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As TikTok’s ban looms, hundreds of thousands of Americans have flocked to the new video-sharing app Xiaohongshu, a social media platform that translates to “Little Red Book,” an American nickname for the collective. typical of the quotes from Chairman Mao. . It’s all like a universal practical joke on the US government: Threatened with exile from TikTok for fear of Chinese interference, its users simply moved to other Chinese apps , whose name is reminiscent of the Chinese Communist Party.
When I downloaded Xiaohongshu, commonly known as RedNote, it was number one among the free apps in Apple’s US App Store. (The second was Lemon8, another Chinese TikTok representative of TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance.) I submitted my phone number, reported my gender and posted some of the my interests: babysitting, calligraphy, snacks. Then I sampled the videos selected by the app’s algorithm: A girl in a lace veil eating ice cream with her head up; a woman preparing dinner in the back seat of a minivan with stuffed animals; An update that inspires fans of Luigi Mangione’s court.
Soon, I started seeing videos directed at me — a welcome note created for American TikTok users who had recently arrived on RedNote’s shores.
In Xiaohongshu’s world, Americans who download the app en masse are dubbed “TikTok Refugees.” Its existing Chinese users secretly advertised themselves as America’s “new Chinese spies,” started teaching Mandarin lessons and formed in-app groups for “refugees” to get their hands on the land. They warned that they plan to tax foreign users (the tip: You have to share pictures of cats).
It’s all a subtle commentary on the US government’s crackdown on TikTok, and the ease with which users can simply replicate the same experience on other Chinese platforms. Together, Chinese power users and emerging Americans are making a mockery of national security policy.
For TikTok users, the decision to remove TikTok exclusively from US phones seems silly. In recent years, lawmakers have blamed the law enforcement for everything from disregarding “American values” to promoting pro-Palestinian content among young Americans. It’s as if American social media companies like Meta never sought to mine and exploit sensitive data. It is as if an American platform like X will never try its algorithm to reward certain political opinions.
But of course, it’s the nature of social media to make technological products that no one feels close to, while the hidden costs (and threats) remain distant and unimaginable. It is difficult to verify what actually happens in the background.
If the ban on TikTok is successful, and the Americans are on Xiaohongshu to stay, they may come to dominate their culture, reduce their appeal, destroy their voice. But now they’re visitors to another country, struggling to read Mandarin instructions and navigating unfamiliar directions.
The platform, which is owned by a Shanghai-based company called Xingyin Information Technology, glows with the emotion of dialogue. On Wednesday, I met a little boy in a hot pink sweater explaining (and modeling) a traditional Chinese clothes rack, and a man in a sweatsuit warning us not to show our behinds or say racist things. , and a cute activist who posted a photo. video responding to “comments from TikTok refugees,” most of whom tried to make fun of him. (One asked him how to say “daddy” in Mandarin.) The cat-meme tax is a nice touch, a sign that he wants to connect with Americans through the ancient language we share. RedNote users.
One of my favorite videos is from a Chinese user, an English teacher, who also has a Donald J. Trump-worthy impression — and teaches English speakers how to say “America” in the Mandarin in a Trumpian tone. Trump’s strange pronunciation of “China” in the video is hilarious and suggests that maybe it’s time to give America the same treatment.
Xiaohongshu provided a rare glimpse into the Chinese view of America, generously translated and packaged for American consumption. The glamor of your digital vacation may be coming to an end soon, but the cat photo is worth it.
