Americans and Chinese share jokes on ‘alternative TikTok’ as US ban approaches

The looming TikTok ban has connected Chinese and American citizens like never before, as they exchange jokes and memes in what one user described as a “historic moment.”

It all takes place on a popular Chinese social media app called RedNote, or Xiaohongshu (literally translated as Little Red Book), which lacks the usual internet firewall that separates China from the rest of the world.

It has attracted self-proclaimed American “TikTok refugees” looking for a new home on the internet – despite their own government seeking to ban TikTok on national security grounds.

Americans now find themselves in direct contact with 300 million Mandarin-speaking people in China and elsewhere – while in the real world, Beijing is bracing for a tumultuous Trump presidency that could strain its fragile ties with Washington.

At the heart of the US ban is the fear that China is using TikTok to spy on Americans.

The app has faced accusations that user data ends up in the hands of the Chinese government – ​​due to a Beijing law that requires local companies to “support, assist and cooperate with the intelligence work of the state “. TikTok denies this happened or is happening.

But this possibility doesn’t seem to worry some US users: 700,000 new users have logged into RedNote in the last two days, making it the most downloaded free app in the US App Store.

“The reason our government is telling us they are banning TikTok is because they insist it belongs to you, the Chinese people, the government, whatever,” said a new user of RedNote, Definitelynotchippy.

She goes on to explain why she’s on RedNote: “But a lot of us are smarter than that, so we decided to piss off our government and download a real Chinese app. We call it trolling, so in short, we are here to spite our government, learn about China, and spend time with you.

TikTok, although owned by Chinese company ByteDance, is headquartered in Singapore and claims to be run independently. In fact, the Chinese version of TikTok is another app called Douyin. RedNote, on the other hand, is a Chinese company based in Shanghai and one of the few social media apps available in China and abroad.

Washington’s fears regarding TikTok would therefore also extend to RedNote.

That’s why American users on RedNote are calling themselves “Chinese spies,” continuing a TikTok trend where people are bidding farewell to their “personal Chinese spy” who has allegedly been monitoring them over the years.

RedNote is now full of posts where former TikTok users are looking for a replacement. One message reads: “I’m looking for my Chinese spy. I miss you. Please help me find it.

And Chinese users responded: “I’m here!”

The honest and funny conversations on RedNote may not be what Chinese President Xi Jinping had in mind when he talked about “strengthening people-to-people cultural exchanges” between China and the United States.

But that’s certainly what’s happening as enthusiastic Chinese users welcome curious Americans to the app.

“You don’t even need to travel abroad, you can just talk to foreigners here,” a Chinese RedNote user said in a video that received more than 6,000 likes.

“But it’s honestly insane, no one would have imagined that we could meet like this one day and communicate openly like this.”

Food, streaming and work are the most popular topics: “Is life in America like what it looks like?” [the US TV show] Amis?”

Other Chinese users have claimed a “tax” for using the platform – photos of cats.

“California cat tax,” one message in response read. “Here is my offering: the shorthair is a boy named Bob and the calico is a girl named Marley.”

Still others use the platform to ask Americans for help with their English homework.

One message reads: “Dear TikTok refugees, could you please tell me the answer to question 53? Is the answer T (true) or F (false)? »

Help arrived quickly: some 500 people have since responded.

The flood of new US users seems to have caught RedNote off guard – reports say the company is hiring English moderators.

And others are also trying to cash in on RedNote’s new American fame: language learning app Duolingo released a chart showing a 216% increase in its user base compared to the same period last year. last year.

It’s not guaranteed that RedNote’s growing popularity will last, however.

There’s no reason to assume it won’t face backlash for the same reasons TikTok did: fear that it could be used by China to spy on Americans.

It is unclear how long Beijing will remain open to such unfettered exchanges – control of the internet is key to its repressive regime.

The irony of the situation was highlighted by a Chinese user, who posted: “Don’t we have a (firewall) wall? How come so many strangers can get in, but I clearly can’t get out?

Generally, Chinese internet users cannot interact directly with foreigners. Global platforms like Twitter and Instagram and search engines like Google are blocked in China, although people use VPNs to bypass these restrictions. Sensitive topics – from history to dissent – ​​or anything considered critical of the Chinese government and ruling Communist Party are quickly censored.

It’s unclear to what extent RedNote is censored: it is widely used by young and middle-aged women in China, where they share images and videos. It’s not like Weibo, another Chinese app, where discussions and airing of grievances are much more common, often leading to posts being deleted.

But a handful of new RedNote users say they’ve already received reports that their posts violated the guidelines, including one who asked in a message if the app was “LGBT friendly.”

Another said he asked: “What [sic] Do the Chinese think of homosexuals? and received a similar notice that they had violated “public moral order” guidelines.

And Chinese users keep reminding Americans on the app “not to mention sensitive topics, such as politics, religion and drugs.”

A Chinese user also advised them to stick to the “one China policy,” the diplomatic pillar of the US-China relationship – under which the United States recognizes and maintains formal ties with China rather than ‘with Taiwan, the autonomous island that Beijing claims as an autonomous island. his.

The US government has not commented on RedNote so far, and neither has Beijing.

But Chinese state media seems optimistic about it, with the Global Times even interviewing an American user who said she would “love to interact with Chinese users.”

RedNote’s fate in the US is uncertain – but for now, at least online, the rivalry between the US and China is taking a breather. Thanks to the cat photos.