TikTok refugees fled via the hundreds of thousands to RedNote, a Chinese language app, in accordance with the TikTok ban, which went into impact Jan. 19, 2025. The corporate close down the app in a while earlier than middle of the night on Jan. 18.
Thru cat memes, shared jokes in regards to the ban and fair conversations about in most cases have shyed away from subjects, former TikTokers and RedNote natives are bridging years of U.S.-China virtual separation. This spontaneous convergence recollects the web’s authentic dream of a world village. It’s a glimmer of hope for connection and verbal exchange in a divided global.
I’m a researcher who research Chinese language and transnational virtual media. I’m additionally a Chinese language one that lives within the U.S. I’ve been a RedNote person since 2014.
On Tuesday morning, Jan. 14, 2025, my same old RedNote morning scroll printed a reworked For You Web page. Jumbled in with my standard TV drama, famous person and make-up content material have been new posts from self-proclaimed “TikTok refugees,” with U.S. IP addresses. As I endured scrolling, the advice set of rules flooded my feed with an increasing number of of those posts from new U.S. customers in the hunt for to rebuild their group on RedNote.
Speedy inflow
The phenomenon exploded unexpectedly: inside 24 hours, the hashtag #TikTok Refugee# on RedNote had garnered 36.2 million perspectives and sparked hundreds of thousands of discussions. RedNote crowned Apple’s App Retailer’s unfastened app charts.
This cool animated film posted on RedNote illustrates how local customers of the app skilled the inflow of Western TikTok customers.
screenshot via Jianqing Chen of RedNote person @蒜香排骨’s publish
Consistent with those TikTok refugees, with the Jan. 19, 2025, ban looming, customers feared dropping now not simply their platform get right of entry to however their content material and source of revenue streams as smartly.
Reasonably than switching to U.S.-based choices like Meta’s Instagram or X, they selected to escape to some other Chinese language platform as their protest towards U.S. tech giants, whom they blamed for lobbying for the ban. Their platform of selection used to be RedNote.
As an alternative of segregating customers via geographical areas with other variations as TikTok’s dad or mum corporate, ByteDance Ltd., did, RedNote – referred to as Xiaohongshu in Chinese language – supplies get right of entry to to the similar platform globally. ByteDance is founded in China however introduced TikTok as a U.S. subsidiary in 2015. TikTok partnered with Oracle in 2022 to maintain American citizens’ person information to handle information safety considerations. Against this, RedNote proprietor Xingyin Data Era Ltd. is a Shanghai-based corporate and so stays unfastened from direct U.S. oversight.
RedNote’s international accessibility
This international accessibility aligns with the unique imaginative and prescient for Xiaohongshu. The title Little Crimson E-book – its literal English translation – regularly leads folks within the West to attract parallels with Mao’s progressive textual content, suggesting a communist focal point. But the platform’s true aspirations couldn’t be extra other.
The app, created in 2013, emerged with a slightly bourgeois focal point. The app’s founders, Qu Fang and Mao Wenchao, met whilst buying groceries within the U.S. They located Xiaohongshu as a platform that blended social media, way of life content material and e-commerce, all focused round international go back and forth and buying groceries.
Although RedNote has developed to draw a broader demographic, its core person base stays world scholars, Chinese language in a foreign country communities and world vacationers. Its title displays the platform’s promise to be a “red” – that means “popular” in Chinese language – information for overseas go back and forth and buying groceries. It purposes as each a go back and forth bible for Chinese language vacationers and a way curator of glamorous overseas life.
The app has been influential in reworking lesser-known places into Chinese language vacationer locations. It grew to become Düsseldorf, Germany, right into a foodie vacation spot for Chinese language vacationers in 2023 and highlighted hip scenes and public restrooms in Paris all the way through the 2024 Olympic video games.
For me, as a local Chinese language individual dwelling in another country, RedNote has develop into an crucial day-to-day platform for looking out critiques, sharing lifestyles’s moments and staying attached with Chinese language communities. Even earlier than the TikTok refugee inflow, Xiaohongshu had attracted customers from Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and different Sinophone communities.
From memes to open conversation
A TikTok refugee will pay the ‘cat tax’.
screenshot via Jianqing Chen of RedNote person Lauren Elizabeth’s publish
I nervously lurked within the dialogue sections, gazing for attainable friction and conflicts between TikTok refugees and RedNote natives, or “red sweetpotatoes” as they name themselves. But the primary encounters have been unusually heartwarming and playful.
When TikTok refugees posted introductions with out pets, RedNote customers would reply with a meme: a cat conserving a gun with the caption “Hello, I am a spy. Show me your cat.” This comic story stuck on briefly. “Chinese spy” quickly changed into differently to mention “Chinese friend.” TikTok refugees even requested “do you want to be my Chinese spy?” as a playful verbal exchange starter.
The ‘I’m a secret agent, display me your cat’ meme on RedNote.
screenshot via Jianqing Chen of RedNote person conversation
Thru lovely memes and witty jokes, each teams ridiculed the TikTok ban. They mocked how the ban twists information privateness problems into dated narratives of Chilly Battle contention and espionage, slightly than treating them as shared virtual age demanding situations that each one people face in combination.
After those greetings, RedNote natives and TikTok refugees regularly exchanged questions about quite a lot of subjects. A few of these subjects frightened me as a result of they may simply turn out to be conversation-breakers. For instance, A TikTok refugee requested about LGBTQ lifestyles in China, and a RedNote local inquired about U.S. earning.
However as a substitute of making awkward rigidity as I feared, those exchanges resulted in significant conversation. Chinese language customers defined their questions on U.S. source of revenue: they have been curious as a result of Chinese language “American dreamers” – Chinese language who communicate of shifting to the U.S. – regularly paint an exaggerated image of American salaries and dwelling requirements. American citizens have been shocked to be informed that whilst same-sex marriage stays unlawful in China, the town of Chengdu is referred to as the rustic’s “gay capital.”
Recalling the web’s misplaced promise
As I documented those interactions, they endured to develop and evolve. What began as textual content discussions prolonged into livestreaming conversations. This uncommon second of direct interplay between American and Chinese language social media customers unearths that they’re now not as other as they could have concept. On-line, they have been sharing the similar pursuits: lovely memes, “thirst traps” and humorous feedback. Offline, they face identical day-to-day struggles to make ends meet.
How may this finish? Will TikTok refugees depart as soon as their enthusiasm fades, or will regulators from each side step in? As any individual who has researched U.S.-China media exchanges for years, I’m struck via this second’s importance, alternatively transient it can be. This represents a significant reconnection between U.S. and Chinese language web customers after years of virtual separation.
That separation used to be brought about and bolstered via Google’s withdrawal from China, China’s Nice Firewall and the U.S. pressured segregation of ByteDance’s U.S. and Chinese language platforms. As well as, virtual platforms and advice algorithms increasingly more lure folks in their very own data bubbles.
To me, the instant recollects the utopian imaginative and prescient as soon as shared via California’s web pioneers and Chinese language tech innovators and customers: a virtual agora and international village.
It’s additionally a silver lining within the cloud of world divides. Even in an international increasingly more fractured via platforms, incorrect information and political divisions, sudden connections can nonetheless blossom. Reputedly not possible linguistic, cultural and virtual divides can also be crossed when folks manner each and every different with appreciate, sincerity, a slightly of humor – and possibly assistance from AI translators.
