Tiktok ban USA: Rednote popular with “Tiktok refugees”

Four more days, then it should the popular short video platform Tiktok disappear from the Apple and Google app stores in the USA. Many of the 170 million users in the USA still don’t seem to want to believe that their favorite app could really end on Sunday. What is clear, however, is that many believe the ban is wrong. Now protests are also being organized in a remarkable place: the Chinese Internet.

#TiktokRefugees are looking for other “survivors”

In recent weeks, many Americans have downloaded the Chinese app Xiaohongshu (“Little Red Book”, English “Rednote”), an app that is similar to Instagram and is often used by women in China. It was now one of the most frequently downloaded applications in American app stores. The new users from America want to protest against the decision with the hashtag #TiktokRefugees. “On the run,” some write, or “Any other survivors here?” – and to the Chinese users: “Thanks for letting us hang out here.”

The US Department of Justice justifies the Tiktok ban with the Chinese parent company Bytedance because it could pass on the user data of more than 170 million users in the USA to the Chinese government. This is a “threat to national security of immense depth and magnitude.” But apparently some Americans think this is an exaggeration, on Rednote it says something like: “Hello, here, take my data” or “Hi, here is a Tiktok refugee, I have decided to share my data with all of you”.

Where Chinese and American users chat

In China, the guests from America caused great enthusiasm; Rednote is already known for its friendly tone. Chinese users welcome newbies’ posts or offer to explain the app’s functions to them (#AskMeAnything). And another offer you read again and again: “I can be your personal spy.” A swipe at Washington and its fear of being spied on via Tiktok.

Digital exchange has a remarkable side effect. Many Americans express their surprise at suddenly being able to communicate directly with Chinese people. Some write that this is their first time. Some people ask in amazement: “What, is it that simple?” However, this mainly has something to do with the Chinese Internet: Social media has brought the world closer together, but China has its very own digital ecosystem.

International platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) are censored in China, meaning they cannot be opened. Chinese use local providers such as Wechat, Weibo or Xiaohongshu. Most platforms are not very interesting for foreign users and they usually cannot be controlled without knowledge of Chinese. The result: China is disconnected from many international trends on social media, dance challenges or references to current clips or music are hardly spreading.

In China, Tiktok is called Douyin – an app with strict censorship

However, the mass move to Rednote also reveals another paradox. An American user announces that she is going to China after the US ban on Tiktok in order to continue using the app there. She will learn Chinese for this. But that’s exactly what doesn’t work.

The Tiktok app, which millions of people in non-Chinese countries use, does not even exist in China. The application there is called Douyin and is only available to users who have registered in a Chinese app store. There are strict censorship rules on Douyin and freedom of speech does not exist there. It is unlikely that this is what America’s users are looking for.

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