As social media apps such as Facebook and Tumblr experience a decline in teenage users, newer apps such as TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat have experienced user growth. TikTok has grown from 271 million active users worldwide in 2018 to 1.04 billion in May 2024. Of the 1.04 billion, there are 170 million active monthly users in the United States alone.
After the Supreme Court’s Jan. 17 decision to uphold the Congress ban TikTok under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, TikTok briefly went offline for U.S. users Saturday, Jan. 19 before coming back online the next day. President Donald Trump had issued an executive order to place a 75-day hold on the PAFACAA enforcement, bringing TikTok back to app stores and back online for millions of users. TikTok itself credited Trump for its return, welcoming back users with the message, “Thanks for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!”
As the TikTok ban unfolded in the U.S., many of the app’s users sought an alternative platform. This platform came to be Xiaohongshu, which translates directly to “little red book” and was eventually shortened to RedNote by American audiences. RedNote was founded in 2013 and is one of China’s largest social media platforms.
Sophomore Snow Zhou downloaded RedNote when she was in China four years ago. Zhou posts pictures and videos of her outfits and everyday life on the app, and she has gained 7215 followers and 112,100 total likes.
“RedNote in China is basically like Instagram. I just have it because all my friends have it, and they told me to download it,” Zhou said. “I downloaded it, and I found this app really interesting to watch because you can watch reels, you can watch videos, you can [look at] posts, and it’s basically like a combination of Instagram and TikTok.”
Junior Belén Haro is familiar with Chinese apps such as WeChat and Weibo but has never downloaded RedNote. She said she doesn’t see it as a pracitical application she would use. Haro also said she was distrustful of TikTok and doesn’t see a need to download it because having Instagram was enough for her.
“TikTok is just the foreign version of the Chinese app douyin. It’s a foreign platform, and I feel like I wouldn’t [trust it] — I don’t use TikTok for that reason,” Haro said. “Also, if you don’t know Chinese, why would you download RedNote?”
Users from the United States who “migrated” from TikTok to RedNote were labeled as “TikTok Refugees,” and the sudden increase in users promoted RedNote’s popularity in the App Store. Zhou said American users brought her more views, and she was able to see how they interacted with her content in comparison to Chinese users.
“Chinese commenters don’t usually comment on people’s stuff, they usually just like and scroll. But, for Americans, they usually comment a lot,” Zhou said. “For example, if I have 100 comments, maybe 90 of them are American, so they’re definitely more supportive.”
Zhou added that she appreciates how most American users are nice in their comments, typing things like ‘Oh, you’re so good at singing’ and ‘You’re so pretty.’ However, Zhou said some American users’ comment were rude and inappropriate, often being of a flirtatious nature.
Haro said she is suspicious of the sudden popularity of RedNote among American users after the TikTok ban. Haro added that for American users already on the app, they should learn to respect the RedNote community.
“RedNote is not made for you. And for Americans who are on RedNote, please stop complaining that people online or that Chinese people are getting mad at you for being on it because you’re ruining their app,” Haro said. “It’s like you’re going into their territory. Don’t do that. Respect the community on RedNote if you decide to get RedNote.”
History teacher Nicholas Graham said he met the TikTok ban with a degree of indifference. Graham said he knew TikTok was popular among teens and younger generations, but he also noted that a government suppressing media is never a good sign.
“Part of the reason why the U.S. government wants to suppress TikTok is that they can’t control the content, and the U.S. government wants to control the content of what people see, particularly in the in the realms of U.S. foreign policy,” Graham said. “So, I think there’s a pretty compelling case to say that part of the reason that the United States government wanted to see TikTok banned was that it was exposing younger minds to views, perspectives, aspects of US foreign policy that they don’t really want people to be hearing, and that is a problem for Washington.”
Haro said she thinks people are downloading RedNote as a form of protest against the TikTok ban and not for its content. She said the app is difficult to navigate if you don’t speak Chinese, and relying too much on its translation features can lead users to be banned.
“I would advise people not to download RedNote. I feel like it’s not going to align with the American values of freedom of speech. I feel like we use social media as a platform to share ideas, express opinions, and RedNote is not going to offer you that same local freedom,” Haro said. “Again, if you are someone part of these communities that the Chinese government would rather censor, you’re going to end up getting banned. A lot of influencers who come from these identities are already getting banned because the Chinese government sees that as inferior to their country. It’s not an app made for Americans. I think people need to realize that it’s a Chinese app by Chinese company made for Chinese people.”
Zhou said that while she prefers RedNote as she has more followers on the app, she has never come across a comment that she thinks would be blatantly censored.
“I’ve never seen Chinese and Americans talking about this topic [of censorship] before because they’re not on my ‘For You’ page. I guess these kinds of conversations won’t happen because RedNote will ban those sensitive comments,” Zhou said. “Yeah, so I don’t think that happens very often. I don’t see comments that would be censored.”
Graham said that because the United States does not want to be dominated by a peer competitor, such as China, banning TikTok was a response by the government to the issue of being unable to control TikTok’s content.
“A lot of these things are almost like Whack-a-Mole. You suppress one outlet, people are going to gravitate elsewhere,” Graham said. “The message will often find its way through, and the government can either grapple with the message itself, or they can continue to chase methods of suppression.”
