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Ahead Sunday ban, TikTok users in the US now flock to RedNote — another Chinese app
A TikTok ban is likely to take effect in the United States within the next few days, following the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision on Friday to reject an appeal against the law mandating the ban.
GuruTrends.com.ng reports that the Supreme Court’s ruling upheld a lower court’s decision that the law does not infringe upon free speech rights.
TikTok, one of the world’s most popular short-form video platforms and a cornerstone of the multi-billion-dollar influencer economy, has been at the centre of a legal and political battle for over a year.
ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, was initially ordered to sell the app to a US buyer by January 2024. However, no sale has yet been finalised, paving the way for the looming ban.
In response to the impending ban, TikTok users in the United States are now turning to alternative applications.
One of the most popular alternatives is RedNote, a Chinese social networking and e-commerce app known in Chinese as Xiaohongshu.
Founded by Miranda Qu and Charlwin Mao in June 2013, RedNote began as an online tour guide for Chinese shoppers, allowing users to review products and share shopping experiences with the community.
As of 2020, approximately 70% of the platform’s users were reportedly born after 1990, with a similar percentage being female.
The app’s homepage features a Pinterest-style layout of “notes,” and its focus on lifestyle topics has given it an edge over traditional Chinese search engines. This has established it as a next-generation search engine, earning it the title of the “National Lifestyle Guide.”
RedNote is also set to launch Diandian, an AI-driven search tool currently in beta testing.
According to CNN, many American users who joined the app this week said their decision was driven by defiance toward the US government following its ban on TikTok due to national security concerns linked to ByteDance.
The surge in new users on RedNote, which was previously popular mainly within the Chinese-speaking community, has sparked amusing cultural exchanges.
Users have been sharing Mandarin lessons, discussing Chinese and English internet slang, and advocating for the introduction of automatic subtitles in both languages.
Meanwhile, language learning platform Duolingo has reported a 216% increase in new Mandarin learners compared to the same period last year, likely influenced by the influx of Americans on RedNote, which hosts a significant amount of Mandarin content.
Apart from RedNote, other TikTok alternative apps attracting US users include Lemon8, Clapper, Flip, and Fanbase, among others.
