five (25) votes per share on all matters subject to vote at general meetings of our company based on our dual-class share structure. Each Class B ordinary share is convertible into one Class A ordinary share at any time at the option of the holder thereof, while Class A ordinary shares are not convertible into Class B ordinary shares under any circumstances. Upon any sale, transfer, assignment or disposition of any Class B ordinary shares by a holder thereof to any person or entity other than holders of Class B ordinary shares or their affiliates, or upon a change of ultimate beneficial ownership of any Class B ordinary shares to any person who is not an affiliate of the holder thereof, such Class B ordinary shares shall be automatically and immediately converted into the equivalent number of Class A ordinary shares.

As of March 31, 2021, our chairman of the board of directors and chief technology officer, Karl Kan Zhang, beneficially owns all of our issued Class B ordinary shares. These Class B ordinary shares constitutes approximately 7.7% of our total issued and outstanding share capital and 67.4% of the aggregate voting power of our total issued and outstanding share capital as of March 31, 2021, due to the disparate voting powers associated with our dual-class share structure. See “Item 6. Directors, Senior Management and Employees—E. Share Ownership.” As a result of the dual-class share structure and the concentration of ownership, holders of Class B ordinary shares have considerable influence over matters such as decisions regarding mergers, consolidations and the sale of all or substantially all of our assets, election of directors and other significant corporate actions. Such holders may take actions that are not in the best interest of us or our other shareholders. This concentration of ownership may discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company, which could have the effect of depriving our other shareholders of the opportunity to receive a premium for their shares as part of a sale of our company and may reduce the price of our ADSs. This concentrated control will limit your ability to influence corporate matters and could discourage others from pursuing any potential merger, takeover or other change of control transactions that holders of Class A ordinary shares and ADSs may view as beneficial.

The dual-class structure of our ordinary shares may adversely affect the trading market for our ADSs.

S&P Dow Jones and FTSE Russell have recently announced changes to their eligibility criteria for inclusion of shares of public companies on certain indices, including the S&P 500, to exclude companies with multiple classes of shares and companies whose public shareholders hold no more than 5% of total voting power from being added to such indices. In addition, several shareholder advisory firms have announced their opposition to the use of multiple class structures. As a result, the dual-class structure of our ordinary shares may prevent the inclusion of our ADSs representing Class A ordinary shares in such indices and may cause shareholder advisory firms to publish negative commentary about our corporate governance practices or otherwise seek to cause us to change our capital structure. Any such exclusion from indices could result in a less active trading market for our ADSs. Any actions or publications by shareholder advisory firms critical of our corporate governance practices or capital structure could also adversely affect the value of our ADSs.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research about our business, or if they adversely change their recommendations regarding our ADSs, the market price for our ADSs and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our ADSs will be influenced by research or reports that industry or securities analysts publish about our business. If one or more analysts who cover us downgrade our ADSs, the market price for our ADSs would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease to cover us, or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause the market price or trading volume for our ADSs to decline.

Substantial future sale or the perception of a potential sale of substantial amounts of our ADSs could adversely affect our ADRs’ market price.

Sales of substantial amounts of our ADSs in the public market, or the perception that these sales could occur, could adversely affect the market price of our ADSs and could materially impair our ability to raise capital through equity offerings in the future. We cannot predict what effect, if any, market sales of securities held by our significant shareholders or any other shareholder or the availability of these securities for future sale will have on the market price of our ADSs.

Because we do not expect to pay dividends in the foreseeable future, you must rely on price appreciation of our ADSs for return on your investment.

We currently intend to retain most, if not all, of our available funds and any future earnings to fund the development and growth of our business. As a result, we do not expect to pay any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Therefore, you should not rely on an investment in our ADSs as a source for a future dividend income.

Pursuant to our seventh amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, our board of directors has complete discretion as to whether to distribute dividends, subject to certain requirements of Cayman Islands law. In addition, our shareholders may by ordinary resolution declare a dividend, but no dividend may exceed the amount recommended by our board of directors. Under Cayman Islands law, a Cayman Islands company may pay a dividend either out of profits or share premium account; provided that in no circumstances may a dividend be paid if this would result in the company being unable to pay its debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business. Even if our board of directors decides to declare and pay dividends, the timing, amount and form of future dividends, if any, will depend on, among other things, our future results of operations and cash flow, our capital requirements and surplus, the amount of distributions, if any, received by us from our subsidiaries, our financial condition, contractual restrictions and other factors deemed relevant by our board of directors. Accordingly, the return on your investment in our ADSs will likely depend entirely upon any future price appreciation of our ADSs. There is no guarantee that our ADSs will appreciate in value or even maintain the price at which you purchased the ADSs. You may not realize a return on your investment in our ADSs and you may even lose your entire investment in our ADSs.

You may be subject to PRC income tax on dividends from us or on any gain realized on the transfer of our ADSs.

Under the EIT Law and its implementation rules, subject to any applicable tax treaty or similar arrangement between the PRC and your jurisdiction of residence that provides for a different income tax arrangement, PRC withholding tax at the rate of 10% is normally applicable to dividends from PRC sources payable to investors that are non-PRC resident enterprises, which do not have an establishment or place of business in the PRC, or which have such establishment or place of business if the relevant income is not effectively connected with the establishment or place of business. Any gain realized on the transfer of ADSs or ordinary shares by such non-PRC resident enterprise investors is also subject to 10% PRC income tax if such gain is regarded as income derived from sources within the PRC, unless a tax treaty or similar arrangement provides otherwise. Under the PRC Individual Income Tax Law and its implementation rules, dividends from sources within the PRC paid to foreign individual investors who are not PRC residents are generally subject to a PRC withholding tax at a rate of 20% and gains from PRC sources realized by such investors on the transfer of ADSs or ordinary shares are generally subject to 20% PRC income tax, in each case, subject to any reduction or exemption set forth in applicable tax treaties and similar arrangements and PRC laws. Although substantially all of our daily operations are in China, it is unclear whether dividends we pay with respect to our ADSs, or the gain realized from the transfer of our ADSs, would be treated as income derived from sources within the PRC and as a result be subject to PRC income tax if we were considered a PRC resident enterprise, as described above. If PRC income tax were imposed on gains realized through the transfer of our ADSs or on dividends paid to our non-PRC resident investors, the value of your investment in our ADSs may be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, our ADS holders whose jurisdictions of residence have tax treaties or similar arrangements with China may not qualify for benefits under such tax treaties or arrangements.

There can be no assurance that we will not be a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC, for U.S. federal income tax purposes for any taxable year, which could result in adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences to U.S. holders of our ADSs or ordinary shares.

A non-U.S. corporation will be considered a passive foreign investment company, or “PFIC,” for any taxable year if either (i) at least 75% of its gross income for such year consists of certain types of “passive” income; or (ii) at least 50% of the value of its assets (generally determined on the basis of a quarterly average) during such year is attributable to assets that produce passive income or are held for the production of passive income (the “asset test”). Although the law in this regard is not entirely clear, we treat our VIEs as being owned by us for United States federal income tax purposes because we control their management decisions and are entitled to substantially all of the economic benefits associated with them. As a result, we consolidate their results of operations in our consolidated U.S. GAAP financial statements. If it were determined, however, that we are not the owner of our VIEs for United States federal income tax purposes, we would likely be treated as a PFIC for the current taxable year and any subsequent taxable year.

Assuming that we are the owner of our VIEs for United States federal income tax purposes, we do not believe that we were a PFIC for our taxable year ended December 31, 2020 and we do not presently expect to be a PFIC for the current taxable year or the foreseeable future. However, no assurance can be given in this regard because the determination of whether we are or will become a PFIC is a fact-intensive inquiry made on an annual basis that depends, in part, upon the composition of our income and assets and the value of our assets.

Fluctuations in the market price of our ADSs may cause us to become a PFIC for the current or future taxable years because the value of our assets for the purpose of the asset test, including the value of our goodwill and unbooked intangibles, may be determined by reference to the market price of our ADSs from time to time (which may be volatile). The composition of our income and assets may also be affected by how, and how quickly, we use our liquid assets. If our market capitalization subsequently declines, we may be or become a PFIC for the current taxable year or future taxable years. Under circumstances where our revenue from activities that produce passive income significantly increases relative to our revenue from activities that produce non-passive income, or where we determine not to deploy significant amounts of cash for active purposes, our risk of becoming a PFIC may substantially increase.

If we were to be or become a PFIC for any taxable year during which a U.S. Holder (as defined in “Item 10. Additional Information—Taxation—United States Federal Income Tax Considerations”) holds our ADSs or ordinary shares, certain adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences could apply to such U.S. Holder. See “Item 10. Additional Information—Taxation—United States Federal Income Tax Considerations—Passive Foreign Investment Company Rules.”

Our memorandum and articles of association contain anti-takeover provisions that could have a material adverse effect on the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares and ADSs.

Our seventh memorandum and articles of association contain provisions to limit the ability of others to acquire control of our company or cause us to engage in change-of-control transactions. These provisions could have the effect of depriving our shareholders of an opportunity to sell their shares at a premium over prevailing market prices by discouraging third parties from seeking to obtain control of our company in a tender offer or similar transaction. Our dual-class voting structure gives disproportionate voting power to holders of the Class B ordinary shares. In addition, our board of directors has the authority, without further action by our shareholders, to issue preferred shares in one or more series and to fix their designations, powers, preferences, privileges, and relative participating, optional or special rights and the qualifications, limitations or restrictions, including dividend rights, conversion rights, voting rights, terms of redemption and liquidation preferences, any or all of which may be greater than the rights associated with our Class A ordinary shares, in the form of ADS or otherwise. Preferred shares could be issued quickly with terms calculated to delay or prevent a change in control of our company or make removal of management more difficult. If our board of directors decides to issue preferred shares, the price of our ADSs may fall and the voting and other rights of the holders of our Class A ordinary shares and ADSs may be materially and adversely affected.

You may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through U.S. courts may be limited, because we are incorporated under Cayman Islands law.

We are an exempted company limited by shares incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. Our corporate affairs are governed by our memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Act (As Revised) of the Cayman Islands and the common law of the Cayman Islands. The rights of shareholders to take action against the directors, actions by minority shareholders, and the fiduciary duties owed to us by our directors under Cayman Islands law are to a large extent governed by the common law of the Cayman Islands. The common law of the Cayman Islands is derived in part from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the Cayman Islands as well as from the common law of England, the decisions of whose courts are of persuasive authority, but are not binding, on a court in the Cayman Islands. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary duties owed to us by our directors under Cayman Islands law are not as clearly established as they would be under statutes or judicial precedent in some jurisdictions in the United States. In particular, the Cayman Islands has a less developed body of securities laws than the United States. Some U.S. states, such as Delaware, have more fully developed and judicially interpreted bodies of corporate law than the Cayman Islands. In addition, Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to initiate a shareholder derivative action in a federal court of the United States.

Shareholders of Cayman Islands exempted companies like us have no general rights under Cayman Islands law to inspect corporate records (save for our memorandum, articles of association and our register of mortgages and charges) or to obtain copies of lists of shareholders of these companies. Our directors have discretion under our memorandum and articles of association to determine whether or not, and under what conditions, our corporate records may be inspected by our shareholders, but are not obliged to make them available to our shareholders. This may make it more difficult for our shareholders to obtain the information needed to establish any facts necessary for them to motion or to solicit proxies from other shareholders in connection with a proxy contest.

As a result of all of the above, our public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions taken by management, members of the board of directors or controlling shareholders than they would as public shareholders of a company incorporated in the United States.

ADSs holders may not be entitled to a jury trial with respect to claims arising under the deposit agreement, which could result in less favorable outcomes to the plaintiff (s) in any such action.

The deposit agreement governing the ADSs representing our ordinary shares provides that, subject to the depositary’s right to require a claim to be submitted to arbitration, the federal or state courts in the City of New York have exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine claims arising under the deposit agreement and in that regard, to the fullest extent permitted by law, ADS holders waive the right to a jury trial of any claim they may have against us or the depositary arising out of or relating to our shares, the ADSs or the deposit agreement, including any claim under the U.S. federal securities laws.

If we or the depositary opposed a jury trial demand based on the waiver, the court would determine whether the waiver was enforceable based on the facts and circumstances of that case in accordance with the applicable U.S. state and federal law. To our knowledge, the enforceability of a contractual pre-dispute jury trial waiver in connection with claims arising under the U.S. federal securities laws has not been finally adjudicated by the United States Supreme Court. However, we believe that a contractual pre-dispute jury trial waiver provision is generally enforceable, including under the laws of the State of New York, which govern the deposit agreement. In determining whether to enforce a contractual pre-dispute jury trial waiver provision, courts will generally consider whether a party knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily waived the right to a jury trial. We believe that this is the case with respect to the deposit agreement and the ADSs. It is advisable that you consult legal counsel regarding the jury waiver provision before entering into the deposit agreement.

If you or any other holders or beneficial owners of ADSs bring a claim against us or the depositary in connection with matters arising under the deposit agreement or the ADSs, including claims under U.S. federal securities laws, you or such other holder or beneficial owner may not be entitled to a jury trial with respect to such claims, which may have the effect of limiting and discouraging lawsuits against us and/or the depositary. If a lawsuit is brought against us and/or the depositary under the deposit agreement, it may be heard only by a judge or justice of the applicable trial court, which would be conducted according to different civil procedures and may result in different outcomes than a trial by jury would have had, including results that could be less favorable to the plaintiff(s) in any such action.

Nevertheless, if this jury trial waiver provision is not enforced, to the extent a court action proceeds, it would proceed under the terms of the deposit agreement with a jury trial. No condition, stipulation or provision of the deposit agreement or ADSs serves as a waiver by any holder or beneficial owner of ADSs or by us or the depositary of compliance with any substantive provision of the U.S. federal securities laws and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.

Your rights to pursue claims against the depositary as a holder of ADSs are limited by the terms of the deposit agreement.

Under the deposit agreement, any action or proceeding against or involving the depositary, arising out of or based upon the deposit agreement or the transactions contemplated thereby or by virtue of owning the ADSs may only be instituted in a state or federal court in New York, New York, and you, as a holder of our ADSs, will have irrevocably waived any objection which you may have to the laying of venue of any such proceeding, and irrevocably submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of such courts in any such action or proceeding.

The depositary may, in its sole discretion, require that any dispute or difference arising from the relationship created by the deposit agreement be referred to and finally settled by an arbitration conducted under the terms described in the deposit agreement, although the arbitration provisions do not preclude you from pursuing claims under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act in state or federal courts.

Certain judgments obtained against us by our shareholders may not be enforceable.

We are a Cayman Islands exempted company and substantially all of our assets are located outside of the United States. Substantially all of our daily operations are conducted in China. In addition, substantially all of our current directors and officers are nationals and residents of countries other than the United States, and substantially all of the assets of these persons are located outside the United States. As a result, it may be difficult or impossible for you to bring an action against us or against these individuals in the United States in the event that you believe that your rights have been infringed under the U.S. federal securities laws or otherwise. Even if you are successful in bringing an action of this kind, the laws of the Cayman Islands and of China may render you unable to enforce a judgment against our assets or the assets of our directors and officers.

We are an emerging growth company within the meaning of the Securities Act and may take advantage of certain reduced reporting requirements.

As a company with less than US$1.07 billion in revenues for our last fiscal year, we qualify as an “emerging growth company" pursuant to the JOBS Act. Therefore, we may take advantage of certain exemptions from requirements applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, most significantly, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 for so long as we remain an emerging growth company until the fifth anniversary from the date of our initial listing. As a result, if we elect not to comply with such auditor attestation requirements, our investors may not have access to certain information they may deem important. In addition, pursuant to the JOBS Act, we have elected to take advantage of the extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. As a result, our operating results and financial statements may not be comparable to the operating results and financial statements of other companies who have adopted the new or revised accounting standards. If we cease to be an emerging growth company, we will no longer be able to take advantage of these exemptions or the extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards.

We cannot predict if investors will find our ADSs less attractive or our company less comparable to certain other public companies because we will rely on these exemptions and election. If some investors find our ADSs less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our ADSs and our ADS price may be more volatile.

We will incur increased costs as a result of being a public company, particularly after we cease to qualify as an “emerging growth company.”

We are a public company and expect to incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as well as rules subsequently implemented by the SEC and the New York Stock Exchange, impose various requirements on the corporate governance practices of public companies. As a company with less than US$1.07 billion in revenues for our last fiscal year, we qualify as an “emerging growth company” pursuant to the JOBS Act. An emerging growth company may take advantage of specified reduced reporting and other requirements that are otherwise applicable generally to public companies. These provisions include exemption from the auditor attestation requirement under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or Section 404, in the assessment of the emerging growth company’s internal control over financial reporting. The JOBS Act also permits an emerging growth company to delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. We have elected to take advantage of such extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards as required when they are adopted for public companies.

We expect these rules and regulations to increase our legal and financial compliance costs and to make some corporate activities more time-consuming and costly. After we are no longer an “emerging growth company,” we expect to incur significant expenses and devote substantial management effort toward ensuring compliance with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the other rules and regulations of the SEC. For example, as a result of becoming a public company, we will need to increase the number of independent directors and adopt policies regarding internal controls and disclosure controls and procedures. We also expect that operating as a public company may make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. In addition, we may incur additional costs associated with our public company reporting requirements. It may also be more difficult for us to find qualified persons to serve on our board of directors or as executive officers. We are currently evaluating and monitoring developments with respect to these rules and regulations, and we cannot predict or estimate with any degree of certainty the amount of additional costs we may incur or the timing of such costs.

As an exempted company incorporated in the Cayman Islands, we are permitted to adopt certain home country practices in relation to corporate governance matters that differ significantly from the NYSE corporate governance listing standards; these practices may afford less protection to shareholders than they would enjoy if we complied fully with the NYSE corporate governance listing standards.

As a Cayman Islands exempted company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, we are subject to the NYSE corporate governance listing standards. However, NYSE rules permit a foreign private issuer like us to follow the corporate governance practices of its home country. Certain corporate governance practices in the Cayman Islands, which is our home country, may differ significantly from the NYSE corporate governance listing standards. We have chosen, and may from time to time choose, to follow home country exemptions with respect to certain corporate matters. For example, beginning on September 2, 2019, we have been following home country practice in lieu of the requirements of NYSE Listed Company Manual Section 303A.01 to have a majority of independent directors and Section 303A.07 to have an audit committee with at least three members. As a result, our shareholders may be afforded less protection than they would otherwise enjoy under the NYSE governance listing standards applicable to U.S. domestic issuers.

We are a foreign private issuer within the meaning of the rules under the Exchange Act, and as such we are exempt from certain provisions applicable to United States domestic public companies.

Because we are a foreign private issuer under the Exchange Act, we are exempt from certain provisions of the securities rules and regulations in the United States that are applicable to U.S. domestic issuers, including:

We are required to file an annual report within four months of the end of each fiscal year. In addition, we voluntarily publish our results on a quarterly basis through press releases, distributed pursuant to the rules and regulations of the New York Stock Exchange. Press releases relating to financial results and material events are furnished to the SEC on Form 6-K. However, the information we are required to file with or furnish to the SEC are less extensive and less timely compared to that required to be filed with the SEC by U.S. domestic issuers. As a result, you may not be afforded the same protections or information, which would be made available to you, were you investing in a U.S. domestic issuer.

The voting rights of holders of ADSs are limited by the terms of the deposit agreement, and you may not be able to exercise your right to vote your Class A ordinary shares.

Holders of ADSs do not have the same rights as our registered shareholders. As a holder of our ADSs, you do not have any direct right to attend general meetings of our shareholders or to cast any votes at such meetings. You will only be able to exercise the voting rights which are carried by the underlying Class A ordinary shares represented by your ADSs indirectly by giving voting instructions to the depositary in accordance with the provisions of the deposit agreement. Under the deposit agreement, you may vote by giving voting instructions to the depositary. Upon receipt of your voting instructions, the depositary will try, as far as is practicable, to vote the underlying Class A ordinary shares represented by your ADSs in accordance with your instructions. If we ask for your instructions, then upon receipt of your voting instructions, the depositary will try to vote the underlying Class A ordinary shares in accordance with these instructions. If we do not instruct the depositary to ask for your instructions, the depositary may still vote in accordance with instructions you give, but it is not required to do so. You are not able to directly exercise your right to vote with respect to the underlying Class A ordinary shares represented by your ADSs unless you withdraw such shares, and become the registered holder of such shares prior to the record date for the general meeting. When a general meeting is convened, you may not receive sufficient advance notice of the meeting to withdraw the underlying Class A ordinary shares represented by your ADSs and become the registered holder of such shares to allow you to attend the general meeting and to vote directly with respect to any specific matter or resolution to be considered and voted upon at the general meeting. In addition, under our seventh amended and restated articles of association, for the purposes of determining those shareholders who are entitled to attend and vote at any general meeting, our directors may close our register of members and/or fix in advance a record date for such meeting, and such closure of our register of members or the setting of such a record date may prevent you from withdrawing the underlying Class A ordinary shares represented by your ADSs and becoming the registered holder of such shares prior to the record date, so that you would not be able to attend the general meeting or to vote directly. If we ask for your instructions, the depositary will notify you of the upcoming vote and will arrange to deliver our voting materials to you. We cannot assure you that you will receive the voting materials in time to ensure that you can instruct the depositary to vote the underlying Class A ordinary shares represented by your ADSs. In addition, the depositary and its agents are not responsible for failing to carry out voting instructions or for their manner of carrying out your voting instructions. This means that you may not be able to exercise your right to direct how the underlying Class A ordinary shares represented by your ADSs are voted and you may have no legal remedy if the underlying Class A ordinary shares represented by your ADSs are not voted as you requested.

You may experience dilution of your holdings due to inability to participate in rights offerings.

We may, from time to time, distribute rights to our shareholders, including rights to acquire securities. Under the deposit agreement, the depositary will not distribute rights to holders of ADSs unless the distribution and sale of rights and the securities to which these rights relate are either exempt from registration under the Securities Act with respect to all holders of ADSs, or are registered under the provisions of the Securities Act. The depositary may, but is not required to, attempt to sell these undistributed rights to third parties, and may allow the rights to lapse. We may be unable to establish an exemption from registration under the Securities Act, and we are under no obligation to file a registration statement with respect to these rights or underlying securities or to endeavor to have a registration statement declared effective. Accordingly, holders of ADSs may be unable to participate in our rights offerings and may experience dilution of their holdings as a result.

You may be subject to limitations on transfer of your ADSs.

Your ADSs are transferable on the books of the depositary. However, the depositary may close its books at any time or from time to time when it deems expedient in connection with the performance of its duties. The depositary may close its books from time to time for a number of reasons, including in connection with corporate events such as a rights offering, during which time the depositary needs to maintain an exact number of ADS holders on its books for a specified period. The depositary may also close its books in emergencies, and on weekends and public holidays. The depositary may refuse to deliver, transfer or register transfers of our ADSs generally when our share register or the books of the depositary are closed, or at any time if we or the depositary thinks it is advisable to do so because of any requirement of law or of any government or governmental body, or under any provision of the deposit agreement, or for any other reason.

ITEM 4.    INFORMATION ON THE COMPANY

A.History and Development of the Company

We commenced our mobile internet business and launched our first mobile application, TouchPal Smart Input, in 2008. We initially conducted our business through Shanghai Hanxiang (CooTek) Information Technology Co., Ltd., or Shanghai Hanxiang, a PRC domestic company.

In March 2012, we incorporated CooTek (Cayman) Inc., or CooTek Cayman, as our offshore holding company in order to facilitate foreign investment in our company. We established CooTek Hong Kong Limited, or CooTek HK, as our intermediate holding company, which in turn established a wholly owned PRC subsidiary, Shanghai Chule (CooTek) Information Technology Co., Ltd., or Shanghai Chule or WFOE, in June 2012. Subsequently, we, through our WFOE, entered into a series of contractual arrangements with Shanghai Hanxiang and its shareholders whereby we were established as the primary beneficiary of Shanghai Hanxiang. We have recognized the net assets of Shanghai Hanxiang at historical cost with no change in basis in the consolidated financial statements upon the completion of this reorganization.

In March 2012, we formed a PRC domestic company, Shanghai Chubao (CooTek) Information Technology Co., Ltd., or Shanghai Chubao, to operate part of our Chinese business.

In September 2014, we incorporated TouchPal HK Co., Limited to operate our overseas business.

In July 2015, we incorporated TouchPal. Inc., a U.S. company, to operate a research and development center in Silicon Valley and acquire talents from the U.S.

In 2017, we formed two PRC domestic companies, Molihong (Shenzhen) Internet Technology Co., Ltd., or Molihong, and Yingsun Information Technology (Ningbo) Co., Ltd., or Yingsun, to operate certain of our portfolio products.

In 2019, we formed Shanghai Qiaohan Technology Co., Ltd., or Qiaohan, to operate certain of our portfolio products.

In October 2020, we formed Shanghai Qinglin Network Technology Co., Ltd., or Qinglin, to operate the online games.

On December 15, 2020, we filed a Form F-3 with the SEC to offer and sell Class A ordinary shares, including Class A ordinary shares represented by ADSs, preferred shares, debt securities and/or warrants of an aggregate offering price of up to US$100,000,000.

On January 19, 2021, we offered US$10,000,000 aggregate principal amount of convertible note with an annual interest rate of 5% directly to YA II PN, Ltd, a Cayman Islands exempt limited partnership, due January 19, 2022 (the “January 2021 Note”). As of the date of this annual report, the January 2021 Note has been converted to 3,933,317 ADSs with the average conversion price of US$2.54 per ADS.

On January 25, 2021, we entered into a Standby Equity Distribution Agreement, with YA II PN, Ltd., for the offer and sale of up to US$20,000,000 of the ADSs, and we will be able to sell up to US$20,000,000 of our ADSs at our request any time during the following 36 months.

On March 19, 2021, we entered into a securities purchase agreement and a convertible note with YA II PN, Ltd., pursuant to which YA II PN, Ltd. will purchase a convertible promissory note in the principal amount of US$20,000,000 with an annual interest rate of 5%, which may be convertible into our Class A ordinary shares in exchange for our ADSs, due March 19, 2022 (the “March 2021 Note”). Beginning on June 1, 2021 and continuing on the first day of each calendar month thereafter through January 2022, the Principal amount plus an 8% redemption premium and plus accrued and unpaid interest will be subject to monthly redemption in the event that the daily VWAP on each of the five consecutive trading days immediately prior to the redemption date does not exceed a price equal to 108% of the fixed conversion price.

Due to restrictions imposed by PRC laws and regulations on foreign ownership of companies that engaged in mobile internet and mobile advertising businesses, our WFOE also entered into a series of contractual arrangements with Shanghai Chubao, Molihong, Qiaohan and Qinglin, and their respective shareholders. We collectively refer to these domestic entities and Shanghai Hanxiang as our VIEs in this annual report. The business of Shanghai Hanxiang was migrated into other entities in our group, and Shanghai Hanxiang has gradually ceased its business operations since 2012. As of the date of this annual report, Shanghai Hanxiang does not have any substantive business operations. For more details and risks related to our variable interest entity structure, please see “Item 3. Risk Factors—D. Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure.” As a result of our direct ownership in our WFOE and the variable interest entity contractual arrangements, we are regarded as the primary beneficiary of our VIEs. We treat them as our consolidated affiliated entities under U.S. GAAP, and have consolidated the financial results of these entities in our consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

Our principal executive offices are located at 9-11F, No.16, Lane 399, Xinlong Road, Minhang District, Shanghai, 201101, People’s Republic of China. Our telephone number at this address is +86 21 6485-6352. Our registered office in the Cayman Islands is located at the offices of Maples Corporate Services Limited at PO Box 309, Ugland House, Grand Cayman, KY1-1104, Cayman Islands. Our agent for service of process in the United States is Puglisi & Associates, located at 850 Library Avenue, Suite 204 Newark, Delaware 19711.

SEC maintains an Internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC on www.sec.gov. You can also find information on our website https://ir.cootek.com/.

B.Business Overview

We are a fast-growing mobile internet company with a global vision. Our mission is to empower everyone to enjoy relevant content seamlessly. We have developed and brought to market content-rich mobile applications, focusing on three categories: online literature, scenario-based content apps and casual games. Sophisticated big data analytics and data-driven user insights are the backbone of our business, enabling us to release appealing products that capture mobile internet users’ ever-evolving content needs and attract targeted users. Our portfolio products of mobile applications serve a global user base comprised of an average of 27.8 million DAUs in December 2020, compared to an average of 24.7 million DAUs in December 2019.

Building upon user insights initially accumulated through TouchPal Smart Input, an intelligent input method for mobile devices, we have formulated a systematic approach to growing a global product portfolio, through which we deliver relevant content, develop content-rich mobile application and increase our user base. We employ proprietary big data analytical technologies both to process data we gathered through our mobile applications and a large amount of content that we source and organize from the internet. These technologies enable us to obtain in-depth user insights and identify market opportunities.

We have launched over 45 content-rich portfolio products as of December 31, 2020. Our content-rich mobile applications focus on three categories: online literature, casual games and scenario-based content apps. Those mobile applications reached 74.6 million MAUs and 24.7 million DAUs on average in December 2019 and 85.8 million MAUs and 27.8 million DAUs on average in December 2020.

We have been rapidly expanding the scale of the product portfolio by leveraging the competitive user base and spending time achieved by our core product in the online literature business: Fengdu Novel. The DAUs of Fengdu Novel reached nearly 10 million in December 2020 with approximately 130 minutes of user average daily reading time. With the rapid growth of our online literature products, we have further developed other synergized business segments like casual games.

In addition, we have started to build a customized content production model for our online literature business that establishes the data feedback and matrices between our signed authors and readers, so that the content ecosystem is adaptive to our users’ ever-evolving content preferences.

As our user base and business operations continue to grow in the recent years using our systematic approach, we have demonstrated our monetization capability in mobile advertising. We leverage our in-depth user insights to deliver targeted, precise and engaging advertisements that are relevant to users across our various mobile applications. Reinvesting part of our revenues generated by mobile advertising, we can further improve our user-centric and data-driven technology, which enables us to release more appealing products to capture mobile internet users’ ever-evolving content needs and help us rapidly acquire new users with our ever-improving user profile analysis. For information on our financial performance, see “Item 5.A. Operating Results.”

In the first quarter of 2019, we launched CooTek Ads, an in-house developed advertising platform supported by our proprietary big data capabilities serving advertising customers directly or through advertising agencies. This system allows advertisers to create and manage advertisement campaigns and budget, and to place advertisements in our portfolio applications directly.

Our Products

Content-rich Mobile Applications

Following our user-centric and data-driven approach, we have developed and brought to market the following global mobile applications focusing on three categories: online literature, casual games and scenario-based mobile apps.

Online literature

First launched in 2019, Fengdu Novel is a mobile application that provides users with free online novels. Unlike the other paid user-only model in the online literature industry that charges users a fee for most content offered, users of Fengdu Novel can enjoy literature works under a free-to-read model. Users have free access to a large literature library. We classify the genre, length, popularity, serial or completed literature works by adding keywords to the content, and users can search for content based on these key words. Fengdu Novel is currently available on both Android and iOS operating systems.

We also launched Fengdu Literature Platform to develop our original content ecosystem at the end of 2019. Since December 2019, Fengdu Literature Platform has accumulated around 3,000 signed authors and 3,600 original contract books. Compared to licensed books, the books produced by our signed authors obtained more than 50% of total reading time of Fengdu's readers and total revenue.

Fengdu Literature Platform is deemed as diverse in category, covering 13 major categories of male and female preferred content including genres of romance, fantasy, science fiction, history and others. More than 70% of content focus on gender specialized stories in urban context and ancient romance.

In addition, we are actively diversifying our IP business based on the original books from Fengdu Literature Platform. We developed Fengdu Audiobook, a new feature incorporated in Fengdu Novel app to meet the evolving needs of readers. More than 2,000 audible books are available on the platform.

We also created short video series based on Fengdu Literature Platform content and IP resources. The first short video drama series named the Proud Wanwan Su, produced from content on Fengdu Literature Platform, is based on a piece of literature with a substantial and exciting storyline. The video series is divided into 20 episodes with a running time of 2 or 3 minutes for each. The short drama has been redistributed on major short video sites such as Douyin, Kuaishou, Bilibili and Xigua Video, among others, and can be watched by searching FengDu Theater.

Casual games

We launched our first self-developed mobile game in the third quarter of 2019, and thereafter introduced a series of self-developed casual games, including simulation games such as Farm Hero and Idle Land King Tycoon, puzzle games such as Hi Hamster, and educational games such as Puzzle No. 1 and Idiom Hero.

Scenario-based content apps

Fitness

We developed a series of fitness applications, such as Walk Walk.

Walk Walk. Responding to the call for "Sport for All", Walk Walk, as a leader in the brisk walking industry, encourages users to take steps and engage in light-intensity exercise at any time and any place. Furthermore, Walk Walk is notable for its Big Data innovative function, which provides professional sports data analysis to its users.

Healthcare

We developed a series of healthcare applications, including Drink Water Reminder and Happy Jogging.

Drink Water Reminder. First launched in 2017, Drink Water Reminder is a mobile application that helps users drink an appropriate amount of water on a daily basis by enabling users to track drinking habits and offering both detailed graphical statistics and friendly reminders for users to stay hydrated.

Happy Jogging. First launched in 2019, Happy Jogging is a free pedometer mobile application that helps to monitor users’ physical activities and help to build the habit of doing exercise and stay healthy.

Phone call interface decoration

We developed Hailaidian, a mobile application that provides interesting pictures, videos and music to decorate the call interface and help users have fun when receiving phone calls.

TouchPal Smart Input

TouchPal Smart Input is an innovative input method for mobile devices. TouchPal Smart Input had an average of 125.3 million DAUs in more than 240 countries and regions in December 2020.

TouchPal Smart Input supports multilingual next-word prediction as well as mistyping correction and auto spelling correction on mobile devices. These features help users enter a string of text on a mobile device swiftly and accurately.

We employ our big data analytics technologies to process and analyze our massive number of users’ interactions with TouchPal Smart Input in different languages to improve our language model, enrich our language databases, and strengthen our support for each language. In addition, the proprietary deep learning engine behind TouchPal Smart Input is fueled and enriched by users’ interaction with the application. It enables the application to achieve semantic understanding, adapt to each user, and provide an increasingly improved and customized user experience over time.

TouchPal Smart Input boasts an advanced multilingual language model that supports more than 110 different languages. TouchPal Smart Input can be installed across major mobile operating systems, including Android and iOS operating systems.

Product Distribution

We distribute our products and acquire users primarily through user downloads from digital distribution platforms and pre-installations on mobile devices.

Downloads

We acquire new users through downloads of our products from digital distribution platforms such as Apple App Store, Tencent YingYongBao App Store and Google Play. Some of these users acquired through downloads are drawn to our applications through word-of-mouth or general interest in one of our global products, thus growing our user base organically. A majority of our users are drawn to our products through our paid marketing campaigns on third-party platforms, such as Facebook, Douyin and Kuaishou. In the second half of 2019, we increased the portion of users acquired from third-party platforms in China in order to broaden the range of user acquisition channels and to reduce our reliance on overseas distribution platforms.

Pre-installations

We have established ourselves as a trusted provider of smart input for mobile devices, smart TVs and other devices and have entered into collaboration agreements with some manufacturers to pre-install TouchPal Smart Input on select devices.

Marketing

We market our brand, products and services globally to mobile internet users primarily through online social media sites including Douyin, Kuaishou, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and through search engines such as Google. We also market our brand, products and services to our global business partners through trade show exhibitions.

Monetization

We generate substantially all of our revenues through mobile advertising. Our value proposition to advertisers is driven by our large, engaged and sticky user base, insightful understanding of user interests and demands, and precision targeting of content to the preferred audience in a variety of usage scenarios. We provide performance-based advertising solutions that are compelling to our advertisers.

The number of our available advertising spaces is a function of the size of our user base and the number of our product offerings. We possess the technical capability to efficiently managing our advertising spaces. Our advertising spaces within our products can accommodate a variety of ad formats. At the same time, our priority is to achieve a balance between user experience and utilization of advertising spaces.

Launched in 2019, CooTek Ads is our in-house advertising network platform that provides our clients with high-quality and tailored advertising services. This system allows advertisers to create and manage advertisement campaigns and budget, and to place advertisements in our portfolio applications directly.

Our advertisers are from a broad range of industries, including healthcare, e-commerce, online games, merchant services and business services. Most of our advertisers are represented by third-party advertising exchanges and agencies. Our top two advertising customers, which are advertising exchanges, in aggregate accounted for approximately 39.5% of our total revenues in 2020. We have entered into standard forms of agreements with our major advertising customers. We entered into distribution cooperation agreements with Chuan Shan Jia, a leading advertising exchange platform in China who is also our top advertising customer, in 2019 for the cooperation in placing advertisements on our mobile apps for the year of 2020 and 2021, which will expire on December 31, 2021. Our business depends on our relationships with these large advertising exchanges and agencies. For more details, see “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—We depend on certain third-party advertising exchanges and agencies for a large portion of our mobile advertising revenues.”

Technology and Research and Development

Technology is the key to our success. Our research and development efforts focus on big data analytical capabilities.

AI-based analytics tool for content production

We have developed an AI and data-driven system to enable the authors on our online literature platform to produce more suitable content for our users and continuously adapt to changing demand based on data feedback. The platform that we are building is not just a place for authors to publish books, but also a platform to really enable them to improve their authorship based on a proper data matrix, so that even an average author may also produce valuable content.

Natural language processing, semantic understanding in multiple languages

As of the date of this annual report, our natural language processing and semantic understanding technology supports more than 110 languages. We employ machine learning, corpus linguistics and other technologies to process and understand user-generated data, internet content and user interactions with our products, and predict user intentions, identify relevant content from the internet and build our rich library of user insights.

Web content analysis and information extraction

We have built a proprietary distributed system which regularly and timely crawls and indexes an enormous amount of content in multiple languages from the internet. With our advanced multilingual natural language processing technology and semantic understanding technologies, we can process over one billion webpages every month and systematically organize content from these webpages.

Data integration, mining and analytics

We have deployed a scalable, distributed data system to manage and mine our massive and diverse data. We have developed an advanced data warehouse and real-time data analysis platform to support our build-up of user insights. We have also developed a business intelligence system which facilitates our product planning, data analytics, user growth and acquisition, monetization, and other crucial business activities.

Big data powered advertising system

We have developed a distributed, real-time advertising system to optimize our advertising performance. Relying on our big data analytics and in-depth user insights, this advertising system enables our advertising customers to reach our large and diverse active user base and to achieve precision targeting of the preferred audience and to distribute ads to targeted audience.

Technology infrastructure

We have built a reliable and smart network infrastructure with sufficient redundant topologies to ensure high availability and a low risk of downtime. We have also built a scalable hybrid cloud infrastructure to minimize cost and sustain performance in periods of high network traffic.

We dedicate ourselves to building our technology infrastructure to support our business in a cost-effective manner. As of December 31, 2020, we had 6 data centers (IDC), 1,854 physical servers, 686 virtual servers and 8 public cloud sites in 4 countries.

Research and development team

We are committed to technological innovation since our inception. Approximately 60% of our employees are software engineers and product designers tasked with research and development to achieve innovation and advancement.

Intellectual Property

We rely on a combination of patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret laws, as well as non-competition and confidentiality agreements and contractual clauses, to establish and protect our intellectual property rights.

As of December 31, 2020, we held 59 patents in China and 37 patents in countries and regions outside of China, covering inventions and designs; we have 19 patent applications currently pending in China and 12 patent applications currently pending in countries and regions outside of China; we have submitted 33 international patent applications through the procedures under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, or PCT; and we intend to apply for more patents to protect our core technologies and intellectual properties. As of December 31, 2020, we have registered 240 trademarks with the Trademark Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce in China, including our company’s name “CooTek,” CooTek logos, trademarks relating to our products such as TouchPal Smart Input and TouchPal Phonebook; and we are in the process of applying for the registration of 29 other trademarks in China; we have registered 29 trademarks, and are in the process of applying for registration of 4 other trademarks, in countries and regions outside of China. As of December 31, 2020, we are the registered owner of 149 software copyrights in China, each of which we have registered with the State Copyright Bureau of China. As of December 31, 2020, we own the rights to more than 200 domain names that we use in connection with the operation of our business, including our CooTek and TouchPal websites cootek.com, chubao.cn and touchpal.com.

In addition to the foregoing protections, we generally control access to and use of our proprietary and other confidential information through the use of internal and external controls. For example, for external controls, we enter into confidentiality agreements or agree to confidentiality clauses with our advertising customers and mobile device manufacturers and, for internal controls, we adopt and maintain relevant policies governing the operation and maintenance of our IT systems and the management of user-generated data.

User Privacy and Data Security

We place paramount importance on, and dedicate significant amount of resources to, the protection of the personal privacy of each of our users and the security of their data.

Transparency. Our end user license agreement and privacy policy describe our data use practices and how privacy works on our mobile applications. We provide our users with adequate and timely notices as to what data are being collected, and we undertake to manage and use the data collected in accordance with applicable laws and make reasonable efforts to prevent unauthorized use, loss or leak of such user data. Our users may opt out of personal data collection or choose to have personal data erased from our servers.

Protection. We have adopted comprehensive policies, procedures and guidelines to regulate our employees’ actions in relation to user data in order to protect user privacy and data security. We also have adopted a strict access control mechanism to ensure implementation of least privilege and need-to-know principles and to protect user privacy while meeting business requirements. For instance, we strictly limit the number and clearance level of personnel who may access user data or those servers that store user data. In addition, we employ a variety of technical solutions to prevent and detect risks and vulnerabilities in user privacy and data security, such as encryption, firewall, vulnerability scanning and log audit. For instance, we have built an internal compliance team which has privacy professionals who participate in new product and feature development and are dedicated to the ongoing review and monitoring of data security practices and security professionals who monitor internal and external security threats and risks. We store and transmit all user data in encrypted format on separate servers depending on each individual user’s location. We do not share any input data from our users or any user insight data with third parties or allow third parties to access user data stored on our servers, and we also utilize firewalls to protect against potential cyber-attacks or unauthorized access. We periodically audit our systems and procedures to detect information security risks and privacy risks.

Compliance. Various laws and regulations, such as the GDPR in the European Union, California Consumer Privacy Act in the United States and the Cyber Security Law of the PRC, govern the collection, use, retention, sharing, and security of the personal data we receive from and about our users. Privacy groups and government bodies have increasingly scrutinized the ways in which companies link personal identities and data associated with particular users with data collected through the internet, and we expect such scrutiny to continue to increase. We devote substantial amount of resources to the compliance with, and the prevention of any violation of, the laws and regulations relating to user privacy and data security. For additional information on our efforts to comply with applicable laws and regulations relating to user privacy and data security, see “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business—If we fail to prevent security breaches, cyber-attacks or other unauthorized access to our systems or our users’ data, we may be exposed to significant consequences, including legal and financial exposure, reputational harm and loss of users, and our reputation, business and operating results may be materially and adversely affected.” and “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business—Data privacy concerns relating to our products and current practices may, particularly in light of increased regulatory scrutiny of and user expectations regarding the processing, collection, use, storage, dissemination, transfer and disposal of user data, could require changes to our business practices and may result in declines in user growth or engagement, increased costs of operations and threats of lawsuits, enforcement actions and related liabilities, including financial penalties.”

Competition

We face intense competition for users, usage time and advertising customers. Our portfolio products compete with applications of the same or a similar kind. In addition, we compete with all major internet companies for user attention and advertising spending. Fengdu Novel competes with other leading free online literature applications in the Chinese market including Fanqie Novel and Qimao Novel. Our casual game products such as Farm Hero, Idle Land King Tycoon, Hi Hamster, Puzzle No.1 and Idiom Hero compete primarily with other online casual games developed by companies such as WebEye and Laiwan. TouchPal Smart Input competes primarily with default mobile device input methods, including Apple input for iOS devices, Gboard and Samsung mobile keyboard. Our TouchPal Smart Input also competes with other alternative input method products for mobile devices that offer similar language prediction capabilities and other smart features, such as Microsoft/SwiftKey.

Insurance

We do not maintain insurance policies covering damages to our network infrastructures or information technology systems. We also do not maintain business interruption insurance or general third-party liability insurance, nor do we maintain product liability insurance or key-man insurance. We consider our insurance coverage to be in line with that of other companies in the same industry of similar size in China.

Legal Proceedings

We may from time to time be subject to various legal or administrative claims and proceedings arising in the ordinary course of business. For more information, see “Item 8. Financial Information—A. Consolidated Statements and Other Financial Information—Legal Proceedings.”

Regulation

We are an international company that is registered under the laws of Cayman Islands. Our principal offices are located in China while we have built a large user base in more than 240 countries and regions around the world. As a result of this organizational structure and the scope of our operations, we are subject to a variety of laws in different countries, including those related to personal privacy, data protection, content restrictions, telecommunications, intellectual property, consumer protection, advertising and marketing, labor, foreign exchange, competition and taxation. These laws and regulations are constantly evolving and may be interpreted, implemented or amended in a manner that could harm our business. It also is likely that if our business grows and evolves and our products and services are used more globally, we will become subject to laws and regulations in additional jurisdictions. This section sets forth the summary of material laws and regulations relevant to our business operations.

Regulations Relating to Personal Privacy and Data Protection

In the area of personal privacy and data protection, we are subject to the laws in various jurisdictions where our products are available for use, and such laws and regulations can impose stringent requirements. Such requirements also vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Many jurisdictions, including China and the U.S., continue to consider the need for greater regulation or reform to the existing regulatory framework.

In the U.S., there is no single comprehensive national law governing the collection and use of user data or personal information. Instead, the U.S. has both federal and state laws in parallel and regulations that sometimes overlap and even contradict one another. In addition, there are many guidelines developed by government authorities and industry groups that, although lacking the force of law, are considered “best practices” and are relied upon for setting standards. All states in the U.S. have now passed laws to regulate the actions that a business must take in the event of a data breach, such as prompt disclosure and notification to affected users and regulatory authorities. In addition, some states have enacted statutes and rules requiring businesses to reasonably protect certain types of personal information they hold or to otherwise comply with certain specified data security requirements for personal information. At the federal level, the Federal Trade Commission Act, or the FTC Act, is a federal consumer protection law that prohibits unfair or deceptive practices and has been applied to offline and online privacy and data security policies. The Federal Trade Commission, or the FTC, empowered by the FTC Act, oversees consumer privacy compliance of most companies doing business in the U.S. and provides various guidelines regarding privacy and security practices for different industries. The FTC has brought many enforcement actions against companies for failing to comply with their own privacy policies and for the unauthorized disclosure of personal data. The U.S. federal and state legislatures will likely continue to consider the need for greater regulation aimed at restricting certain targeted advertising practices.

In the EU, the GDPR, which came into effect on May 25, 2018, increased our burden of regulatory compliance and requires us to change certain of our privacy and data security practices in order to achieve compliance. The GDPR applies to any company established in the EU as well as any company outside the EU that processes personal data in connection with the offering of goods or services to individuals in the EU or the monitoring of their behavior. The GDPR implements more stringent operational requirements for processors and controllers of personal data, including, for example, requiring expanded disclosures about how personal information is to be used, limitations on retention of information, mandatory data breach notification requirements, and higher standards for data controllers to demonstrate that they have obtained either valid consent or have another legal basis in place to justify their data processing activities. The GDPR further provides that EU member states may make their own additional laws and regulations in relation to certain data processing activities, which could further limit our ability to use and share personal data and could require localized changes to our operating model. Under the GDPR, fines of up to 20 million euros or up to 4% of the total worldwide annual turnover of the preceding financial year, whichever is higher, may be assessed for non-compliance, which significantly increases our potential financial exposure for non-compliance. However, in the absence of precedence and guidance from EU regulators, the application of GDPR to the provision of internet services remains unsettled. Moreover, the implementation of the GDPR may require substantial amendments to our procedures and policies, and these changes could impact our business by increasing its operational and compliance costs. The Company has adopted policies and procedures in compliance with the GDPR, however, such policies and procedures may need to be updated when additional information concerning the best practices is made available through guidance from regulators or published enforcement decisions.

In recent years, PRC government authorities have issued various regulations on the use of the internet that are designed to protect personal information from unauthorized disclosure. For example, the Measures for the Administration of Internet Information Services issued by the State Council in 2000 and revised in 2011, or the ICP Measures, prohibit an internet information services provider from insulting or slandering a third party or infringing upon the lawful rights and interests of a third party. In addition, PRC regulations authorize PRC telecommunication authorities to demand rectification of unauthorized disclosure by the entities that provide information to internet users, or ICP operators.

Chinese law does not prohibit ICP operators from collecting and analyzing personal information from their users. The PRC government, however, has the power and authority to order ICP operators to submit personal information of an internet user if such user posts any prohibited content or engages in illegal activities on the internet. In addition, the Several Provisions on Regulating the Market Order of Internet Information Services, or the Several Provisions, issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, or MIIT, stipulate that ICP operators must not, without the users’ consent, collect information on users that can be used, alone or in combination with other information, to identify the user, or User Personal Information, and may not provide any User Personal Information to third parties without users’ prior consent. ICP operators may only collect User Personal Information necessary to provide their services and must expressly inform the users of the method, content and purpose of the collecting and processing such User Personal Information. In addition, an ICP operator may use User Personal Information only within its scope of services. ICP operators are also required to ensure the security of User Personal Information, and take immediate remedial measures if User Personal Information is suspected to have been disclosed. If the consequences of any such disclosure are expected to be serious, the ICP operator must immediately report to the telecommunications regulatory authorities and cooperate with the authorities in their investigations. We require our users to accept a user agreement and privacy policies whereby they agree to provide certain personal information to us. If we violate foregoing regulations, the MIIT or its local bureaus may impose penalties and we may be liable for damage caused to our users.

In December 2012, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, or the SCNPC, enacted the Decision to Enhance the Protection of Network Information, to enhance the protection of User Personal Information in electronic form, which provides that ICP operators must expressly inform their users of the purpose, manner and scope of the ICP operators’ collection and use of User Personal Information, publish the ICP operators’ standards for their collection and use of User Personal Information, and collect and use User Personal Information only with the consent of the users and only within the scope of such consent. The Information Protection Decision also mandates that ICP operators and their employees must keep strictly confidential User Personal Information that they collect, and that ICP operators must take such technical and other measures as are necessary to safeguard the information against disclosure.

The Order for the Protection of Telecommunication and Internet User Personal Information, or the Order for Personal Information, issued by MIIT in July 2013 sets forth requirements that are stricter and with wider scope. An ICP operator is only allowed to collect or use personal information if such collection is necessary for its services. Further, the ICP operator must disclose to its users the purpose, method and scope of any such collection or use, and must obtain consent from the users whose information is being collected or used. ICP operators are also required to establish and publish their protocols relating to personal information collection or use, keep any collected information strictly confidential, and take technological and other measures to maintain the security of such information. ICP operators are required to cease any collection or use of the user personal information, and de-register the relevant user account, when a given user stops using the relevant internet service. ICP operators are further prohibited from divulging, distorting or destroying any such personal information, or selling or providing such information unlawfully to other parties. In addition, if an ICP operator appoints an agent to undertake any marketing or technical services that involve the collection or use of personal information, the ICP operator is still required to supervise and manage the protection of the information. The Order for Personal Information states, in broad terms, that violators may face warnings, fines, and disclosure to the public and, in the most severe cases, criminal liability.

Pursuant to the Ninth Amendment to the Criminal Law, promulgated by the SCNPC in August 2015, any internet service provider that fails to fulfill its obligations regarding internet information security administration under applicable laws and refuses to rectify upon governmental orders, shall be subject to criminal penalty. Interpretations of the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Criminal Cases Involving Infringement of Personal Information, issued in May 2017, clarified certain standards of the conviction and sentence of the criminals in relation to personal information infringement.

In addition, the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China, promulgated in May 2020, provides that laws protect personal information of natural persons. Any organization or individual who needs to obtain personal information shall obtain it legally and ensure the security of such personal information, and shall not illegally collect, use, process, transmit, trade, provide, or publish such personal information.

In January 2015, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, or SAIC, promulgated the Measures on Punishment for Infringement of Consumer Rights, most recently amended in December 2020, pursuant to which business operators collecting and using personal information of consumers must comply with the principles of legitimacy, propriety and necessity, specify the purpose, method and scope of collection and use of the information, and obtain the consent of the consumers whose personal information is to be collected.

Regulations Relating to Foreign Investment

Negative List and Encouraged Industry Guidelines Related to Foreign Investment. Investment activities in China by foreign investors are principally governed by the Special Administrative Measures (Negative List) for Access to Foreign Investment (2020 Revision), or 2020 Negative List, which was promulgated by the Ministry of Commerce of the PRC, or MOFCOM, and the National Development and Reform Commission, or NDRC, as amended from time to time, and the Catalogue of Encouraged Industries for Foreign Investment (2020 Revision), or Encouraged Industry Catalogue, issued by MOFCOM and NDRC.

If foreign investment falls into industries specified in the 2020 Negative List, special administrative measures shall apply, such as the percentage of foreign invested equity interests and background and quality of senior management. According to the 2020 Negative List, the proportion of foreign investments in entities engaged in value- added telecommunications business shall not exceed 50%, except for e-commerce, domestic multi-party communication, store-and-forward service, and call centers service. The online transmission of audio-visual programs business, online publishing services and online cultural business (except for music) remain as prohibited industries for foreign investment.

Foreign Investment in Telecommunication Business. Regulations for Administration of Foreign-Invested Telecommunications Enterprises, or the FITE Regulations, promulgated by the PRC State Council, or State Council, in 2001 and most recently amended in February 2016 set forth detailed requirements with respect to, among others, capitalization, investor qualifications and application procedures in connection with the establishment of a foreign-invested telecommunications enterprise. The 2019 Negative List prohibits a foreign investor from holding more than 50% of the total equity interest in value-added telecommunications service business, except for e-commerce, domestic multi-party communication, store-and-forward service, and call centers service in China. The MIIT issued an Announcement on Issues concerning the Provision of Telecommunication Services in Mainland China by Service Providers from Hong Kong and Macau, allowing investors from Hong Kong and Macau to hold more than 50% of the equity in FITEs engaging in certain specified categories of value-added telecommunications services.

In 2006, the Ministry of Information Industry, or the MII, the predecessor of the MIIT, issued the Circular on Strengthening the Administration of Foreign Investment in and Operation of Value-added Telecommunications Business, pursuant to which, a PRC company that holds a license for providing internet information services, or an ICP license, is prohibited from leasing, transferring or selling the license to foreign investors in any form, and from providing any assistance, including providing resources, sites or facilities, to foreign investors to conduct value-added telecommunications businesses illegally in China. Furthermore, the trademarks and domain names that are used in the provision of internet content services must be owned by the ICP operator or its shareholders. In addition, an ICP operator shall have appropriate facilities for its approved business operations and to maintain such facilities in the regions covered by its license.

In view of these restrictions on foreign direct investment in the basic telecommunications sector and value-added telecommunications sector, we established domestic VIEs to engage in basic telecommunications and value-added telecommunications services.

Foreign Investment in Online Games. In September 2009, the General Administration of Press and Publication, or the GAPP (the predecessor of the SART), together with the National Copyright Administration and the National Office of Combating Pornography and Illegal Publications, jointly issued a Notice on Further Strengthening on the Administration of Pre-examination and Approval of Online Games and the Examination and Approval of Imported Online Games, or the GAPP Online Game Notice. The GAPP Online Game Notice states that foreign investors are not permitted to invest in online game operating businesses in China via wholly foreign-owned entities, Chinese-foreign equity joint ventures or cooperative joint ventures or to exercise control over or participate in the operation of domestic online game businesses through indirect means, such as other joint venture companies or contractual or technical arrangements. In view of these restrictions on foreign direct investment in the online games sector, we established domestic VIEs to engage in the provision of online games mobile apps.

Due to a lack of interpretative materials from the relevant PRC governmental authorities, there are uncertainties regarding whether PRC governmental authorities would consider our corporate structure and contractual arrangements to constitute foreign ownership of a telecommunications business or an online games business. In order to comply with PRC regulatory requirements, we operate a portion of our business through our VIEs, with which we have contractual relationships but in which we do not have an actual ownership interest. If our current ownership structure is found to be in violation of current or future PRC laws, rules or regulations regarding the legality of foreign investment in the PRC internet sector, we could be subject to severe penalties.

Regulations Relating to Telecommunications Services

In 2000, the State Council promulgated the Telecommunications Regulations, or the Telecom Regulations, most recently amended in February 2016, which set out the general framework for regulating telecommunication services by PRC companies. The Telecom Regulations differ “basic telecommunications services” from “value-added telecommunications services.” The Catalogue of Telecommunications Business, most recently updated in June 2019, categorizes VoIP services as basic telecommunications services, on the other hand, categorizes information services, internet data centers and internet access as value-added telecommunications services.

In 2000, the State Council issued the Measures for the Administration of Internet Information Services, or the ICP Measures, most recently amended in January 2011. The ICP Measures define “internet information services” as the services of providing internet information to online users, which is further divided into “commercial internet information services” and “non-commercial internet information services.” A commercial internet information services operator must obtain a value-added telecommunications services license, or ICP license for internet information services, from the MIIT or its local branch at the provincial or municipal level in accordance with the Telecom Regulations before providing any commercial internet information services in China. Our business includes providing VoIP services and other value-added telecommunications services such as internet information service.

The ICP Measures further stipulate that entities providing online information services regarding news, publishing, education, medicine, health, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment must procure the consent of the national authorities responsible for such areas prior to applying for an operating license from the MIIT or its local branch at the provincial or municipal level. Moreover, ICP operators must display their operating license numbers in conspicuous locations on their home pages. ICP operators are required to police their internet platforms and remove certain prohibited content. Many of these requirements mirror internet content restrictions that have been announced previously by PRC ministries, such as the MIIT, and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the PRC, formerly the Ministry of Culture, or the MCT.

The Measures on the Administration of Telecommunications Business Operating Permit, promulgated by MIIT in 2009 and most recently amended in July 2017, sets forth detailed activities that an enterprise are permitted to conduct under their licenses. A commercial telecommunication service operator must first obtain an ICP license from the MIIT, or its provincial level authorities if providing mere inter-provincial services. A licensed telecommunication services operator must conduct its business, whether basic or value-added, in accordance with the specifications in its Telecommunications Services Operating License.

The CAC, issued the Provisions on the Administration of Mobile Internet Applications Information Services, or the APP Provisions, in June 2016. Under the APP Provisions, mobile application providers are prohibited from engaging in any activity that may endanger national security, disturb the social order, or infringe the legal rights of third parties, and may not produce, copy, issue or disseminate through mobile applications any content prohibited by laws and regulations. The APP Provisions also require ICP operators, such as us, to procure relevant approval to provide services through such applications.

We currently hold seven Value-added Telecommunications Services Operating Licenses. As of the date of this annual report, we have not obtained the Basic Telecommunications Services Operating License for our business.

Regulations Relating to Internet Publication Services

The State Administration of Radio and Television, or SART, formerly known as the SAPPRFT, as integrated from the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, and the GAPP, in March 2018 as a result of institutional reform, is the government agency responsible for regulating publication activities in China. In June 2002, the MIIT and the GAPP jointly promulgated the Interim Administrative Measures on Internet Publication, which require internet publishers to obtain a license from the GAPP to conduct internet publication activities.

In February 2016, the SAPPRFT and the MITT jointly issued the Administrative Measures for Internet Publication Services, which took effect in March 2016 and replaced the Interim Administrative Measures on Internet Publication. The Administrative Measures for Internet Publication Services further strengthened and expanded the supervision and management on the internet publication services. Pursuant to the Administrative Measures for Internet Publication Services, entities engaging in the internet publication service are required to obtain an internet publication service license from SART. Internet Publication Services refer to the activities of providing internet publications to the public through information networks, and the internet publications refer to the digitalized works with the publishing features such as editing, producing and processing, including e-books and online games. In the event of failure to obtain relevant licenses and approvals, an operator may face heavy penalties, such as being ordered by the regulatory authority to shut down services and delete all relevant internet publications. The regulatory authority may also confiscate all of such operator’s illegal income as well as major equipment and specialized tools used in illegal publishing activities. If the illegal income exceeds RMB10,000, such operator may face a fine of five to ten times of such illegal income; and if the illegal income is less than RMB10,000, such operator may face a fine of less than RMB50,000. Such operator may also bear civil liability if its operation has infringed on other persons’ legal rights and interests.

In May 2016, the SAPPRFT issued a Notice on Administration of Mobile Game Publishing Services, or the Mobile Game Notice, effective in July 2016, which provides that the content of mobile games is subject to its review, and that mobile game publishers and operators must apply for publishing and authorization codes for the games. Under the Mobile Game Notice, significant upgrades and expansion packs for mobile games that have previously been approved for publishing could be regarded as new works, and the operators will be required to obtain approval for such upgrades and expansion packs before they are released. In the event of any failure to meet these license and approval requirements, an operator may face heavy penalties, such as being ordered to stop operation, or having its business license revoked. As of the date of this annual report, we have not obtained the approval for our internet publication service license and publication codes for those domestic online games operated by us. We are applying for publication codes for certain future online games.

Regulations Relating to Online News Services

In May 2017, the CAC promulgated the Administrative Regulations for Internet News Information Services, or the News Regulations, pursuant to which internet news information services include the services of collecting, editing, and releasing internet news information, reposting such news information, and providing a platform to spread such news information. Subsequently, the CAC promulgated the Detailed Implementing Rules of Administration of Internet News Information Services Approval. Both of these rules require the general Websites of non-news organizations to apply to the State Council Information Office, or SCIO, for approval after obtaining the consent of the SCIO at the provincial level before they commence to provide news dissemination services. As of the date of this annual report on Form 20-F, we have not obtained the approval for our online news services.

Regulations Relating to Internet Audio-Visual Program Services

The State Administration of Radio and Television, or SART, and MIIT jointly issued the Administrative Provisions for the Internet Audio-Video Program Service, or the Audio-visual Program Provisions, in 2007 and amended in August 2015. The Audio-visual Program Provisions define “internet audio-visual programs services” as the production, edition and integration of audio-video programs, the supply of audio-video programs to the public via the internet, and providing uploading and audio-video programs transmission services to a third party. Entities engaging in internet audio-visual programs services must obtain internet audio-visual program transmission licenses, which will only be issued to state-owned or state-controlled entities unless the license applicants have obtained internet audio-visual program transmission licenses prior to the promulgation of the Audio-visual Program Provisions in accordance with the then-in-effect laws and regulations. According to the Categories of the Internet Audio-Video Program Services promulgated by SART in March 2017, “aggregation of internet audio-visual programs,” meaning “editing and arranging the internet audio-visual programs on the same website and providing searching and watching services to public users,” falls into the definition of the aforementioned “internet audio-visual programs services.” As of the date of this annual report, we have not obtained the internet audio-visual program transmission license for our business.

Regulations Relating to Online Cultural Products

In 2011 and as amended in 2017, the MCT issued the Provisional Regulations for the Administration of Online Culture, or the Online Culture Regulations, which applies to entities engaging in activities related to “online cultural products,” including the cultural products that are produced specially for internet use, such as online music and entertainment, online games, online plays, online performances, online art works and Web animations, and those cultural products that, through technical means, produce or reproduce music, entertainment, games, plays and other art works for internet dissemination. Further, commercial entities are required to apply to the relevant local branch of the MCT for an Online Culture Operating Permit if they engage in any of the following types of activities:

The MCT issued a Notice on Strengthening the Administration of Online Performance, or the Online Performance Notice, in July 2016, and the Measures of Administration of Online Performance Operating Activities, or Online Performance Measures, effective in January 2017. The Online Performance Notice and the Online Performance Measures both stipulate that online performance service providers must obtain Online Culture Operating Permits and that online performances must not contain any content that is horrific, cruel, violent, vulgar or humiliating in nature, mocking persons with disabilities, including photographs or video clips that infringing on third parties’ privacy or other rights, featuring animal abuse, or presenting characters or other features of online games that have not been registered and approved for publication by applicable PRC governmental authorities. A violator of these regulations may face an order of correction from competent authorities, or be subject to confiscation of illegal proceeds or a fine. If the violation is severe, competent authorities may order the violator to cease its operation for rectification, revoke the violator’s Online Culture Operating Permit, or impose applicable criminal liability.

We currently hold seven Online Culture Operating Permits.

Regulations Related to Online Games

Regulatory Authorities and Restriction on Foreign Investment

In 2008, the General Office of the State Council issued a circular, pursuant to which, the GAPP is responsible for the examination and approval of online games prior to the online publication, while the MOC is responsible for regulating the online game market. In 2009, the GAPP, the National Copyright Administration and the National Office of Combating Pornography and Illegal Publications jointly published the Notice Regarding the Consistent Implementation of the “Stipulations on ‘Three Provisions’ of the State Council and the Relevant Interpretations of the State Commission Office for Public Sector Reform and the Further Strengthening of the Administration of Pre-examination and Approval of Internet Games and the Examination and Approval of Imported Internet Games,” which expressly requires that all online games need to be screened by the GAPP through the pre-approvals before they can be operated online, and any updated online game versions or any change to the online games shall be subject to further pre-approvals before they can be operated online.

Pursuant to the Notice to Adjust the Scope of Online Culture Operation Permit Approval and to Further Regulate the Approval Work released by MCT in May 2019, the MCT no longer assumes the responsibility to regulate online game industry, and the provincial counterparts of MCT would no longer grant Online Culture Operation Permits covering the business scope of using the information network to operate online games. The licenses granted by the MCT before this notice will remain valid until the expiration dates of these licenses, but those whose business scopes include only the operation of online games cannot be renewed after the expiration dates. On July 23, 2019, the MCT announced the abolishment of the Interim Measures on Administration of Online Games, which regulated the issuance of Online Culture Operation Permits relating to online games.

Both the internet publication services (including the online game publishing) and online culture operation (including the online game operation) fall within the prohibited categories in the Negative List. The Notice Regarding the Consistent Implementation of the “Regulation on Three Provisions” of the State Council and the Relevant Interpretations of the State Commission Office for Public Sector Reform and the Further Strengthening of the Administration of Pre-examination and Approval of Online Games and the Examination and Approval of Imported Online Games, or the GAPP Notice, promulgated by the GAPP, together with the National Copyright Administration and the Office of the National Working Group for Crackdown on Pornographic and Illegal Publications in 2009, provides that, among other things, foreign investors are not permitted to invest or engage in online game operations in China through their wholly owned subsidiaries, equity joint ventures or cooperative joint ventures, and foreign investors are not permitted to gain control over or participate in domestic online game operations indirectly through joint ventures, contractual agreements or technical support. Serious violation of the GAPP Notice will result in suspension or revocation of relevant licenses and registrations.

Online Game Examination and Publishing

Pursuant to the Administrative Measures for Internet Publication Services jointly promulgated by the SAPPRFT and the MIIT in February 2016, online publications such as games provided to the public through information networks must be approved by the SAPPRFT and the service operator must obtain an internet publication service license. An online publishing service provider shall first file an application with the competent provincial-level counterpart of the SAPPRFT in the place where it is located and the application, if approved, shall be submitted to the SAPPRFT for approval. For the publishing of online games authorized by foreign copyright owners, the online publishing service provider shall obtain legal authorization for the copyright and complete the approval formalities.

In May 2016, the SAPPRFT issued the Mobile Game Notice, which provides that the content of mobile games is subject to its review, and that mobile game publishers and operators must apply for publishing and authorization codes for the games. Under the Mobile Game Notice, significant upgrades and expansion packs for mobile games that have previously been approved for publishing could be regarded as new works, and the operators will be required to obtain approval for such upgrades and expansion packs before they are released. In the event of any failure to meet these license and approval requirements, an operator may face heavy penalties, such as being ordered to stop operation, or having its business license revoked.

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the Plan for Deepening the Institutional Reform of the Party and State and the National People’s Congress adopted the Institutional Reform Plan of the State Council in March 2018 (collectively, the “Institutional Reform Plans”). According to the Institutional Reform Plans, the SAPPRFT was reformed and now known as the SART and the NAPP. Concurrently with the implementation of this reformation, the assessment and pre-approval on domestic and foreign developed online games had been suspended during April to December 2018 and had resumed since December 2018. After this re-organization, companies need to apply with the NAPP for the approvals publishing the online games. As of the date of this annual report, we have not obtained the approval for our internet publication service license and publication codes for those domestic online games operated by us. We are applying for publication codes for certain future online games.

Online Game Operation

In June 2010, the MOC promulgated the Interim Measures on Administration of Online Games, or the Online Game Interim Measures, amended on December 15, 2017, which governed the research, development and operation of online games and the issuance and trading services of virtual currency. All operators of online games, issuers of virtual currency and providers of virtual currency trading services are required to obtain Online Culture Operation Permits. An Online Culture Operation Permit is valid for three years.

In May 2019, MCT released the Notice on Adjusting the Scope of Examination and Approval regarding the to Further Regulate the Approval Work, pursuant to which the provincial counterparts of MCT would no longer grant Online Culture Operation Permit covering the business scope of using the information network to operate online games.

On July 23, 2019, the MCT announced the abolishment of the Online Game Interim Measures. After the abolishment, the game operators are no longer required to apply to MCT for examination of imported online games or go through filing procedures for domestic online games.

Regulations Related to Anti-fatigue System, Real-name Registration System and Parental Guardianship Project

In 2007, the GAPP and several other government agencies issued a circular requiring the implementation of an anti-fatigue system and a real-name registration system by all PRC online game operators to curb addictive online game playing by minors. Under the anti-fatigue system, three hours or less of continuous playing by minors, defined as game players under 18 years of age, is considered to be “healthy,” three to five hours to be “fatiguing,” and five hours or more to be “unhealthy.” Game operators are required to reduce the value of in-game benefits to a minor player by half if the minor has reached the “fatiguing” level, and to zero once reaching the “unhealthy” level.

To identify whether a game player is a minor and thus subject to the anti-fatigue system, a real-name registration system must be adopted to require online game players to register their real identity information before playing online games. The online game operators are also required to submit the identity information of game players to the public security authority for verification. In 2011, the GAPP, together with several other government agencies, jointly issued the Notice on Initializing the Verification of Real-name Registration for the Anti-Fatigue System on Online Games, or the Real-name Registration Notice, to strengthen the implementation of the anti-fatigue and real-name registration system. The main purpose of the Real-name Registration Notice is to curb addictive online game playing by minors and protect their physical and mental health. This notice indicates that the National Citizen Identity Information Center of the Ministry of Public Security will verify identity information of game players submitted by online game operators. The Real-name Registration Notice also imposes stringent penalties on online game operators that do not implement the required anti-fatigue and real-name registration systems properly and effectively, including terminating their online game operations.

In 2011, the MOC, together with several other government agencies, jointly issued a Circular on Printing and Distributing Implementation Scheme regarding Parental Guardianship Project for Minors Playing Online Games to strengthen the administration of online games and protect the legitimate rights and interests of minors. This circular indicates that online game operators must have person in charge, set up specific service webpages and publicize specific hotlines to provide parents with necessary assistance to prevent or restrict minors’ improper game playing behavior. Online game operators must also submit a report regarding its performance under the Parental Guardianship Project to the provincial level counterpart of the MOC each quarter.

In August 2016, the CAC issued the Regulations for the Administration of Mobile Internet Applications Information Services, pursuant to which the mobile applications information service providers shall satisfy relevant qualifications required by laws and regulations, strictly carry out the information security management responsibilities and fulfill their obligations in various aspects relating to the real-name system, protection of users’ information and the examination and management of information content. The app store service providers shall file with the local cyberspace administration authorities within 30 days after its app store services being launched, and such app store service providers are responsible for overseeing app information service providers operated in their stores.

In August 2018, the National Health Commission, the MOE, together with several other government agencies, jointly issued the Implementation on Comprehensive Prevention and Control of Juveniles’ Myopia, which sets forth the plans to control the number of new online games and to restrict the amount of time when juveniles play games and use electronic devices.

On October 25, 2019, the NAPP issued the Notice on Preventing Minor’s Addiction to Online Games, which requires all online gamers to register accounts with their valid identity information and all game companies to stop providing game services to users who fail to do so. Furthermore, minors are prohibited from playing games exceeding a certain period of time per day or charging their accounts exceeding a certain amount.

Regulations Relating to Online Advertising Services

The PRC Congress enacted the Advertising Law effective in October 2018, which increases the potential legal liability of providers of advertising services, and includes provisions intended to strengthen identification of false advertising and the power of regulatory authorities. In July 2016, the SAIC issued the Interim Measures of the Administration of Online Advertising, or the SAIC Interim Measures. The Advertising Law and the SAIC Interim Measures both provide that advertisements posted or published through the internet shall not affect users’ normal usage of network, and advertisements published in the form of pop-up windows on the internet must display an outstanding “close” sign with a button to close the pop-up windows. The SAIC Interim Measures provide that all online advertisements must be marked as “Advertisement” so that viewers can easily identify them as such. The Advertising Law and SAIC Interim Measures will require us to conduct more stringent examination and monitoring of our advertisers and the content of their advertisements.

Advertisements shall not hinder public order, violate social morality or contain illegal contents, including, but not limited to, obscenity, pornography, gambling, superstition, terror and violence contents. Otherwise, the administration of market regulation may (i) order to stop publishing of the advertisement and; (ii) confiscate the advertising fees; (iii) impose a penalty ranging from RMB200,000 to RMB1,000,000; or (iv) in serious cases, cancel the business license and cancel the registration certificate for publishing advertisements.

According to the Advertising Law, advertisements shall not have any false or misleading content, or defraud or mislead consumers. Furthermore, an advertisement will be deemed as a “false advertisement” if any of the following situations exist: (i) the advertised product or service does not exist; (ii) there is any inconsistency that has a material impact on the decision to purchase in what is included in the advertisement with the actual circumstances with respect to the product’s performance, function, place of production, usage, quality, specification, ingredient, price, producer, term of validity, sales condition and honors received, among others, or the service’s content, provider, form, quality, price, sales condition, and honors received, among others, or any commitments, among others, made on the product or service; (iii) using fabricated, forged or unverifiable scientific research results, statistical data, investigation results, excerpts, quotations or other information as supporting material; (iv) effect or results of using the good or receiving the service are fabricated; or (v) other circumstances where consumers are defrauded or misled by any false or misleading content.

Where there is a false advertisement, the administration of market regulation may (i) request the discontinuation of publishing the target advertisement and the elimination of any adverse effects caused by such false advertisement; (ii) impose fines calculated based on advertisement expenses, if the advertising expense is incalculable or evidently low, the fines should be RMB200,000 to RMB1,000,000, and if the advertiser has published false advertisements more than three times in the past two years or in other serious cases, the fines should be five to ten times of the advertising expense and where the advertising expense is incalculable or evidently low, the fines should be between RMB1,000,000 to RMB2,000,000; and (iii) cancel the advertiser’s business license. The advertisement examination authority may revoke advertisements approvals and reject advertisement examination requests from such advertisers for one year.

The relevant advertisers, advertisement operators and advertisement publishers may also face criminal liabilities. According to the Criminal Law, where an advertiser, advertisement operator or advertisement publisher uses false advertising for its products or services and when the circumstances are serious, the offender may face imprisonment of not more than two years, criminal detention and fines. According to the Provisions of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security on Criteria for Docketing and Prosecution of Criminal Cases under the Jurisdiction of Public Security Authorities (II), where an advertiser, advertisement operator or advertisement publisher uses false advertising for its products or services, the offender may be prosecuted if, among other serious violation circumstances, (i) the amount of illegal gains exceeds RMB100,000, (ii) causing direct economic loss of over RMB50,000 to a single consumer, or accumulatively direct loss of over RMB200,000 to several consumers, or (iii) the offender has received administrative punishment more than two times within two years for conducting false advertising.

Regulations on Unfair Competition

On April 23, 2019, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress promulgated the amended Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People’s Republic of China, or the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, which became effective on April 23, 2019.

Pursuant to the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, a business operator shall not conduct any false or misleading commercial publicity in respect of the performance, functions, quality, sales, user reviews, and honors received of its commodities, in order to defraud or mislead consumers. A business operator publishing any false advertisements in violation of this provision shall be punished in accordance with the PRC Advertising Law.

The Anti-Unfair Competition Law also stipulated that a business operator engaging in production or distribution activities online shall abide by the provisions of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law. No business operator may, by technical means to affect users’ options, among others, commit the acts of interfering with or sabotaging the normal operation of online products or services legally provided by another business operator.

In addition, according to the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, a business operator is prohibited from any of the following unfair activities: (i) committing act of confusion to mislead a person into believing that a commodity is one of another person or has a particular connection with another person; (ii) seeking transaction opportunities or competitive edges by bribing relevant entities or individuals with property or by any other means; (iii) infringing on trade secrets; (iv) premium campaign violating the provision of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law; and (v) fabricating or disseminating false or misleading information to damage the goodwill or product reputation of a competitor.

Regulations Relating to Cyber Security

The PRC Congress promulgated the PRC Cyber-security Law, or Cyber-security Law, effective in June 2017. Under the Cyber-security Law, “network operators” are broadly defined as network owners, network administrator, and network service providers are subject to various security protection-related obligations. As a network service provider, our obligations include:

Under the PRC Cyber-security Law, network service providers must inform users about and report to the relevant governmental authorities any known security defects or bugs, and must provide constant security maintenance services for their products and services. Network products and service providers may not contain or provide any malware. Network service providers who do not comply with the PRC Cyber-security Law may be subject to fines, suspension of their businesses, shutdown of their websites, and revocation of their business licenses.

The CAC issued the Cyber-security Review Measures, effective in June 2020. Under the Cyber-security Review Measures, critical information infrastructure operators purchasing network products and services that affect or may affect national security will be subject to cyber-security review:

The Cybersecurity Review Office under the CAC is responsible for developing cybersecurity review related rules and procedures and organizing cybersecurity reviews.There are still substantial uncertainties with respect to the interpretation and implementation of the Cyber-security Review Measures.

Regulations Relating to Intellectual Property Protection

China has adopted comprehensive legislation governing intellectual property rights, including copyrights, patents and trademarks.

Copyright

Under the PRC Copyright Law promulgated by the National People’s Congress in 1990 and most recently amended in 2020, copyright protection extends to internet activities, products disseminated over the internet and software products. In addition, there is a voluntary registration system administered by the China Copyright Protection Center, and requires registration of any pledge of a copyright. Its implementing regulation, Computer Software Copyright Registration Procedures, was promulgated in 2011 and most recently amended in January 2013, specifies detailed procedures and requirements regarding the registration of software copyrights.

To address the problem of copyright infringement related to content posted or transmitted over the internet, the PRC National Copyrights Administration, or the NCA and the MIIT jointly promulgated the Measures for Administrative Protection of Copyright Related to Internet in 2005. Upon receipt of an infringement notice from a legitimate copyright holder, an ICP operator must take remedial actions immediately by removing or disabling access to the infringing content. If an ICP operator knowingly transmits infringing content or fails to take remedial actions after receipt of a notice of infringement harming public interest, the ICP operator could be subject to administrative penalties, including an order to cease infringing activities, confiscation by the authorities of all income derived from the infringement activities, or payment of fines.

The Provisions of the Supreme People’s Court on Certain Issues Related to the Application of Law in the Trial of Civil Cases Involving Disputes on Infringement of the Information Network Dissemination Rights provides that disseminating works, performances or audio-video products by internet users or internet service providers via the internet without the consents of the copyright owners shall be deemed to have infringed the right of dissemination of the copyright owner. Under the Regulations on the Protection of the Right to Network Dissemination of Information, promulgated by the State Council in 2006 and amended in 2013, an owner of the network dissemination rights with respect to written works or audio or video recordings who believes that information storage, search or link services provided by an internet service provider infringe his or her rights may require that the internet service provider delete, or disconnect the links to, such works or recordings. As of December 31, 2020, we have registered 149 software copyrights in China.

Patent Law

Under the Patent Law promulgated by PRC Congress in 1984 and most recently amended in 2008, and its implementation regulations issued in 2010, the State Intellectual Property Office is responsible for administering patents in the PRC. The Chinese patent system adopts a “first to file” principle, which means that where more than one person files a patent application for the same invention, a patent will be granted to the person who filed the application first. To be patentable, invention or utility models must meet all three conditions: novelty, inventiveness and practical applicability. A patent is valid for 20 years in the case of an invention and 10 years in the case of utility models and designs. A third-party user must obtain consent or proper license from the patent owner to use the patent. Otherwise, third-party use constitutes an infringement of patent rights. As of December 31, 2020, we had 59 patents in China.

Trademark Law

Under the Trademark Law promulgated by PRC Congress in 1982 and most recently amended in 2019, and its implementation regulations issued in 2002 and amended in April 2014, the Trademark Office of the Administration for Industry and Commerce is responsible for the registration and administration of trademarks. The Administration for Industry and Commerce under the State Council has established a Trademark Review and Adjudication Board for resolving trademark disputes. As with patents, China has adopted a “first-to-file” principle for trademark registration. If two or more applicants apply for registration of identical or similar trademarks for the same or similar commodities, the application that was filed first will receive preliminary approval and will be publicly announced. For applications filed on the same day, the trademark that was first used will receive preliminary approval and will be publicly announced. Registered trademarks are valid for ten years from the date the registration is approved. A registrant may apply to renew a registration within twelve months before the expiration date of the registration. If the registrant fails to apply in a timely manner, a grace period of six additional months may be granted. If the registrant fails to apply before the grace period expires, the registered trademark shall be deregistered. Renewed registrations are valid for ten years. As of December 31, 2020, we had 240 trademarks in China.

Domain Name

Domain names are protected in the PRC under the Administrative Measures on the Internet Domain Names promulgated by the MIIT, which became effective on November 1, 2017. The MIIT is the primary regulatory authority responsible for the administration of the PRC internet domain names. The registration of domain names in China has adopted a “first-to-file” principle. A domain name applicant will become the domain name holder upon the completion of its application procedure.

As of December 31, 2020, we had registered more than 200 domain names, including “cootek.com,” “chubao.cn” and “touchpal.com.”

Internet Infringement

Under the Tort Law promulgated by PRC Congress in 2009, an internet user or an internet service provider that infringes upon the civil rights or interests of others through using the internet assumes tort liability. If an internet user infringes upon the civil rights or interests of another through internet, the victim has the right to notify and request the facilitating internet service provider to take necessary measures including deletion, blocking or disconnection of any relevant internet link. If, the internet service provider fails to take necessary measures upon notification in a timely manner to stop the infringement, such internet service provider shall be jointly and severally liable for any additional harm caused by its failure to act. According to the Tort Law, civil rights and interests include the personal rights and rights of property, such as the right to life, right to health, right to name, right to reputation, right to honor, right of portraiture, right of privacy, right of marital autonomy, right of guardianship, right to ownership, right to usufruct, right to security interests, copyright, patent right, exclusive right to use trademarks, right to discovery, right to equity interests and right of heritage, among others.

Regulations Relating to User Protection

The Measures on the Complaint Settlement of the Telecommunication Services Users, issued by MIIT in May 2016, requires telecommunication services providers to respond to their users within fifteen days upon the receipt of any complaint delivered by such users, the failure of which will give the complaining users the right to file a complaint against the service providers with the provincial branch offices of the MIIT.

Regulations Relating to M&A

In 2006, six PRC regulatory agencies, including the MOFCOM, the State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the State Administration of Taxation, or the SAT, the SAIC, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, or the CSRC, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, or the SAFE, jointly issued the Regulations on Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, or the M&A Rule, amended in 2009. The M&A Rule requires an offshore special purpose vehicle, formed for purposes of the overseas listing of equity interests in PRC companies through acquisitions of PRC domestic companies and controlled directly or indirectly by PRC companies or individuals, to obtain the approval of the CSRC prior to any listing or trading of such special purpose vehicle’s securities on any overseas stock exchange. In 2006, the CSRC published on its official Website procedures for obtaining its approval of overseas listings by special purpose vehicles, which requires the filing of a number of documents with the CSRC. The application of this PRC regulation remains unclear, with no consensus currently existing among leading PRC law firms regarding the scope of the applicability of the CSRC approval requirements.

The M&A Rules also establish procedures and requirements that could make some acquisitions of Chinese companies by foreign investors more time-consuming and complex, including requirements in some instances that the MOFCOM be notified in advance of any change-of-control transaction in which a foreign investor takes control of a Chinese domestic enterprise.

In February 2011, the General Office of the State Council promulgated a Notice on Establishing the Security Review System for Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, or the Circular 6, which established a security review system for mergers and acquisitions of domestic enterprises by foreign investors. Under Circular 6, a security review is required for mergers and acquisitions by foreign investors having “national defense and security” concerns and mergers and acquisitions by which foreign investors may acquire “de facto control” of domestic enterprises with “national security” concerns. In August 2011, the MOFCOM promulgated the Rules on Implementation of Security Review System, or the MOFCOM Security Review Rules, to replace the Interim Provisions of the Ministry of Commerce on Matters Relating to the Implementation of the Security Review System for Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors promulgated by the MOFCOM in March 2011. The MOFCOM Security Review Rules, which came into effect on September 1, 2011, provide that the MOFCOM will look into the substance and actual impact of a transaction and prohibit foreign investors from bypassing the security review requirement by structuring transactions through proxies, trusts, indirect investments, leases, loans, control through contractual arrangements or offshore transactions.

Regulations Relating to Foreign Currency Exchange and Dividend Distribution

The principal regulations governing foreign currency exchange in China are the Foreign Exchange Administration Regulations, or the Foreign Exchange Regulations, which were promulgated by the State Council in 1996 and most recently amended in 2008. Under the Foreign Exchange Regulations, the RMB is freely convertible for current account items, including the distribution of dividends, interest payments, trade and service-related foreign exchange transactions, but not for capital account items, such as direct investments, loans, repatriation of investments and investments in securities outside of the PRC, unless the prior approval of the SAFE is obtained and prior registration with the SAFE is made. Dividends paid by a PRC subsidiary to its overseas shareholder are deemed income of the shareholder and are taxable in the PRC. Pursuant to the Administration Rules of the Settlement, Sale and Payment of Foreign Exchange promulgated by the PBOC in 1996, foreign-invested enterprises in the PRC may purchase or remit foreign currency, subject to a cap approved by the SAFE, for settlement of current account transactions without the approval of the SAFE. Foreign currency transactions under the capital account are still subject to limitations and require approvals from, or registration with, the SAFE and other relevant PRC governmental authorities.

In July 2014, the SAFE promulgated the Circular on Issues Concerning Foreign Exchange Administration over the Overseas Investment and Financing and Roundtrip Investment by Domestic Residents Via Special Purpose Vehicles, or SAFE Circular 37, which replaced Relevant Issues Concerning Foreign Exchange Control on Domestic Residents’ Corporate Financing and Roundtrip Investment through Offshore Special Purpose Vehicles, or SAFE Circular 75. SAFE Circular 37 requires PRC residents, including PRC institutions and individuals, to register with the local SAFE office in connection with their direct establishment or indirect control of an offshore entity, referred to in SAFE Circular 37 as a “special purpose vehicle” for the purpose of holding domestic or offshore assets or interests. PRC residents must also file amendments to their registrations in the event of any significant changes with respect to the special purpose vehicle, such as increase or decrease of capital contributed by PRC individuals, share transfer or exchange, merger, division or other material event. Under these regulations, PRC residents’ failure to comply with such regulations may result in restrictions being imposed on the foreign exchange activities of the relevant PRC entity, including the payment of dividends and other distributions to its offshore parent, as well as restrictions on capital inflows from the offshore entity to the PRC entity, including restrictions on the ability to contribute additional capital to the PRC entity. Further, failure to comply with the various SAFE registration requirements could result in liability under PRC laws for evasion of foreign exchange regulations.

Under SAFE Circular 37, if a non-listed special purpose vehicle uses its own equity to grant equity incentives to any directors, supervisors, senior management or any other employees directly employed by a domestic enterprise which is directly or indirectly controlled by such special purpose vehicle, or with which such an employee has established an employment relationship, related PRC residents and individuals may, prior to exercising their rights, apply to the SAFE for foreign exchange registration formalities for such special purpose vehicle. However, in practice, different local SAFE offices may have different views and procedures on the interpretation and implementation of the SAFE regulations, and since SAFE Circular 37 was the first regulation to regulate the foreign exchange registration of a non-listed special purpose vehicle’s equity incentives granted to PRC residents, there remains uncertainty with respect to its implementation.

In February 2015, SAFE promulgated the Notice on Further Simplifying and Improving the Administration of the Foreign Exchange Concerning Direct Investment, or SAFE Notice 13, as amended in December 2019. SAFE Notice 13 amended SAFE Circular 37 by requiring PRC residents or entities to register the incorporation or control of an offshore entity for purposes of offshore investment or offshore financing with qualified banks rather than SAFE or its local branches.

Under the Administration Measures on Individual Foreign Exchange Control issued by PBOC in 2006, and related Implementation Rules issued by the SAFE in 2007 as amended in 2016, all foreign exchange transactions involving an employee share incentive plan, share option plan, or similar plan participated in by onshore individuals shall obtain approval from the SAFE or its local office.

The principal regulations governing distribution of dividends of foreign holding companies include the Foreign Investment Law promulgated in 2019, Implementation Regulations for the Foreign Investment Law promulgated in 2019, and the Company Law as recently amended in 2018. Under these regulations, wholly foreign-owned enterprises in China may pay dividends only out of their accumulated profits, if any, as determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations. In addition, a wholly foreign-owned enterprise in China is required to set aside at least 10% of its after-tax profit based on PRC accounting standards each year to its general reserves until its cumulative total reserve funds reaches 50% of its registered capital. At the discretion of the board of directors of the wholly foreign-owned enterprise, it may allocate a portion of its after-tax profits based on PRC accounting standards to staff welfare and bonus funds. These reserve funds and staff welfare and bonus funds, however, may not be distributed as cash dividends.

Furthermore, under the Enterprise Income Tax Law, which became effective in January, 2008 and latest amended in December 2018, the maximum tax rate for the withholding tax imposed on dividend payments from PRC foreign invested companies to their overseas investors that are not regarded as “resident” for tax purposes is 20%. The rate was reduced to 10% under the Implementing Regulations for the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law issued by the State Council. However, a lower withholding tax rate of 5% might be applied if there is a tax treaty between China and the jurisdiction of the foreign holding companies, such as is the case with Hong Kong, and certain requirements specified by PRC tax authorities are satisfied.

Regulations Relating to Employee Share Option Plans

Pursuant to the Notice of Issues Related to the Foreign Exchange Administration for Domestic Individuals Participating in Stock Incentive Plan of Overseas Listed Company, or SAFE Circular 7, issued by the SAFE in February 2012, employees, directors, supervisors, and other senior management participating in any share incentive plan of an overseas publicly listed company who are PRC citizens or non-PRC citizens residing in China for a continuous period of not less than one year, subject to a few exceptions, are required to register with SAFE through a domestic qualified agent, which may be a PRC subsidiary of such overseas listed company, and complete certain other procedures.

In addition, the SAT has issued certain circulars concerning employee share options and restricted shares. Under these circulars, employees working in the PRC who exercise share options or are granted restricted shares will be subject to PRC individual income tax. The PRC subsidiaries of an overseas listed company are obligated to file documents related to employee share options and restricted shares with relevant tax authorities and to withhold individual income taxes of employees who exercise their share option or purchase restricted shares. If the employees fail to pay or the PRC subsidiaries fail to withhold income tax in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, the PRC subsidiaries may face sanctions imposed by the tax authorities or other PRC governmental authorities.

Regulations Relating to Employment and Social Insurance

The PRC Labor Contract Law promulgated by PRC Congress in 2007 and amended in December 2012, and its implementation rules issued by the State Council in 2008, require employers to provide written contracts to their employees, restrict the use of temporary workers and aim to give employees long-term job security. Violations of the PRC Labor Law and the PRC Labor Contract Law may result in fines and other administrative sanctions, and serious violations may result in criminal liabilities.

Pursuant to the PRC Labor Contract Law, employment contracts lawfully concluded prior to the implementation of the PRC Labor Contract Law and continuing as of the date of its implementation shall continue to be performed. Where an employment relationship was established prior to the implementation of the PRC Labor Contract Law but no written employment contract was concluded, a contract must be concluded within one month after its implementation.

The PRC governmental authorities have passed a variety of laws and regulations regarding social insurance and housing funds from time to time, including, among others, the PRC Social Insurance Law, the Regulation of Insurance for Labor Injury, the Regulations of Insurance for Unemployment, and Interim Measures for Enterprise Employees’ Maternity Insurance. Pursuant to these laws and regulations, PRC companies must make contributions at specified levels for their employees to the relevant local social insurance and housing fund authorities. Failure to comply with such laws and regulations may result in various fines and legal sanctions and supplemental contributions to the local social insurance and housing fund regulatory authorities.

The following is a summary of our contractual arrangements with respect to Shanghai Chubao and other principal VIEs.

Agreements that provide us effective control over Shanghai Chubao

Loan Agreement. On August 6, 2012, the WFOE and each shareholder of Shanghai Chubao entered into loan agreement. Pursuant to such agreements, the WFOE will provide loan to the shareholders of Shanghai Chubao solely for the purpose of capital contribution. The shareholders of Shanghai Chubao should pledge their equity interests in Shanghai Chubao and enter into an equity pledge agreement to secure such loan and other obligations. The shareholders can only repay the loans by the sale of all their equity interest in Shanghai Chubao to WFOE or its designated person. Each loan agreement will remain effective for 10 years, and will be automatically renewed by three years upon the option of the WFOE.

Equity Pledge Agreement. On August 6, 2012, the WFOE and Shanghai Chubao and each of its shareholders entered into an equity pledge agreement, which was subsequently amended and restated on October 30, 2012. Pursuant to the amended and restated equity pledge agreement, each shareholder of Shanghai Chubao shall pledges 100% equity interests in Shanghai Chubao to the WFOE to guarantee their and Shanghai Chubao’s performance of their obligations under the contractual arrangements including the exclusive business cooperation agreement, exclusive purchase option agreement and the power of attorney. In the event of a breach by Shanghai Chubao or its shareholders of their contractual obligations under these agreements, the WFOE, as pledgee, will have the right to dispose of the pledged equity interests in Shanghai Chubao. The shareholders of Shanghai Chubao also undertakes that, during the term of the equity pledge agreements, they will not dispose of the pledged equity interests or create or allow any encumbrance on the pledged equity interests. During the term of the equity pledge agreements, our WFOE has the right to receive all of the dividends and profits distributed on the pledged equity interests. We have completed the registration of the equity pledges with the relevant office of the administration for industry and commerce in accordance with the PRC Property Rights Law.

Power of Attorney. On October 30, 2012, each shareholder of Shanghai Chubao granted irrevocable and exclusive power of attorney to the WFOE as his/her attorney-in-fact to exercise all shareholder rights, including, but not limited to, attend shareholders meeting of Shanghai Chubao, voting on their behalf on all matters of Shanghai Chubao, disposing of all or part of the shareholder’s equity interest in Shanghai Chubao, and electing, appointing or removing legal representative, directors, supervisors and executive officers of Shanghai Chubao. Each power of attorney will remain in force for so long as the shareholder remains a shareholder of Shanghai Chubao. Each shareholder has waived all the rights which have been authorized to our WFOE under each power of attorney.

Spouse Consent Letters. Pursuant to the spouse consent letters dated October 30, 2012, each spouse of the shareholders of Shanghai Chubao, if any, confirmed that his/her spouse can perform the obligations under the contractual arrangements and has sole discretion to amend and terminate the contractual arrangements. Each spouse agreed that the equity interest in Shanghai Chubao held by and registered in the name of his/her spouse will be disposed of pursuant to the amended and restated equity pledge agreement, the amended and restated exclusive option agreement and the power of attorney. In addition, in the event that each spouse obtains any equity interest in Shanghai Chubao held by his/her spouse for any reason, he/she agreed to be bound by the contractual arrangements.

Agreement that allows us to receive economic benefits from Shanghai Chubao

Exclusive Business Cooperation Agreement. On August 6, 2012, our WFOE and Shanghai Chubao entered into an exclusive business cooperation agreement. Under such agreement, our WFOE has the exclusive right to provide Shanghai Chubao with operational support and technology and consulting services. The WFOE owns the exclusive intellectual property rights created as a result of the performance of this agreement. Shanghai Chubao agrees to pay our WFOE a monthly service fee, at an amount equal to 100% of Shanghai Chubao’s monthly net income or an amount otherwise agreed by the WFOE. This agreement will remain effective unless terminated unilaterally by the WFOE or otherwise as required by applicable PRC laws and regulations.

Agreement that provides us with the option to purchase the equity interest in Shanghai Chubao

Exclusive Purchase Option Agreement. On August 6, 2012, the WFOE and each shareholder of Shanghai Chubao entered into an exclusive purchase option agreement, which was subsequently amended and restated on October 30, 2012. Pursuant to the amended and restated exclusive purchase option agreement, each shareholder of Shanghai Chubao irrevocably grants our WFOE an exclusive option to purchase, or have its designated person to purchase, at its discretion, to the extent permitted under PRC law, all or part of the shareholder’s equity interests in Shanghai Chubao. In addition, the purchase price should be the amount of registered capital, which may be subject to fair value adjustments if required by the PRC laws. Without the prior written consent of the WFOE, the shareholders of Shanghai Chubao may not amend its articles of association, increase or decrease the registered capital, dispose of its assets or business, create any encumbrance on its assets or business, incur any debts or guarantee liabilities, enter into any material contracts, merger with or acquire any other persons or make any investments, provide any loans for any third parties or distribute dividends to the shareholders. Each shareholder of Shanghai Chubao agrees that, without the prior written consent of the WFOE, he/she will not dispose of his/her equity interests in Shanghai Chubao or create or allow any encumbrance on the equity interests. Each exclusive purchase option agreement will remain effective unless the agreement is required to be terminated by applicable PRC laws and regulations.

The WFOE, the other three VIEs and their respective shareholders have entered into contractual arrangements which contain agreements and terms substantially similar to our contractual arrangements with Shanghai Chubao and its shareholders described above, except that the WFOE did not extended any loans to the shareholders of Shanghai Hanxiang and the option to purchase the equity interest of Shanghai Hanxiang can be exercised at a nominal price pursuant to its exclusive purchase option agreement. The registration of the equity pledges over the equity interests of the other VIEs have been completed with the relevant office of the administration for industry and commerce in accordance with the PRC Property Rights Law.

In the opinion of JunHe LLP, our PRC legal counsel:

However, we have been further advised by our PRC legal counsel that there are substantial uncertainties regarding the interpretation and application of current and future PRC laws, regulations and rules, and there can be no assurance that the PRC regulatory authorities will ultimately take a view that is consistent with the opinion stated above. Accordingly, the PRC regulatory authorities may in the future take a view that is contrary to or otherwise different from the above opinion of our PRC legal counsel. If the PRC government finds that the agreements that establish the structure for operating our mobile internet business do not comply with PRC government restrictions on foreign investment in our businesses, we could be subject to severe penalties including being prohibited from continuing operations. See “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure—If the PRC government finds that the agreements that establish the structure for operating our businesses in China do not comply with PRC regulations on foreign investment in internet and other related businesses, or if these regulations or their interpretation change in the future, we could be subject to severe penalties or be forced to relinquish our interests in those operations,” and “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Doing Business in China—Uncertainties in the interpretation and enforcement of PRC laws and regulations could limit the legal protections available to you and us.”

D.Property and Equipment

Our headquarters are located in Shanghai, China, where we currently lease and occupy approximately 5,000 square meters of office space. We also lease offices in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other cities, with an aggregate area of approximately 1,048 square meters of office space. We also have research and development personnel at our office in Silicon Valley, the United States, with an area of approximately 460 square meters.

Below is a summary of the term of each of our current leases and we plan to renew most of them when they expire:

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ITEM 4A.   UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

ITEM 5.    OPERATING AND FINANCIAL REVIEW AND PROSPECTS

You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this annual report on Form 20-F. This discussion may contain forward-looking statements based upon current expectations that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including those set forth under “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors” or in other parts of this annual report on Form 20-F.

A.Operating Results

Overview

We operate a global portfolio of mobile applications with a large and diverse user base. Our mobile applications include a portfolio of content-rich mobile applications, TouchPal Smart Input and TouchPal Phone book. We leverage our ability to derive sophisticated user insights to deliver targeted advertisements that are relevant to users across our various mobile applications.

We generate revenues primarily from mobile advertising. In July 2019, some of our global apps were disabled by Google from the Google Play Store and Google Admob, and we were able to bounce back during the second half of 2019, through our diversified content-rich mobile applications and additional distribution channels. In 2020, we continue to develop our content-rich product portfolio, and to build a global pan-entertainment content ecosystem which focus on online literature, scenario-based content apps and casual games. Our net revenues grew rapidly by 32.6% from US$134.1 million in 2018 to US$177.9 million in 2019, and further by 148% to US$441.5 million in 2020. We recorded gross profit of US$119.2 million, US$162.6 million and US$417.4 million in 2018, 2019 and 2020, reflecting an improvement of gross profit margin from 88.9% in 2018 to 91.4% in 2019 and further to 94.5% in 2020. Of our total advertising revenue, our portfolio products contributed approximately 63% in 2018, 85% in 2019 and 99% in 2020, and our TouchPal Smart Input contributed approximately 22% in 2018, 6% in 2019 and 0.2% in 2020. In addition, TouchPal Phonebook contributed approximately 15%, 9% and 0.5% of our total advertising revenue in 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively. We recorded net income of US$10.1 million in 2018, net loss of US$36.8 million in 2019, and net loss of US$47.4 million in 2020.

Key Factors Affecting Our Results of Operations

Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, our results of operations and financial conditions was affected. The COVID-19 pandemic led to a potential global economic downturn, which caused our advertising and marketing customers to reduce their advertising budgets in general. As a result of any of the above developments, our business, financial condition and results of operations for the full fiscal year of 2020 were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. We will continue to monitor and evaluate the impacts of COVID-19 to our business, financial condition and results of operations for the remainder of fiscal year 2021.

As of December 31, 2020, we had US$49.6 million in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash. Our cash and cash equivalents primarily consist of cash on hand, demand deposits and short-term floating rate financial instruments which can be freely withdrawn or used and have original maturities of three months or less when purchased. Our restricted cash consists of amount of US$3.1 million held in our bank account as guarantee deposit for loan facility provided by the bank and US$21.7 million held in our bank accounts which were frozen by a local authority in connection with an ongoing investigation related to an alleged illegal act of certain customers. We believe this level of liquidity is sufficient to navigate an extended period of uncertainty.

While our business is influenced by general factors affecting our industry, our results of operations are more directly affected by company specific factors, including the following major factors:

Our ability to increase our user base

Our business depends on our ability to grow our global user base. As our revenues are primarily derived from our advertising services, the number of users and the frequency with which they use our products and services directly affect the number of advertisements we are able to show and the value of those advertisements. Since our inception, we have experienced rapid growth of the user base of our portfolio products. In December 2020, the user base of our portfolio products reached an average of 27.8 million DAUs, an increase of 13% from 24.7 million in December 2019.

The effectiveness of our monetization and our results of operations are affected by a number of factors, including the number of our available advertising spaces, our ability to attract and retain advertising customers, and our ability to deliver targeted advertisements to our users.

Our available advertising spaces

Our available advertising spaces represent the number, size and prominence of advertisements we can display, which in turn affect our revenues and results of operations. As we have continued to launch new content-rich products, and grow our user base, the number of our available advertising spaces increased rapidly in recent years. We plan to continue to invest in the development of innovative products catering to users’ interests in and demands for relevant content in order to create more advertising spaces.

Our ability to attract and retain advertising customers

We source our advertisers primarily through our network of advertising exchanges and agencies, and to a lesser extent, direct contractual arrangements with individual advertisers. Our revenues and results of operations depend largely on our ability to engage, directly or indirectly, more advertisers with our advertising services. We generate advertising revenue primarily from performance-based advertisements and we also offer brand advertising arrangements. In July 2019, some of our global apps were disabled by Google from the Google Play Store and Google Admob, and our access to Google Play Store and Google Admob was disabled too. Our business and financial results was adversely affected as a result in the second and third quarter of 2019. See “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business—We have been and may continue to be subject to notices or complaints alleging, among other things, our infringement of copyrights and delivery of illegal or inappropriate content through our products, which could lead to suspension or removal of such products from digital distribution platforms, a decrease of our user base, and a significantly adverse impact on our financial results and our reputation.” We launched our in-house developed advertising platform, CooTek Ads, afterwards to reduce our dependency on third-party advertising exchanges and to provide high-quality and tailored advertising services. The revenue derived from CooTek Ads have accounted for approximately 45% of our total revenue in 2020. In 2020, our top two advertising customers, which are advertising exchanges, contributed 39.5% of our total revenues. Our business may be materially and adversely affected if our cooperation with these two advertising customers is impaired or terminated. See “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business—We depend on certain third-party advertising exchanges and agencies for a large portion of our mobile advertising revenues.” We plan to further strengthen our network of advertising exchanges and agencies to serve a larger number of advertisers. We also plan to further expand and diversify our advertiser base and to maximize the value of our services to the advertisers by improving our targeting capability, increasing our user base, developing CooTek Ads while maintaining quality business relationship with third-party advertising exchanges.

Our ability to deliver targeted advertisements

Leveraging our in-depth user insights, we help advertisers reach their desired audiences and our advertising exchange customers charge them advertising fees based primarily on valid clicks, conversions or other measurable actions of the audience. Our ability to deliver advertisements that are relevant to our users across our various mobile applications is critical to maintaining high click-through rates or conversion rates, which in turn directly impacts the value of our advertising services. We strive to deepen our understanding of our users’ content interests and demands in order to improve our targeted delivery of advertising services, which will ultimately increase the effectiveness of the monetization of our use base and advertising spaces.

Effective investment in technology and talent

To maintain our advanced technological capabilities and in order to be able to keep up with any future technological developments, we have continued to make significant investments in enhancing our technology infrastructure and in acquiring and retaining talent with technological expertise. Our investment in technology and talent has effectively met our needs for technology upgrades and increases in product development capacity along with the rapid growth of our business. As of December 31, 2020, we had 759 full-time employees, of which 452 were software engineers and product designers. Our research and development expenses increased by 39.4% from US$19.3 million in 2018 to US$26.9 million in 2019, and further increased by 10.2% from US$26.9 million in 2019 to US$29.7 million in 2020. In the foreseeable future, we expect to continuously increase our investment in our research and development team and our big data analytics and precise targeted advertising capabilities.

Ability to manage costs and expenses

Our results of operations depend on our ability to manage our costs and expenses. We spend primarily on content costs, server and bandwidth costs, telecommunication service charges and expenses related to voice over internet protocol, or VoIP, services, and staff costs. We expect the absolute amount of our content costs, bandwidth and server costs and our staff costs to steadily increase as we continue to grow our business. In order to expand our user base, we also incur sales and marketing expenses to acquire new users through online marketing and promotion activities. We expect to continue spending on user acquisition channels to further enlarge our user base in the foreseeable future. We expect to stabilize and improve our economic efficiency of user acquisition cost for our existing products as a result of the economies of scale and our accumulated knowledge and experience related to user growth. The user acquisition costs for our new products may currently be higher than our existing products, and we plan to keep improving our economic efficiency of user acquisition cost for our new products as well. In addition, we expect our costs and operating expenses to decrease as a percentage of our total net revenues, as our business further increases in scale and our operating efficiency improves.

Key Components of Results of Operations

Net Revenues. The following table sets forth the components of our net revenues, both in absolute amount and as a percentage of our total net revenues, for the periods presented:

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Advertising Revenue

We generate advertising revenue primarily from delivering advertisements through our products. Based on our in-depth user insights, we target users who are likely to have interests and demands for the advertised products and services. We generally enter into arrangements with advertising exchanges and agencies that purchase advertising services and spaces from us on behalf of the end advertisers, and we also enter into advertising arrangements with individual advertisers directly. Our advertising revenue is primarily generated from performance-based advertisements, and we also offer brand advertising arrangements. For performance-based advertisements, we are paid by our advertising exchange customers based on the effective price per impression, which is impacted by the number of valid clicks, conversions or other measurable actions of our users in relation to the advertisements.

Revenue from our advertising services accounted for 97.9%, 98.4% and 99.3% of our total net revenues in 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively. We estimate that, of our total advertising revenue, our portfolio products contributed approximately 63% in 2018, 85% in 2019 and 99% in 2020. In addition, online literature, scenario-based content apps and casual games contributed approximately 38%, 24% and 37% of our total advertising revenue in 2020, respectively. From time to time, we provide sales rebates to certain advertising agencies to incentivize their referral of more brand advertising arrangements to us. Our advertising revenue is presented net of sales rebates to these advertising agencies.

We expect our advertising revenue to increase in the foreseeable future as we continue to expand our global user base, improve the effectiveness of our targeted advertising services, and attract more advertising customers.

Other Revenue

We generate other revenue from (i) VIP user subscription; and (ii) licensing of our TouchPal Smart Input to certain mobile device manufacturers for pre-installation. Revenue from both services in aggregate increased by US$0.7 million from 2018 to 2019. We ceased to generate revenue from the sales of virtual items in a live social video community on TouchPal Phonebook in 2019. As a result, our other revenue stayed stable at US$2.8 million in 2019. Revenue from both services in aggregate increased by US$0.3 million from US$2.8 million 2019 to US$3.1 million in 2020.

Cost of revenues

The following table sets forth our cost of revenues and gross profit, both in absolute amount and as a percentage of our total net revenues, for the periods presented.

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Our cost of revenues consists primarily of content costs, bandwidth costs, VoIP related expenses and staff costs. Content costs are the fees we pay to our signed authors and third-party content providers for the publishing and licensing of relevant online literature works. Bandwidth costs are the fees we pay to telecommunications carriers and other service providers for telecommunications and other content delivery-related services. VoIP related expenses are the fees we pay to telecommunications carriers and other service providers for the VoIP services we offer through our VoIP products such as TouchPal Phonebook. Staff costs consist of salaries and benefits for our employees involved in the operation and maintenance of our network and mobile applications. Our other costs of revenues include hardware, server and internet equipment depreciation expenses and internet data center service fees. In the foreseeable future, we expect our total cost of revenues to increase in absolute amount as we continue to expand our user base and business operations globally and we expect our cost of revenue as a percentage of net revenue to slightly decrease and then to remain stable.

Operating Expenses

The following table sets forth the components of our operating expenses, both in absolute amount and as a percentage of our total net revenues, for the periods presented.

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Sales and Marketing Expenses

Our sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of user acquisition costs, general brand promotion costs, and salaries and benefits, including share-based compensation, for our sales and marketing personnel. Our user acquisition costs represent expenses for acquiring new users of our products, including expenses on targeted campaigns to acquire users. We expect our sales and marketing expenses to stabilize and optimize in the foreseeable future as we continue to acquire new users and enlarge our user base but also to improve the efficiency of our user retention and management.

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development expenses consist primarily of salaries and benefits, including share-based compensation, for our technology and product development personnel, and depreciation and other expenses associated with the use of facilities for research and development purposes. We expect our research and development expenses to increase in the foreseeable future as we expand our team of technology and product development professionals and continue to invest in our technology infrastructure to enhance our big data analytics.

General and Administrative Expenses

Our general and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries and benefits, including share-based compensation, for our employees involved in general corporate operations, facility rental, as well as professional service fees related to various corporate activities. We expect our general and administrative expenses to increase in absolute amount in the foreseeable future as we continue to grow our business and incur increased costs in accounting, compliance, reporting and other costs associated with operating as a public company.

Other Operating (Income) Loss, net

Other operating income primarily consisted of government subsidies and other operating loss primarily consisted of contingent losses for an ongoing investigation of certain alleged illegal acts of our customers, intellectual property infringement lawsuit and compensation payments to victims of alleged misconducts of certain third-party advertisers perpetrated on our platform.