TikTok has until January 19 to sell its American branch, otherwise the social network will be banned in the United States.
Faced with this probable ban, many users are looking for alternatives.
Some turned to another Chinese application, called “Xiaohongshu”, “RedNote” or “Little Red Book” in French.
TikTok’s days are numbered in the United States. And for its users, the search for alternatives has begun. While the Chinese social network has until January 19 to sell its American branch, otherwise it will be banned in the country, Internet users could have found an alternative application. This Monday, January 13, Xiaohongshu, nicknamed “RedNote” in English, was at the top of free application downloads on the American Apple Store.
A mix between TikTok, Pinterest and Instagram
Many American users have shared their first impressions of this platform almost entirely in Mandarin, sometimes presenting themselves as the “TikTok refugees”. RedNote, which allows you to both make videos and post publications, is a mix between TikTok, Instagram and Pinterest. The network competes with ByteDance, the Chinese group that owns TikTok, among young people in China, Taiwan and other Mandarin-speaking countries.
According to the BBC, RedNote has around 300 million monthly users. It allows users, mainly young urban women, to exchange lifestyle advice. RedNote’s Chinese name, Xiaohongshu, translates to “Little Red Book”. The app, however, claims that this is not a reference to the book by Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong.
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This sudden “migration” on RedNote raised the same questions about the risks of espionage and manipulation by Chinese authorities as those raised during the popularization of TikTok, which reportedly has nearly 170 million users in the United States. As with the social network, there are reports of censorship on RedNote when it comes to criticizing the Chinese government or discussing certain topics. In Taiwan, civil servants are prohibited from using the social network due to security risks it poses.
This did not prevent users from mocking the American authorities and the law, adopted in April by Republicans and Democrats, and which should come into force in the absence of opposition from the Supreme Court. “It’s impossible to underestimate how little I care if the Chinese have my data”declared Jen Hamilton, nurse and influencer, followed by 3.9 million people and who explained in a video how to join the RedNote application.
