{"id":3619,"date":"2025-01-14T14:18:16","date_gmt":"2025-01-14T18:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/?p=3619"},"modified":"2025-01-14T14:18:18","modified_gmt":"2025-01-14T18:18:18","slug":"us-tiktok-users-flock-to-chinese-app-xiaohongshu-in-protest-with-tiktok-ban-looming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/?p=3619","title":{"rendered":"US TikTok users flock to Chinese app Xiaohongshu in protest with TikTok ban looming"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

HONG KONG (AP) \u2014 As the threat of a TikTok ban looms<\/a>, U.S. TikTok users are flocking to the Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu \u2013 making it the top downloaded app in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the \u201cTikTok refugees,\u201d as they call themselves, say the TikTok alternative<\/a>, a Chinese app, is being chosen in protest of the TikTok ban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. Supreme Court is due to rule on a law that stipulates TikTok must be divested<\/a> from its Chinese parent company ByteDance by Jan. 19 or face a ban in the U.S. over national security concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the justices seemed inclined to let the law stand, masses of TikTok users began creating accounts on Xiaohongshu, including hashtags such as #tiktokrefugee or #tiktok to their posts. Since Monday, Xiaohongshu has become the top downloaded free app on Apple\u2019s App Store<\/a> in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Xiaohongshu, which in English means \u201cLittle Red Book\u201d is a Chinese social media app that combines e-commerce, short video and posting functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The app has gained traction in China and other regions and countries with a Chinese diaspora such as Malaysia and Taiwan in recent years, racking up 300 million monthly active users, a majority of whom are young women who use it as a de-facto search engine for product, travel and restaurant recommendations, as well as makeup and skincare tutorials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The #tiktokrefugee topic has racked up over 160,000 posts on Xiaohongshu, many of which are videos of American users introducing themselves and asking for tips on how to navigate the app, which they are calling \u201cRedNote\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Xiaohongshu did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alexis Garman is a 21-year-old TikTok user in Oklahoma with nearly 20,000 followers. She joined Xiaohongshu on Tuesday after seeing others do the same. Garman said she is not particularly concerned about data privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat I experienced on (Xiaohongshu) so far has been really great and inviting,\u201d said Garman, who has left two posts on the platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI like your makeup,\u201d a Xiaohongshu user from Beijing comments one of her posts, and Garman thanks them in a reply. A user from the southwestern province of Sichuan commented \u201cI am your Chinese spy \u2026 please surrender your personal information or the photographs of your cat (or dog).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTikTok possibly getting banned doesn\u2019t just take away an app, it takes away jobs, friends and community,\u201d Garman said. \u201cPersonally, the friends and bond I have with my followers will now be gone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other American users who have joined Xiaohongshu have been outspoken about joining the app in protest of the possible TikTok ban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An American user with the handle Definitelynotchippy made a video addressed to the Chinese users of Xiaohongshu, explaining why Americans are downloading the app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe reason that our government is telling us that they are banning TikTok is because they\u2019re insisting that it\u2019s owned by you guys, the Chinese people, government, whatever,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd they\u2019re trying to make us think that you guys are bad.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of us are smarter than that though so we decided to piss off our government and download an actual Chinese app,\u201d she said. \u201cWe call that trolling \u2026 in short we\u2019re here to spite our government and to learn about China and hang out with you guys.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chinese users on Xiaohongshu have so far welcomed American users, with some offering to teach them Chinese. Others have offered tips on navigating the Chinese internet, warning the new users not to mention or discuss anything considered politically sensitive as they may get censored. In some cases, Chinese students have asked the Americans for help with their English homework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like most apps and internet services in China, Xiaohongshu is subject to censorship. Platforms typically enforce censorship by deleting or shadowbanning content that Beijing deems politically sensitive. Large Western platforms, such as Google and Facebook, are blocked in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though Xiaohongshu has seen an influx of users, it is not clear if the app could replace TikTok, which has created an ecosystem that allows for e-commerce and advertising<\/a>. Before TikTok was under threat, the overwhelming majority of Xiaohongshu\u2019s users were Chinese, and the app, which lacks translation features, is not optimized for an international user base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though U.S.-China tensions remain high over trade<\/a> and national security<\/a>, many Chinese and American Xiaohongshu users have pursued friendly cultural exchanges on the app. Those interactions range from live chat rooms to comments on posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A TikTok refugee who goes by the name Amanda posted a video on how happy she was in finding the Xiaohongshu app, saying that Chinese users have been welcoming. Under her post, a Chinese user comments: \u201cWe are not enemy, we are human beings (living) in one world!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe also never \u2026 had a chance to communicate with you foreign guys directly sharing the same app or platform, so the (feeling is) mutual since you come on this app,\u201d another says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a comment posted in Chinese, Amanda, the TikTok \u201crefugee\u201d said she would work on posting captions and subtitles in Chinese in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am so happy to talk to Chinese people and learn about your culture and experiences,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HONG KONG (AP) \u2014 As the threat of a TikTok ban loo […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3619"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3621,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3619\/revisions\/3621"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}