As the potential ban on TikTok in the US draws near, panicked American users are migrating to the Chinese social media app RedNote. The app now dubbed “TikTok refugees, which US residents are migrating to in their numbers have propelled RedNote to the top of Apple’s US App Store downloads as of reports on Monday.
RedNote, a popular TikTok competitor among young people in China, Taiwan, and other Mandarin-speaking regions, currently boasts around 300 million monthly users.
The app integrates features of TikTok and Instagram, allowing users, (mostly young urban women), to post lifestyle tips on topics ranging from dating to fashion.
The US Supreme Court is scheduled to rule on a law requiring TikTok to sell its US operations by January 19 or risk a ban. Meanwhile, TikTok has consistently rejected the offer to sell its US business, arguing that a ban would infringe its free speech protections for its 170 million American users.
In the meantime, however, RedNote has warmly welcomed its new users.
At the moment, there are already 63,000 posts under the hashtag “TikTok refugee,” where newcomers are learning to use the app and its basic Chinese phrases. One new user from the US had written, “To our Chinese hosts, thanks for having us – sorry in advance for the chaos.”
The twist to this entire thing, however, is that similarly to TikTok, RedNote has faced censorship claims, especially regarding criticism of the Chinese government. In Taiwan, public officials are barred from using RedNote due to security concerns linked with Chinese software.
As more US users migrate to RedNote, some Chinese users have humorously tagged themselves as “Chinese spies,” alluding to the US government’s fears that TikTok could be used by China for spy activity and political manipulation.
Note that despite its name, RedNote, or Xiaohongshu, is not related to Mao Zedong’s “Little Red Book.”
As it stands, security concerns about potential data breaches have not deterred US users from migrating to RedNote.
