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A ban on TikTok could pass in the United States this week.
The law, passed by Congress last year, is forcing the platform’s Chinese owner ByteDance to either sell its US operations or shut them down by Sunday due to privacy concerns.
US president-elect Donald Trump has indicated that he will try to keep the video-based social media app legal once he takes office, but the new law is scheduled to take effect just one day before his inauguration.
While the Supreme Court is expected to rule this week on TikTok’s challenge to the law, it’s expected that the ban will go ahead.
In response to the ban, American TikTok users have flocked to another Chinese-owned app in protest – Xiaohongshu, or RedNote in English.
What is RedNote?
Currently in the top spot in the Apple App Store in both Australia and the United States, RedNote is considered an alternative to TikTok.
The app lets users share content in several different formats, including photos, text, videos and live streaming.
It’s also an e-commerce site and shopping app, and has parallels to Pinterest and Instagram.
While Chinese users currently use it as a guidebook for restaurant and activity recommendations, the surge in American users will likely shift the content of the platform.
According to Reuters, the app has gained 700,000 new users over only two days.
Milovan Savic is a research fellow at Swinburne University of Technology, specialising in social media.
He says users are seeking alternatives to TikTok for two reasons: in case the ban goes ahead, and in protest to highlight their dissatisfaction with the impending ban.
“Anticipating the ban, there are a number of US users who are flocking to alternatives,” Savic told SBS News.
Why are TikTok users downloading RedNote?
TikTok users have specifically chosen RedNote as their new home because of its Chinese origins, replacing the fear over one Chinese app with another.
Those downloading the app have dubbed themselves ‘TikTok refugees’, with the hashtag reaching more than 100 million views by Tuesday evening, according to Agence France-Presse.
“The original intent or hope behind the ban was that users would stick with US-based apps, so in protest to express their disagreement with the decision, a lot of users chose another Chinese-based app as an alternative,” Savic said.
29-year-old content creator Stella Kittrell joined RedNote in hopes of fostering further collaborations with Chinese companies and queried privacy concerns.
“Americans using RedNote feels like a cheeky middle finger to the US government for its overreach into businesses and privacy concerns,” she told Reuters.
“They are trying to ban TikTok because they said China is stealing information. They don’t ban any American company from stealing our information,” user penguinpepperpia, who has more than 264,000 TikTok followers, told AFP.
The content creator downloaded Xiaohongshu rather than return to US platforms such as Meta’s Instagram and Facebook, which they characterised as apps for “older people” that also “steal your personal information and sell it to other companies”.
“That is why many Americans don’t care anymore, and we would rather let China have our information,” said the user.
Savic says it’s an effective form of protest, though it might not lead to a reversal of the ban.
“It sends a message to the government and says, ‘Well, you were concerned about where our data is and who can access it. So we are going to still use a different Chinese app and we are going to share our data with them,'” he said.
“But I’m not sure if it’s going to be successful in terms of reverting the ban.”
Will RedNote replace TikTok?
If the ban goes ahead, there will be a few roadblocks in RedNote’s path to becoming a permanent replacement for TikTok.
As the app has had a sudden influx of overseas users, there are currently no translations in place as it has been designed for the Chinese market.
“At this time, there is a wave of protest and enthusiasm, but we can also see that a lot of users actually struggle to navigate the app because it’s designed for a Chinese market,” Savic said.
If RedNote can tackle translation early on, it fares a better chance of not just being a short-term protest method.
“Based on how the app responds to this influx of new users will depend if it’s going to be something more permanent or just temporary,” Savic said.
Savic said that while it’s difficult to tell whether this will be a permanent replacement for TikTok or simply a short-term act of protest, the implications are that it might mean the US government rethinks its approach to Chinese-owned apps entirely.
“If this continues and even larger numbers of people keep migrating to this other Chinese-based app … will they consider banning this app as well or banning all Chinese apps?”
More likely than RedNote becoming the ‘new TikTok’, Savic said, is users spreading into a wider range of apps, including Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
He also speculates that a new competitor may enter the field — one that’s US-owned.
“In the next couple of months, we may have a new player in the social media landscape, which would definitely be interesting to observe because it doesn’t happen very often.”
What will it mean for Australians?
Technically, the ban won’t affect any Australian users. But Savic says the ban may have a “domino effect” globally and here in Australia.
“If it’s banned in the US, that would also mean there would be less content created.
“So while Australian users might still have access to the app, they might not enjoy it as much because, obviously, the content will be significantly reduced. Maybe some of their favourite pages they follow will just disappear.”
But it might still take a while for us to see the full effects.
While phase one of the ban would see TikTok removed from app stores and preventing new downloads, 170 million existing US users will still be able to use the app — at least, until TikTok hypothetically ceases access from their end.
“Assuming they don’t do that, users will still be able to access the app for a few months, or maybe even a year,” he said.
“In a couple of months, the user base will just reduce, and then that would have a domino effect as the content will reduce as well.”
In terms of a ban spreading to Australia, Savic doubts the government will go down that path.
While a , Savic can’t see Australia implementing a ban on TikTok specifically based on privacy concerns.
“I don’t think that’s a top concern,” Savic said. “But I think they could benefit just by waiting for the app to organically shut down.”
Additional reporting by AFP and Reuters.
