Social media giant TikTok is preparing to shut down its app in the US on Sunday as the law to ban it, which was signed by President Joe Biden last year, will go into effect. There is very little possibility that this would not be a dramatic development. The company could get relief if the US Supreme Court accepts a last-minute argument by TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance that the ban is unconstitutional or if ByteDance sells its US operations. But TikTok’s 170 million users in America don’t want to take any risks.
Many TikTok users have started turning to alternative social media sites. Users leaving TikTok are also making fun of the security concerns on this app. “Goodbye to my Chinese spy” is trending on TikTok. However, the special thing here is that the other option for the users who are leaving TikTok is the Chinese social media app Jiaohongshu, which is known as Rednote in English. The app reached first place in the US Apple App Store on January 13 and was downloaded by more than 700,000 new users on that day. This mass digital exodus of social media users marks a new phase in the ongoing digital cold war between the US and China.
Also read: As TikTok ban looms, RedNote becomes most downloaded app on US Apple App Store
But there are many questions about whether Rednote or another alternative platform will be a viable or long-term option for US TikTok users if the ban continues. As far as the question is, what is Rednote? So the answer is that owned by Shanghai-based Jingyin Information Technology and founded in 2013, Rednote is a Chinese lifestyle, social networking and e-commerce platform. It has a hybrid style of ‘Instagram-meets-Pinterest’ and has about 300 million monthly active users, the majority of whom are in China.
To understand how AI is changing society, RedNote stores its users’ personal data in China, in compliance with China’s data protection and cybersecurity laws and other regulatory policies. But it’s also worth noting that Rednote isn’t the only alternative platform that users are turning to. Another option has emerged in the form of Lemon8, also owned by ByteDance, which bills itself as a “lifestyle community.” It was first launched in Japan in 2020 and earlier this week it was ranked second after Rednote in the Apple App Store. The app allows existing TikTok users to transfer their account handles and statistics. Like TikTok, Lemon8 also stores users’ information in various locations outside China, including the US and Singapore.
However, if the US government bans TikTok, it can easily use the same argument to ban Lemon8. Many users are not looking at other local alternative platforms in the US such as Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts as ideal alternatives. This is because they are less user-friendly and lack a strong sense of community. Many are considering Rednote as the best option as it has a similar ‘content style and algorithm and community-driven’ appeal to TikTok. Most importantly, this platform is beyond the control of the US government and cannot be banned directly. Some American TikTok users sarcastically pointed out that they joined the RedNote platform in protest because the US government is worried that our personal data will go to China, so we directly hand it over to the Chinese government. Chinese social media companies are happy to see this situation. They are creating guide videos to teach new users how to use the app.
The new migration to Rednote has also heightened the national pride of Chinese Internet users. He is apparently referring to this digital exodus as a “Western awakening movement” that allows American citizens to open their eyes to the world outside the West. Let us also tell you that due to this unexpected digital migration, an increase of up to 20 percent was seen in some shares related to Rednote earlier this week. Meanwhile, Rednote has already released a job advertisement, calling for the immediate recruitment of English-speaking content moderators to deal with the dramatic growth of English-speaking users. By the way, Rednote should keep in mind that the US government also has the right to pressure Apple to remove Rednote from the US App Store if it feels that it poses a threat to national security. If seen, this situation reflects the situation of digital cold war. Perhaps to reduce this tension, Chinese President Xi Jinping had a telephone conversation with America’s newly elected President Donald Trump, but even he could not save TikTok from being shut down.
