January 15, 2025
3 minimum read
Why should US TikTok users sign up for RedNote?
Thousands of US TikTok users join China-based app RedNote, creating memes, jokes and chaos

TikTok creators and supporters wear buttons to show their support for TikTok. Other users are flocking to alternative apps such as China-based RedNote.
Kevin Dietch/Getty Images
Thousands of people across the country have joined Red Note in response to, or in protest, the impending US ban on TikTok (which will take effect on Sunday if the app is not sold or the Supreme Court does not intervene). The latter is a China-based e-commerce and lifestyle app, also known as Xiaohongshu, which means “Xiaohongshu” in Mandarin. Xiaohongshu is also the nickname for Mao Zedong’s famous collection of quotes. Approximately 300 million people, primarily in China, use RedNote to share videos and images, as well as make shopping and travel recommendations.
This week, RedNote rose to the top of the charts in Apple and Google’s US app stores. According to Reuters, the potential ban on TikTok has prompted about 700,000 people to join the Chinese app so far. That’s less than 1 percent of TikTok’s 170 million users in the U.S., but the influx was enough to spawn goofy memes and occasional misunderstandings. A man who welcomed newcomers in Vancouver went viral after being mistaken for Red Note’s CEO.
The rush to the app is an example of the “media substitution hypothesis,” where people fill media gaps with new platforms and networks, said Saleem Al-Habash, a psychology professor and advertising and public relations professor at Michigan State University. Effects of social media use. At TikTok, “there’s no implied contract that it’s going to happen.” active He points out that it’s different from platforms like X (formerly Twitter), Bluesky, and Instagram, which are perhaps more post-driven. There’s nothing wrong with passively lurking, scrolling, and shopping on TikTok, but RedNote may have the same problem. “In terms of user experience, the combination of meeting social and shopping needs – buying cheap clothes and exercise equipment – is the complete package,” Alhabash says.
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TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, is based in China, but the English version of its app is operated in the United States through a U.S. subsidiary. RedNote, on the other hand, offers one app with mostly Chinese content and is headquartered in Shanghai. One of the outcomes of the recent migration is the cultural exchange between new users in the United States and veteran users in China. For example, some Americans on RedNote marvel at China’s mass-market electric cars. high tariffs. Chinese students are also seeking help with their English homework on the app.
RedNote’s ownership also means that if the app becomes popular in the U.S., it will likely be exposed to the same kinds of national security concerns about data collection and content manipulation that TikTok faced. RedNote did not respond immediately, but scientific american‘s request for comment also limits the posts people can freely share on the US platform. A 2024 ethnographic study on RedNote and similar apps found that same-sex couples in China typically refer to themselves as “roommates” or use unconventional hashtags to avoid algorithmic restrictions on LGBTQ content. They say it camouflages the digital community. (RedNote users told study authors that their interest in #ToddlerFood is because they are stereotypically coded as Chinese women who are women, gays, and lesbians, making them feel like they only care about themselves.) It is said that there is a possibility that people use it to avoid “men who don’t like it”.
It’s by no means certain whether former TikTok users will migrate from one app to another “in a cult-like way,” Alhabash said. While some may be convinced to follow their favorite influencers on a new platform, where those influencers end up may depend on financial prospects and brand support. There is. “It’s not just an individual decision by the user,” he says.
For now, RedNote has a joke. One newly signed up user was greeted with a message from his “new Chinese spy friend.” Some were willing to provide data directly to President Xi Jinping and the Chinese government. and, Los Angeles Times This week, nearly 200,000 people reported joining a RedNote live chat called the “TikTok Refugee Club.”