Since 2024, the United States government has been infatuated with banning TikTok. The start of this discussion came from the government’s concerns about China using ByteDance (A Beijing-based company that owns TikTok) to spread the communist agenda while stealing American citizens’ personal information, even though Chinese citizens are unable to access the app. TikTok is the result of ByteDance wanting to create an app like “Douyin”, TikTok’s sister, that’s only available in China for the overseas audience. TikTok was created in 2017 and settled its headquarters in California after merging with “Musical.ly” in 2018. Despite the rebuttals of Singaporean CEO Shou Zi Chew, Senator Markey, and other government officials to free TikTok, America has banned it on January 19th.
The week building to the ban left American TikTok users to move to “Xiaohongshu” (Known as Red Note/ Little Red Book in English), a social media app created in Shanghai, China. Americans believe the ban was driven not out of concern for national security but out of greed by American social media apps and racism against China. To summarize AP News and Hindustan Times, the move was to spite the American government’s concerns about China by willingly giving their information to China directly through “Xiaohongshu”.
The best way to describe “Xiaohongshu” is it’s a mix of TikTok, Instagram, and Pinterest. Unlike TikTok, the app is commonly used almost like “Yelp”, where Chinese users post recommendations and reviews for products, places, foods, wellness tips, and more. Millions of American TikTok users downloaded the app, boosting Xiaohongshu to #1 on the app store in January. The migration dubbed former TikTok users as “TikTok refugees” by welcoming Chinese Xiaohongshu users who educated the newcomers on the app’s rules and community. The open and kind atmosphere invited Americans to learn more about Chinese society through the people experiencing it. The two nations quickly opened the doors to learn about each other’s cultures, languages, and internet culture, debunking stereotypes and assumptions or proving them right, comparing lifestyles, and bonding over cats.
I downloaded the app the minute TikTok was banned, and it is so refreshing. For one, I didn’t need to make an account to test out the app, and in minutes, I built my FYP, or “For You Pag”. Even then, the default FYP was filled with welcome videos from Chinese users, fashion tips, Chinese food, and vlogs. The comment sections (most of the time) are wholesome and supportive, with Chinese netizens translating American slang and Americans using Chinese slang to hype each other up. There are memes and funny videos like in TikTok, but Xiaohongshu feels more like a social media app made and used to help people glow up and feel inspired while paying the cat tax.
And no more than 12 hours later, TikTok’s back through the Trump administration. While users can’t download the app due to the ban still being in effect, those who haven’t deleted it can freely use it, like in the good old days. But why does it feel different? Oladipo on Reuters reports that TikTok users are unable to post or comment on content revolving around Palestine, Luigi Mangione, or negative points of view on Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and his administration without facing policy violations, content deletions, and account suspensions. If you use the app before January 19th, you know we truly could say whatever we wanted on the app. However, the “new TikTok” restricts people from advocating for values and causes that go against the Donald Trump administration. Users also report the increased number of ads, the lack of live streams, features now unavailable to Americans, and the messy algorithm that leaves users bored and uninterested in the app.
Xiaohongshu is the new app for Americans, but it isn’t TikTok. TikTok is back, but is it the same? Did it get better or worse? Since I don’t have the app, I can only speculate that TikTok will face extreme changes that can potentially morph it into another social media app overtaken by low quality AI video. But for those with the app, what are your predictions? And for my Xiaohongshu enjoyers, are you staying or leaving?
