With a TikTok Ban Looming, Users Flee to Chinese App ‘Red Note’

[bnew]

With a TikTok Ban Looming, Users Flee to Chinese App ‘Red Note’

Some say they joined Xiaohongshu, which translates to “little red book,” to spite the US government after a ban on TikTok became more likely.

www.wired.com

Zeyi Yang
Business

Jan 13, 2025 3:03 PM

With a TikTok Ban Looming, Users Flee to Chinese App ‘Red Note’​

Some say they joined Xiaohongshu, which translates to “little red book,” to spite the US government after a ban on TikTok became more likely.

Photograph: Tada Images/ Shutterstock

As TikTok anxiously awaits a Supreme Court decision that could determine whether it will be banned in the United States, users are preemptively fleeing the app and migrating to another Chinese social media platform called Xiaohongshu, which literally means “little red book” in Mandarin. As of Monday, Xiaohongshu was the number one most-downloaded app in Apple’s US App Store, despite the fact that it doesn’t even have an official English name. The second app on the list is Lemon8, another social media app owned by TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, that is also experiencing a traffic surge from exiled TikTok users.

Over the weekend, thousands of people began swarming to Xiaohongshu, which is known in China as a platform for travel and lifestyle content and has over 300 million users. The newcomers, who refer to the app as “Red Note” or “the Chinese version of Instagram” and call themselves “TikTok refugees,” are relying on translation tools to navigate Xiaohongshu’s mostly Chinese ecosystem. Some say they are hoping to rebuild communities they had on TikTok, while others say they joined the app out of spite and to undermine the US government’s decision to ban TikTok over concerns that the Chinese government could use the app to surveil Americans.

“I would rather stare at a language I can't understand than to ever use a social media [platform] that Mark Zuckerberg owns,” said one user in a video posted to Xiaohongshu on Sunday. There are a countless number of similar clips in which TikTok refugees introduce themselves and explain why they decided to come to Xiaohongshu, many raking up thousands of likes and comments each. A spokesperson for Xiaohongshu could not immediately be reached for comment.

Featured Video

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We Tracked the Secret Police Microphones Hidden Everywhere

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Friday from TikTok and the US government, which respectively made their cases for and against a law passed last year that would force TikTok to sell its US operations or be banned by January 19. Experts said the justices appeared to think the law was constitutional and would likely allow it to stay, leaving many users feeling that the app’s days are numbered. While TikTok is unlikely to immediately disappear from the phones of people who have already downloaded it, it could be deleted from US app stores, causing many to panic and look for the next place to go.

Some users are predictably going to Instagram or YouTube, but others say they would like to stick to a platform developed by a Chinese company to protest the decisions by US lawmakers that led to this situation. “Telling me to download Rednote out of spite over the TikTok ban was the only push I needed actually,” one person wrote on Bluesky. Internet culture journalist Taylor Lorenz also shared a link to her Xiaohongshu account on Bluesky, calling the platform “the hottest new social app in America.”

At least so far, pettiness and revenge appear to be enough to motivate people to learn how to navigate Xiaohongshu, an app that is overwhelmingly used by Chinese-speaking people and was not designed with English-speaking users in mind. “I have no idea what I’m doing here. I can’t even read the rules,” one TikTok refugee who goes by “Elle belle” said in a post on the app.


"Hello everyone, my name is Ryan. I'm a TikTok refugee. The American government is banning TikTok so we are looking for an alternative … We are very sorry to interrupt you here. Hope we don't have to stay here for too long," a Xiaohongshu user using the name Ryan Martin said in a video posted yesterday seemingly addressing the app’s Chinese user base. He translated the statement into Chinese and used a robot voice generator to read it in the video, which has since been liked more than 24,000 times. “It’s fine, you are not interrupting. When you guys are active, we are sleeping,” reads one of the top comments in Chinese.

There are also dozens of live audio chatrooms on the platform where American and Chinese users explained to each other, probably for the first time in many cases, how their respective societies work and clarified common misunderstandings. One of the most popular chatrooms has been listened to by nearly 30,000 users.

While Xiaohongshu is not specifically named in the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act that the Supreme Court is currently considering and could result in a US ban on TikTok, the law does stipulate that any “foreign adversary controlled application” may face a similar fate in the future. In other words, there’s no guarantee that Xiaohongshu won’t follow in TikTok’s footsteps in being blocked by the US government.

The TikTok ban might have catapulted Xiaohongshu to the center of attention in the US, but the app has been successful for a long time in China. Founded in 2013, the Shanghai-based company has operated one of the most, if not the most, trendy platforms in China over the past few years and reportedly generated over $1 billion in annual profits in 2024. To put it simply, it’s the hottest app in China that non-Chinese people have never heard of before.

It also has a sizable following among Chinese-speakers outside of the country, ranging from Chinese students overseas to Taiwanese people to diaspora communities in Malaysia. Restaurants, tourist hot spots, and travel companies around the world have started noticing the app because of how many Chinese tourists heavily rely on it for local information and recommendations shared by fellow Chinese people.

The app is starkly different from TikTok in a few major ways. While Xiaohongshu does allow users to post short vertical videos just like TikTok, the majority of the content on the platform is photo slideshows coupled with text, which is why people often view it more as a competitor to Instagram than TikTok. The app’s AI-powered grid-shaped feed (referred to as a “masonry grid” in professional tech circles) has been so successful in driving engagement that larger social media companies like Tencent and ByteDance have copied the design in their own products. Lemon8, the other popular social media app developed by ByteDance aside from TikTok, is widely seen as an attempt to emulate Xiaohongshu and its success.


In fact, the app doesn’t even have a good English translation of its own name: Xiaohongshu is the just the phonetic translation of its Chinese name. 小红书. While the literal translation “little red book” may remind English-speaking users of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong’s collection of speeches and propaganda slogans by the same name, it has a different connotation in China, where users interpret it as a source of reliable user-generated recommendations for mundane things, like which restaurant to go to or which cosmetic product to buy.

The recent influx of American users has certainly caught the attention of Xiaohongshu's existing user base. David Yang, a recent master’s program graduate from China currently living in Paris, suddenly found his Xiaohongshu feed full of American users on Sunday. He had previously seen some non-Chinese creators intentionally coming to the platform to attract Chinese followers, but nothing at this scale.

Now, when he scrolls his Xiaohongshu home page, about one quarter of the content is from so-called TikTok refugees, according to a screen recording he shared. “Some of them are asking what Chinese people think of certain issues, like the USA, LGBT, or other social issues. And some are inviting Chinese users to ask them questions. And some are just using the app like they use TikTok and post anything they find interesting,” Yang tells WIRED. The concentration of genuine personal content shared by normal people rather than polished influencers was refreshing, he added.

Chinese Xiaohongshu users are fascinated by the influx of new voices. Most of them, especially those who speak English, are extending a welcoming hand, liking the videos posted by TikTok refugees and following their accounts. Some are taking the time to try to explain how the app works to people who find it hard to navigate due to the language barrier.

Sarah Fotheringham, a TikTok user since 2021 from Utah, tells WIRED she's having a surprisingly nice time at Xiaohongshu despite relying on Google Translate to use the platform. For her first two days on the app, she has spent a few hours each day and posted four videos, the last one explaining the US school lunch to Chinese users. "People have reached out to offer help in every way, from navigating the app, adding subtitles to videos, and translations," Fotheringham says. "One comment on my video was from a Chinese user. She said, 'wow it's like looking over the Chinese wall.' And for me, it's been my first time seeing in."

“Most of the [new Xiaohongshu users] are probably in the curiosity phase. I think moments of cultural shock or controversies could emerge as time goes on, but that would be part of the process for them to know each other on a deeper level,” Yang says.

 

[bnew]

Chinese social media app RedNote tops App Store chart ahead of TikTok ban

Could RedNote be a replacement for TikTok?

www.theverge.com

Chinese social media app RedNote tops App Store chart ahead of TikTok ban​

Self-described ‘TikTok refugees’ are trying to find new communities on RedNote.​

By Emma Roth, a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO.

Jan 13, 2025, 4:28 PM EST

Photo Illustration by Sheldon Cooper/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

RedNote, the Chinese social media app also known as Xiaohongshu, rose to the number one spot on the Apple App Store as a US ban closes in on TikTok. The app offers a mix of pictures, short-form videos, and text posts across “follow,” “explore,” and “nearby” feeds.

A cursory scroll through RedNote’s Explore page shows English-language posts scattered among those written in Chinese. Many American users call themselves “TikTok refugees” in videos, while others write in text posts that they’re in search of a new community because of the potential TikTok ban. Some are even asking questions to Chinese users, such as “What are some popular memes in China?”

Screenshot: The Verge

RedNote, which launched in 2013 as a shopping-focused app, now has more than 300 million monthly active users and surpassed $1 billion in profit last year, according to Bloomberg.

Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments over whether to uphold the law that will ban TikTok or force its China-based owner, ByteDance, to sell it to an American company. The Supreme Court has until January 19th to issue a decision.

TikTok users may be flocking to RedNote now, but the ban also implicates other Chinese-owned apps, including RedNote, WeChat, and the other apps run by ByteDance like Lemon8 and CapCut.

 

[Dad]

 

[Json]

Hilarious.

These people staying on that China train over American alternatives

 

[bnew]

https://www.npr.org/2025/01/13/nx-s1-5258151/tiktok-ban-us-impact-prepare-workaround

A TikTok ban could hit the U.S. in days. What to know — and how to prepare​

January 13, 20253:25 PM ET

By

Rachel Treisman

The Supreme Court is considering whether to block a law that effectively bans TikTok in the U.S. starting Jan. 19.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The fate of TikTok — and its 170 million American users — hangs in the balance, as the Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of a law that would ban the platform in the U.S. if its China-based owner, ByteDance, doesn't sell off its U.S. operation by Jan. 19.

If the court upholds the law — as a lower court did last month — TikTok's days in the country would be numbered.

"On January 19th, as I understand it, we shut down," TikTok lawyer Noel Francisco told justices during oral arguments on Friday.

This doesn't mean that the viral video app will automatically disappear from people's phones or that individuals will risk punishment just for logging in.

Business ​

TikTok challenges its U.S ban at the Supreme Court. Here's what to know​

But it will get harder for the platform's users in the U.S. to access the app, says Kate Ruane, director of the Free Expression Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology (which joined an amicus brief supporting TikTok and its users' protected speech).

"I think the biggest obvious result of this law going into effect is that … it's going to require more technical savvy to access TikTok," Ruane told NPR. "And that in and of itself is going to be too big of a barrier for lots and lots of people to continue to access TikTok or to continue to try to use TikTok as a service."

TikTok officials say it is possible that on Jan. 19, when U.S. users try to open the app, a prompt will show up indicating the service is no longer available in the country. This is what happens when someone tries to launch TikTok in India, which banned the app in 2020.

It's also possible that users will be able to access the app but it may be buggy, operate slowly or crash often, the TikTok official said.

Here's what could happen and how to prepare.

Fine print: How the law would actually work​

The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA), which President Biden signed into law in April 2024, grants the government the authority to ban foreign-owned apps that it deems a threat to national security.

The bill passed with considerable bipartisan support, as many lawmakers worry that the Chinese government could access Americans' data — through TikTok's parent company — and use it to surveil Americans, spread misinformation and sway public opinion.

Untangling Disinformation ​

China's influence operations against the U.S. are bigger than TikTok​

While the law concerns TikTok, it actually targets the companies that make the platform accessible in the U.S., including app stores like Apple's App Store and Google Play, as well as cloud service providers like Oracle.

The fine print makes it illegal for any such entities to "distribute, maintain, or update (or enable the distribution, maintenance, or updating of) a foreign adversary controlled application" either through a marketplace or internet hosting services.

In mid-December, Democrats on a House committee dealing with competition between the U.S. and China sent letters to the CEOs of Apple and Google warning the companies to take steps to ensure they can "fully comply with this requirement" by the deadline — which would have an immediate impact on users.

"If you already have [TikTok] on your phone, it's not going to disappear from your phone on Jan. 19 or Jan. 20," Ruane says. "It will, however, very likely disappear from application stores."

That means users will no longer be able to download the app or any updated versions of it.

And without the ability to update, the platform won't be able to fix bugs, add features or address security concerns. Eventually, Ruane says, it may also become incompatible with the operating system of certain phones.

"Over time … the service that you get with the application will be worse and worse and worse," she adds, though it's too soon to tell whether that will be a matter of days, weeks or months.

Action items: Preparations and potential work-arounds for TikTok users​

As Jan. 19 and the potential TikTok ban approach, experts like Ruane recommend that users download their data and save any videos that they want to be able to access in the future.

"The other thing is to remember that even after this law takes effect, if it does, it will not be illegal for them to continue to use TikTok if they have it on their phones already — or even if they manage to acquire it from some other source than an app store," she says. "This law will not apply to individual people accessing TikTok."

One of the most discussed work-arounds is something called a virtual private network (VPN), which encrypts users' location data and makes it look like they are accessing content from another country.

Culture ​

Here's how TikTok creators are preparing for a TikTok ban​

They are commonly used in countries with strict internet restrictions to access blocked social media platforms, streaming services and other geographically limited content.

"Even as the application degrades on your phone, you may still be able to access it through a virtual private network on a web browser," Ruane says.

There are also ways to download TikTok outside the Google and Apple app stores, through processes respectively known as "sideloading" and "jailbreaking."

But they're not without potential complications or consequences: Apple, for example, won't honor warranties for jailbroken iPhones. Ruane thinks the extra steps will deter many TikTok users.

"It is a barrier to accessing the application, and it is also something that you would have to weigh, like 'Is it really worth it to me to access TikTok, to do all of this or learn how to do all of these required technical things?'" she says. "And I think for a fair number of users who are just casually using the application, the answer will probably be no."

Uncertainties: How the Trump administration could fight a ban​

It's no coincidence that the potential ban would take effect on Jan. 19, the last full day of Biden's term. That puts the ball in the court of President-elect Donald Trump, who has his own strong views on TikTok.

While Trump previously disparaged the app as a national security threat and even tried to ban it during his first term, he has since become a staunch defender of the platform and even asked the Supreme Court last month to pause the start date of the law in question.

As Ruane sees it, Trump has three choices for how to proceed once in office, and all of them are complicated.

For one, he could try to convince Congress to repeal the original 2024 law that requires ByteDance to divest TikTok's U.S. operations — a law that both the House and Senate passed with overwhelming support.

"That's pretty straightforward, but it's also politically incredibly difficult to do because it would require the changing of votes for many, many, many members of Congress," Ruane says.






Trump's second option is to direct the Justice Department and attorney general to not enforce the law, essentially giving Google, Apple and others the option to continue providing services to TikTok.

But Ruane says that's also easier said than done, as lawyers within those companies would still see — and likely seek to avoid — "gigantic legal risk" in flouting the law, which includes hefty penalties.

"So if anybody uses your service to access TikTok and you are in violation of the law, it's $5,000 per person that does that," Ruane says. "If you were to take the president up on his offer and continue to provide services to TikTok, even though you're technically in violation of the law, that's $5,000 times hundreds of millions of people."

The third potential option has been posited by Alan Rozenshtein, an associate law professor at the University of Minnesota Law School and research director at Lawfare. As he told NPR's Fresh Air in December, Trump could "just declare that the law no longer applies."

Trump could choose to use his broad authority under the statute to determine that ByteDance has engaged in a "qualified divestiture" of TikTok after all, as long as it has taken certain steps to that effect.


"There's a scenario in which ByteDance could move some papers around, shift some assets from one corporation to another corporation, do some fancy legal work, and that would give Trump enough, basically, cover to declare that TikTok is no longer controlled by ByteDance," Rozenshtein said.

That's not an airtight approach either, Ruane says, since it could be challenged in court either by competitors or the entities involved.

One option under discussion among TikTok stakeholders is bringing back a national security agreement known as Project Texas, which involves tapping Austin-based Oracle to host all U.S. user data. Oracle would also oversee all data flows between TikTok's U.S. operation and Beijing. The plan would also allow the federal government to invoke a "kill switch" that would shut down TikTok if terms of the agreement were violated.

The deal initially had support in the Biden administration, but talks stalled. People close to talks about TikTok's future say it is possible that Trump could bring Project Texas back, with Trump potentially determining that the agreement makes TikTok in compliance with the divest-or-ban law.

At the end of the day, Ruane says, it's unclear what, if anything, Trump may do to try to bring back TikTok — an app she says is "not immediately replaceable," even as new and existing platforms are sure to vie for its many displaced users.

 

[Grand Conde]

"Tiktok refugee" - god I hate social media.

 

[bnew]

Forums:

* r/technology: With a TikTok Ban Looming, Users Flee to Chinese App ‘Red Note’
* r/asianamerican: Xiaohongshu, China's answer to Instagram, hits no. 1 on the App Store as TikTok faces US shutdown
* r/apple: Xiaohongshuv (RedNote), China's answer to Instagram, hits no. 1 on the App Store as TikTok faces US shutdown
* r/technews: With a TikTok Ban Looming, Users Flee to Chinese App ‘Red Note’
* r/politics: With a TikTok Ban Looming, Users Flee to Chinese App ‘Red Note’
* r/law: With a TikTok Ban Looming, Users Flee to Chinese App ‘Red Note’
* Beehaw: related article

 

[88m3]

idiots

 

[bnew]

https://archive.is/naKRH

https://archive.is/crpGp

 

[choc_cardigan]

If it wasn't for the fact that we live here, America's downfall would be fascinating to watch

 

[bnew]

idiots

for not going along with the intended outcome of meta and google lobbying efforts and joing their platforms instead?

 

[2Quik4UHoes]

I wonder why the TLR thread got bushed? Must’ve gotten hot because some of those posts were hilarious.

America allowing dweeb fascism to spread has the country looking awkward and lame and we should be allowed to laugh at this elite backfire.

 

[88m3]

for not going along with the intended outcome of meta and google lobbying efforts and joing their platforms instead?

for supporting a totalitarian state that doesn't even let their own citizens post freely

that doesn't seem to bother you however

 

[bnew]

for supporting a totalitarian state that doesn't even let their own citizens post freely

that doesn't seem to bother you however

when people use twitter, facebook, instagram, snapchat 7 etc, they're supporting a democratic state?


you can't post freely on social media, they all have content policies, thats why creators have accounts on multiple platforms but don't always cross post the same content on all platforms since it might run afoul of one or more sites rules.

as an example reddit, instagram, threads, facebook have been deleting content relating to the suspected killer of United health CEO and tik tok hasn't, apparently rednote has similar content that people were able to post and view on tiktok.

Spoiler: full text & large images

1/1
Mitt Romney admits that the bill to ban TikTok was passed because the platform contained too much pro-Palestine content.


https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1787282890050473984/pu/vid/avc1/490x258/LXQoIqhR33yVsDsU.mp4


To post tweets in this format, more info here: https://www.thecoli.com/threads/tips-and-tricks-for-posting-the-coli-megathread.984734/post-52211196

Spoiler: full text & large images

1/1
Meta is censoring any mention of Pixelfed, an open source and community run replacement of Instagram, so a direct competitor.

Below post was deleted within seconds. Meta appears to be scared of losing people from its ad driven privacy invading empire.

To post tweets in this format, more info here: https://www.thecoli.com/threads/tips-and-tricks-for-posting-the-coli-megathread.984734/post-52211196

ladidai (Diana Umana) ♍️🇳🇬 (@ladidaix) on Threads

Lol not @youtube deleting my whole channel cuz of my Luigi Mangione video 😭😭😭 You can’t tell me what’s happening regarding his case isn’t suspicious on all fronts 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

www.threads.net

I don't support censorship and I understand you can also narrowly use platforms for your own ends when another doesn't suffice.

 

[bnew]

I wonder why the TLR thread got bushed? Must’ve gotten hot because some of those posts were hilarious.

America allowing dweeb fascism to spread has the country looking awkward and lame and we should be allowed to laugh at this elite backfire.

this thread got bushed too, positive commentary related to china is a no-no apparently.

https://www.thecoli.com/threads/duolingo-oh-so-now-youre-learning-mandarin-chinese.1066082/

https://www.thecoli.com/threads/american-government-played-itself-tiktok-users-are-migrating-to-chinese-version-of-tiktok.1065949/post-54725678