Some even film themselves learning Mandarin. In the United States, a law passed in April requires ByteDance, the Chinese group that owns TikTok, to sell the application by January 19, failing which the platform will be banned in the country.
Consequence: some of them, who call themselves “TikTok Refugees” or “refugees from TikTok”, therefore move on to something else. They are slowly, but surely, migrating to another application, Xiaohongshu – which means “Little Red Book” in Mandarin -, already nicknamed “RedNote”.
On TikTok, many American users have published calls to visit the application, detailing their first impressions, posting humorous clips or even tutorials for creating a profile on the platform… which is almost entirely in Mandarin. Many openly mock US elected officials' concerns about national security and data privacy, with videos saying “Goodbye“to them”Chinese spy”.
“Oh, you don't want the Chinese to have our very sensitive personal data?“, quips Jen Hamilton, in a falsely innocent tone, in a video on TikTok. “Well we’re going to give it to them directly!“, laughs this nurse and influencer, followed by 3.9 million people.
Elon Musk in discussions to buy TikTok!
Elon Musk in discussions to buy TikTok!
(ALADINE ZAIANE / JEANNE MAISIAT – RADIO FRANCE)
Proof of the craze: the app similar to Instagram is now number 1 in downloads in the United States on the American Apple Store… just ahead of Lemon8, another ByteDance social network.
While content creators had for a time tried to redirect their subscribers to Instagram, some are now calling for a boycott of Instagram and Facebook, Meta's social networks, which they accuse of having lobbied to obtain a ban on TikTok .
The parent company of the app has also formally denied the information according to which the Chinese authorities are evaluating the possibility of an acquisition by Elon Musk of its American activities, evaluating the value of TikTok's operations in the United States between 40 and 50 billion dollars.
However, the application generates many controversies. While many NGOs accuse the text of violating freedom of expression, enshrined in the United States Constitution, Washington assures that it wants to prevent the risks of espionage and manipulation by the Chinese authorities of TikTok users, who claim this. 170 million in the country.
