As this deadline approaches, a Chinese application jumped to the top of downloads in the American Apple Store on Monday: Xiaohongshu (“Little Red Book” in Mandarin), comparable to a cross between Instagram and Pinterest, with videos to scroll like on TikTok.
TikTok refugees are turning away from apps for “elderly people”
The hashtag “tiktokrefugee” (“refugee from TikTok”) had more than 100 million impressions on Tuesday evening.
“They are trying to ban TikTok because they say China is stealing data. They do not prohibit any American company from stealing our data,” internet user penguinpepperpia told AFP. This content creator followed by 264,000 people says he chose to download Xiaohongshu rather than return to American platforms like Instagram and Facebook, Meta, applications for “elderly people” which also “steal personal data and sell to other companies,” believes this Internet user. “That’s why a lot of Americans don’t care anymore, we prefer that China have our data,” says penguinpepperpia.
Other users identifying themselves as “refugees” share the same sentiment. “I know our government is a little racist, but I love you Chinese. I don’t care if you take my data. Take them,” says Adham, new to Xiaohongshu, in a video posted Monday.
“Ineffectiveness of American strategy”
The phenomenon shows how “stupid” a ban would be, told AFP Milton Mueller, professor at the School of Public Policy at Georgia Tech, in the United States, who filed a case in opposition to the Supreme Court. to the measure. “It is deliciously ironic that the threat of a ban has a counterproductive effect so quickly, even before it is put in place,” he says.
“It’s as if the TikTok ban is pushing users toward other apps that have a much less clear separation between the Chinese Communist Party and the app itself,” observes Robyn Caplan of Duke University. in the United States.
For Meng Bingchun, professor at the London School of Economics, the phenomenon shows the ineffectiveness of the American strategy towards the Chinese tech sector, summed up by the expression “small garden, big fence”, which consists of restricting a small number technologies considered sensitive with regard to American national security. “The garden continues to grow and the fence is permeable,” judges Meng Bingchun. “Worse still, in this case, those who live inside the fence can migrate into the digital space.”
Xiaohongshu, the next one to be banned?
Until Monday, Xiaohongshu (also called RedNote, in English) was primarily popular among Chinese-speaking Internet users. At the end of 2023, the platform had some 300 million active monthly users. Unlike TikTok’s sister app Douyin or micro-blogging site Weibo, Xiaohongshu focuses primarily on lifestyle content. The platform is said to be less censored than others: there are users posting LGBT+ content or discussing the positive aspects of celibacy for women, subjects often considered sensitive in China.
“It’s amusing and ironic that Americans and Chinese are meeting online because of the US government’s ban on TikTok,” something “the Chinese government has been doing for ages with American apps,” says Amanda Zhang. , 26 years old. This part-time animal content creator and student in the United States shares with AFP her concern about a possible ban on Xiaohongshu in the wake of TikTok, if the Chinese application continues to attract Internet users Americans.
Xiaohongshu’s main challenge in this area lies in translation within the application, believes Robyn Caplan.
Meng Bingchun considers that “what we are witnessing today is more of a short-term reaction than a long-term trend.” The question is whether “Xiaohongshu will respond quickly enough to keep new users.”
