RedNote: Chinese users react to US 'TikTok refugees'

As TikTok faces a potential ban, citizens of the US and China are connecting in unprecedented ways, exchanging jokes and memes on a Chinese social media app called "Xiaohongshu," in what one user called a "historic moment."

This is all happening on a popular Chinese social media app called RedNote, or Xiaohongshu, which does not have the usual internet firewall separating China from the rest of the world. It has attracted people who call themselves [US “TikTok refugees”](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2475l7zpqyo) who are searching the internet for a new home – even as their own government seeks to ban TikTok over national security concerns.

Now, Americans are finding themselves in direct contact with 300 million Mandarin speakers in China and elsewhere, while in the real world, Beijing is bracing for a potentially turbulent Trump presidency that could exacerbate its fragile relationship with Washington. "We're here to defy our government," one new user stated.

At the heart of the US ban is the concern that China is using TikTok to spy on Americans. The app faces accusations that user data ultimately ends up in the hands of the Chinese government because a Beijing law requires local companies to “support, assist and cooperate with state intelligence work.” TikTok denies this has happened, or would happen. But that possibility doesn’t seem to worry some American users, with 700,000 new users signing up to Xiaohongshu in the past two days, making it the top free app download in the US app store.

A new Xiaohongshu user called Definitelynotchippy said: “Our government is telling us the reason why they want to ban TikTok is because they insist that TikTok is owned by you Chinese people, the government, or whatever.” He went on to explain why he was on Xiaohongshu: “A lot of us are smarter than that so we decided to piss off our government and download an actual Chinese app. We call it fishing, long story short, we're here to defy our government, learn about China and play with you guys.”

TikTok, while owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, is headquartered in Singapore and says it operates independently. In fact, the Chinese version of TikTok is a separate app called Douyin. Xiaohongshu, on the other hand, is a Chinese company based in Shanghai and is one of the few social media apps available both in China and abroad. Therefore, Washington's concerns about TikTok should also extend to Xiaohongshu. This is why American users on Xiaohongshu are calling themselves “Chinese spies,” continuing a trend on TikTok of people saying goodbye to their “personal Chinese spy” who has been watching them for years.

Xiaohongshu is now flooded with posts from former TikTok users looking for an alternative. One post reads: “I’m looking for my Chinese spy. I miss you. Please help me find him.” Chinese users are responding: “I’m here!”

The genuine and playful conversations on Xiaohongshu may not be what Chinese President Xi Jinping had in mind when he talked about “strengthening cultural exchanges between the people of China and the US.” But it is happening as excited Chinese users welcome curious Americans to the app. “You don’t even need to go abroad, you can talk to foreigners here,” said one Chinese Xiaohongshu user in a video that received over 6,000 likes. “But honestly, this is so crazy, nobody would have thought that one day we’d meet like this, communicating so openly.”

Food, streaming shows, and work are among the most popular topics: “Is life in the US similar to what it looks like in [US TV show] Friends?” Other Chinese users are asking for “tax” for using the platform – photos of cats. “Cat tax from California,” one post responded. “Here’s my tribute – the short hair is a boy named Bob, and the calico is a girl named Marley.” Others are using the platform to ask Americans for help with their English homework. One post read: “Dear TikTok refugees, can you tell me the answer to question 53? Is the answer T (true) or F (false)?”

Help is quickly arriving: around 500 people have already responded. The influx of new American users appears to have caught Xiaohongshu off guard, and it is reportedly hiring English-language moderators. Others are also trying to profit from Xiaohongshu’s newfound American stardom: the language-learning app Duolingo posted a graph showing its user numbers are up 216% compared to the same time last year.

Will Xiaohongshu become the new TikTok? Xiaohongshu’s growing popularity is no guarantee it will last. There’s no reason to think it won’t face a backlash for the same reasons as TikTok: fears that it could be used by China to spy on Americans. It’s not clear how long Beijing will be open to this kind of unfettered exchange, with control of the internet a key part of its repressive regime.

One Chinese user pointed out the irony of the situation, posting: “Don’t we have a (fire)wall? Why are so many foreigners able to get in, while I obviously can’t get out?” Usually, Chinese internet users cannot directly interact with foreigners. Global platforms like Twitter and Instagram and search engines like Google are blocked in China, though people use VPNs to get around these restrictions. Sensitive topics, from history to dissent, or anything seen as critical of the Chinese government and the ruling Communist Party, are quickly censored.

It’s not clear how much censorship there is on Xiaohongshu, which is primarily used by young and middle-aged Chinese women who share photos and videos. It’s not like Weibo, another Chinese app, where discussion and dissent are more common, leading to posts often being deleted. But some new Xiaohongshu users say they’ve already received reports that their posts violate guidelines, including one user who posted asking if the app was “LGBT friendly.” Another said they asked, “What do Chinese people think about homosexuality?” and received a similar notice saying they had violated “public moral order” guidelines.

Chinese users are constantly reminding Americans on the app “not to mention sensitive topics like politics, religion and drugs.” One Chinese user also advised them to stick to the “one-China policy,” the diplomatic cornerstone of US-China relations, under which the US recognises and has formal relations with China, not Taiwan (the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own). The US government has not commented on Xiaohongshu, nor has Beijing. But Chinese state media seems optimistic, with the Global Times even interviewing an American user who said she was “happy to interact with Chinese users.”

Xiaohongshu’s fate in the US is anyone’s guess, but at least online, the US-China rivalry is on a temporary truce. All thanks to cat photos.