With a TikTok Ban Looming, Users Flee to Chinese App ‘Red Note’

"Hello everyone, my sanction is Ryan. I'm a TikTok refugee. The American authorities is banning TikTok truthful we are looking for an alternative…We are precise atrocious to interrupt you here. Hope we don't person to enactment present for excessively long," a Xiaohongshu idiosyncratic utilizing the sanction Ryan Martin said successful a video posted yesterday seemingly addressing the app’s Chinese idiosyncratic base. He translated the connection into Chinese and utilized a robot dependable generator to work it successful the video, which has since been liked implicit 24,000 times. “It’s fine, you are not interrupting. When you guys are active, we are sleeping,” reads 1 of the apical comments successful Chinese.

There are besides dozens of unrecorded audio chatrooms connected the level wherever American and Chinese users explained to each other, astir apt for the archetypal clip successful galore cases, however their respective societies enactment and clarified communal misunderstandings. The astir fashionable chatroom has been listened to by astir 30,000 users.

While Xiaohongshu is not specifically named successful the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act that the Supreme Court is presently considering and could effect successful a US prohibition connected TikTok, the instrumentality does stipulate that immoderate “foreign adversary controlled application” whitethorn look a akin destiny successful the future. In different words, there’s nary warrant that Xiaohongshu won’t travel successful TikTok’s footsteps successful being blocked by the US authorities arsenic well.

The TikTok prohibition mightiness person catapulted Xiaohongshu to the halfway of attraction successful the US, but the app has been palmy for a agelong clip successful China. Founded successful 2013, the Shanghai-based institution has operated 1 of, if not the most, trendy level successful China implicit the past fewer years and reportedly generated over $1 cardinal successful yearly profits successful 2024. To enactment it simply, it’s the hottest app successful China that non-Chinese radical person ne'er heard of before.

It besides has a sizable pursuing among Chinese-speakers extracurricular of the country, ranging from Chinese students overseas to Taiwanese radical to diaspora communities successful Malaysia. Restaurants, tourer blistery spots, and question companies around the world person started noticing the app due to the fact that of however galore Chinese tourists heavy trust connected it for section accusation and recommendations shared by chap Chinese people.

The app is starkly antithetic from TikTok successful a fewer large ways. While Xiaohongshu does let users to station abbreviated vertical videos conscionable similar TikTok, the bulk of the contented connected the level is photograph slideshows coupled with text, which is wherefore radical often presumption it much arsenic a rival to Instagram than TikTok. The app’s AI-powered grid-shaped provender (referred to arsenic a “masonry grid” successful nonrecreational tech circles) has been truthful palmy successful driving engagement that larger societal media companies similar Tencent and ByteDance person copied the plan successful their ain products. Lemon8, the different fashionable societal media app developed by ByteDance speech from TikTok, is widely seen arsenic an effort to emulate Xiaohongshu and its success.

In fact, the app doesn’t adjacent person a bully English translation of its ain name: Xiaohongshu is the conscionable the phonetic translation of its Chinese name. 小红书. While the literal translation “little reddish book” whitethorn punctual English-speaking users of erstwhile Chinese person Mao Zedong’s postulation of speeches and propaganda slogans by the aforesaid name, it has a antithetic connotation successful China, wherever users construe it arsenic a root of reliable user-generated recommendations for mundane things, similar which edifice to spell to oregon which cosmetic merchandise to buy.