As Us Tiktok Ban Looms, Users Flock To Another Chinese App

In a live chat dubbed "TikTok Refugees" on RedNote on Monday, more than 50 000 American and Chinese users joined the room. Veteran Chinese users, with some sense of bewilderment, welcomed their American counterparts and swapped notes with them on topics such as food and youth unemployment.

Occasionally, however, the Americans veered into riskier territory. "Is it ok to ask about how laws are different in China versus Hong Kong?" one American user asked. "We prefer not to talk about that here," a Chinese user responded.

Such impromptu cultural exchanges were taking place all across RedNote, known in China as Xiaohongshu, as the app surged to the top of US download rankings this week. Its popularity was driven by American social media users casting about for an alternative to ByteDance-owned TikTok days ahead of its looming ban.

In only two days, more than 700 000 new users joined Xiaohongshu, a person close to the company said. Xiaohongshu did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

US downloads of RedNote were up more than 200 year over year this week, and 194 from the week prior, according to estimates from app data research firm Sensor Tower.