As the TikTok Ban looms over Americans, many have joined the Chinese social media platform RedNote, also known as ‘Xiaohongshu’, which has been surging in popularity worldwide in the same week that TikTok could potentially go offline in the US. In just two days, more than 700,000 new users signed up for RedNote.
As of Wednesday, the term “TikTok refugee” had garnered nearly 250 million views and over 5.5 million comments and Duolingo saw a 216% spike in US users learning Chinese.
Founded in 2013, Xiaohongshu is one of China’s biggest social media platforms, with 300 million users the bulk of those being young women. Described as China’s answer to Instagram, the app has become especially popular for sharing tips on travel, makeup, and fashion. It mirrors TikTok, but these changes are new to the app.
Many Americans switching over from TikTok to RedNote believe that the app is “China’s TikTok.” But that would be Douyin, which is owned by the same parent as TikTok but is only available in China. One of the app’s key features is its content algorithm, which focuses on user interests rather than the people they follow, similar to Pinterest. This seems to promote more original content and reduces the dominance of powerful influencers.
Similarly, Lemon8, which is a lifestyle community app also owned by ByteDance, is currently ranked as the 2nd downloaded app on Apple’s US store, and only beaten by Xiaohongshu. Although Lemon8 was not explicitly mentioned in the statute, Because Lemon8 is also owned by ByteDance the ban may also extend to the platform.
“I don’t trust Mark Zuckerberg.” Said Emilio Mickle, a senior. “Like at all. He seems too invested in Tiktok’s downfall.”
Currently, RedNote’s number 1 trending hashtag is “欢迎地球村来” meaning “Welcome to the global village”, a hashtag with over a million views that describes itself saying “Chinese and American netizens shared pet tax, talked about makeup, shared food…”. The videos under this tag are often introduction videos for Americans from Chinese and Americans alike.
The tag “家庭作业” or homework has thousands of videos of Chinese students asking for help with English homework. The app allows for pictures to be posted in the comments, allowing for no needed language communication.
With the significant increase in the number of Americans using the app, developers have added a function to translate automatically. They also recently updated a feature to translate while recording videos, for Americans and Chinese alike.
“Everyone is so nice on there,” said Senior Alicia Cornell. “They seem very welcoming to strangers.”
TikTok users’ choosing to move to RedNote, an app completely controlled by the CCP, was meant to signal to U.S. lawmakers and Mark Zuckerberg that they would rather join another Chinese app than return to a Meta-owned one.
