As a U.S. ban on TikTok looms, American TikTok users are flocking to Chinese social network Xiaohongshu, making it the most downloaded app in the United States.
Some of the “TikTok refugees,” as they call themselves, claim that the alternative to TikTok, a Chinese app, is being chosen as a sign of protest against the upcoming ban on TikTok.
The US Supreme Court is set to rule on a law that says TikTok must split from its Chinese parent company ByteDance by January 19 or face a ban in the US on national security grounds.
As the judges seemed inclined to leave the law in place, masses of TikTok users began creating accounts on Xiaohongshu, including hashtags such as #tiktokrefugee or #tiktok in their posts. Since Monday, Xiaohongshu has become the most downloaded free app on the Apple Store in the United States.
Xiaohongshu, meaning “Little Red Book”, is a Chinese social media application that combines e-commerce, short video, and publishing functions.
The app has gained popularity in China and other regions and countries with a Chinese diaspora, such as Malaysia and Taiwan, in recent years, accumulating 300 million monthly active users, a majority of whom are young women who ‘use as a search engine in fact for product, travel and restaurant recommendations, as well as makeup and skincare tutorials.
The hashtag #tiktokrefugee has racked up more than 160,000 posts on Xiaohongshu, many of which are videos of American users introducing themselves and asking for advice on how to navigate the app, which they call “RedNote.”
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