As “TikTok refugees” flock to RedNote, a US official says the Chinese app may also be banned

With the United States government On TikTok The app is set to go live on Sunday, as Americans flock to the alternative social media platform, but it’s another Chinese app, and experts say it could present the same problems, if not more. There has been a significant increase in US downloads of the Chinese-owned app Xiaohongshu, or “RedNote” as many users call it.

A US official told CBS News on Thursday that RedNote, just like TikTok, could face a divestment or ban ultimatum.

“This appears to be the type of app to which the law would apply and could face the same restrictions as TikTok if it is not withdrawn,” a US official told CBS News.

CBS News has reached out to Xiaohongshu for comment on whether the company would agree with this assessment.

What is Red Note?

Xiaohongshu has been the most downloaded free app on Apple’s App Store in the United States since Tuesday. Analysis by Sensor Tower, a market intelligence firm, showed that downloads of the platform in the US increased by 200% year-on-year and saw a 194% increase since last week.

QR Code Generator, a company that provides statistics on online trends, said there was a 4,900% increase in Google searches for Xiaohongshu in the United States on Monday alone.

Founded in 2013, Xiaohongshu is a lifestyle platform “where more than 300 million users share their life experiences every month,” according to a description on Apple’s App Store.

The Chinese photo and video sharing platform is often compared to Instagram. It serves as an e-commerce platform, a travel and fine dining tips guide, as well as a way for users to share content from their daily lives.

Xiaohongshu literally translates from Mandarin to “little red book,” likely a reference to the famous Little Red Book containing quotes from Chairman Mao Zedong, the founding father of communism. China.

This reference did not alienate many American users who turned to the application to share their experiences, as they were called “TikTok refugees,” before the American ban. Videos that include the use of the term “TikTok Refugee” on RedNote received millions of views and impressions this week.

“This is for my fellow TikTok refugees and Americans, behave on this app! You better behave because everyone in China is being nice to us and we are colonizing their nice app just because our government sucks,” an American user account using the name “Savannah” posted on Wednesday. The post had received nearly 128,000 impressions as of Thursday.

tik tok, In its international form, it’s not available to users in mainland China, meaning the US exodus to Xiao Hongshu has brought Americans into closer contact with Chinese users than ever before. This has led to some entertaining cultural exchanges.

An American “TikTok refugee” with the username “anieladiaz” posted a video asking Chinese users if they had any questions. A Chinese user commented below the post with a screenshot of what appeared to be his English homework. Anieladiaz was happy to provide the answers to the quiz questions, which they shared in their screenshot. Other Chinese users post videos teaching Americans to use colloquial Mandarin words.

Is RedNote safe?

The rapid rise in downloads in the US may be a cause for concern for the same US lawmakers who announced the ban on TikTok. One cybersecurity expert told CBS News that RedNote may actually pose a greater threat.

“RedNote was never intended outside of the Chinese market. All the data sharing and all the servers the data is shared on are in China,” Adrianus Warmenhoven, a cybersecurity expert at Nord VPN, told CBS News on Wednesday. “This means that they are exempt from all these data protection measures and outside the view of the US government.”

TikTok and its parent company ByteDance at least stored data in U.S.-based servers, giving the U.S. government “a measure of moderation or limits on what data can be sent to China, how much, and in what way,” Warmenhoven said.

He also said RedNote’s terms and conditions lack transparency, which he said poses a significant cybersecurity risk to Americans.

“Its terms and conditions are written in Mandarin, leaving non-Chinese-speaking users unsure about what data is collected and how it is used,” Warmenhoven said. “I’m pretty sure those millions who are moving aren’t using Google Translate to read (the terms and conditions) so they don’t know what they’re agreeing to.”

specified American legislation Used to ban TikTok – The Protecting Americans from Foreign Controlled Apps Act, which President Biden signed into law last April, gives the federal government broad latitude to crack down on foreign social media platforms.

Under the law, Congress can force any platform to divest its US operations of foreign ownership, and it can be shut down if it is deemed a threat. The law could apply to any platform that allows users to share content with each other, has more than 1 million monthly active users, is owned by a company located in a foreign country controlled by an adversary, and the president has decided to present a significant threat to national security.

The legislation is currently under a legal challenge by ByteDance, which has said it is unconstitutional and violates the First Amendment, which protects freedom of expression. Ruling from The Supreme Court is waiting In this case.

CBS News asked President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team whether the incoming administration might consider RedNote a national security threat that should be subject to the law. The transition team had not responded by the time this article was published.

Trump recently spoke out against banning TikTok. Last month, he said he had a “warm spot in my heart” for TikTok, a reflection of his stance when he last occupied the Oval Office.

The Federal Trade Commission, the agency charged with enforcing the ban and ensuring that U.S. internet service providers and app store companies like Apple and Google, comply with the law and declined to comment.

RedNote is heavily censored

The content on RedNote seems to be much more than that Severe censorship From posts on TikTok. A CBS News analysis found that a search for “Xi Jinping,” China’s authoritarian president, on RedNote yielded no results at all.

The term “Free Hong Kong” also did not yield any results. A search for “Taiwan” will bring up several memes welcoming Americans to the platform, but noting that users should recognize the Beijing-imposed narrative that the democratically-governed island off the coast of China is legally obligated to help defend against invasion. It is an integral part of China.

A similar search for these terms on TikTok turns up a wide range of political opinions from users, including posts strongly critical of Chinese censorship.

RedNote appears to be expanding operations to monitor content given the large number of Americans logging into the app. CBS News found Local job listings The company posted it online in mainland China advertising jobs to review content in English and promised a monthly salary of between $950 and $1,200.

“Users are not going to go to a place with more freedom. RedNote is moderated differently, and the algorithm is different than TikTok,” Warmenhoven told CBS News. “You’re not going to get traction or you’re not going to publicize politically sensitive issues, or perhaps socially sensitive issues — especially socially sensitive issues in China.”