The US government will officially ban TikTok on Sunday, January 19, unless the US Supreme Court decides to take action to stop it in some way Last minute ruling. The impending ban has caused a large number of TikTokers to move to a new Chinese video-sharing app called Xiaohongshu—Red note Or “Red Book” in English, as a general salute to the American ruling class. And with RedNote retaining the top spot in the US Apple App Store for a second day, it’s great to see.
It’s unclear whether Americans will actually continue to use RedNote in the long term, especially if TikTok is saved by a successful sale to a US company or President-elect Donald Trump somehow intervenes. A Bloomberg report that Elon Musk might try to buy TikTok was quickly shot down by TikTok on Monday night. But it’s really interesting to see American and Chinese users discussing the move to RedNote in very virtuous technological terms.
A huge digital moat has been separating US and Chinese internet users for so long that RedNote users, both old and new, are talking about how this finally looks like an opportunity for real cultural exchange between ordinary citizens of the two countries. Because in the 1990s, the idea of a “global village,” where everyone could communicate freely and peacefully around the world, was a big part of humanity’s technological dream of the future. But things like China’s Great Firewall and American surveillance devices have hindered this vision.
“Seeing TikTok refugees flocking to Red Notes is something I feel nostalgic about,” said a Red Note user named Zoey. He said in the video. “It reminds me of the early 2000s when the Internet first made a global village possible.”
Zoe compared it to what people in the 20th century often did Pen friendswhich is a popular way to connect with random people you don’t know on the other side of the world. Physical letters were exchanged through the postal service, often coordinated through schools, so that children could practice their language and writing skills while learning about different cultures. Zoe said her exercise at school was just about pretending that she and her fellow students were actually writing to a pen pal, but the idea was the same.
“I remember at that time. In China, when I was young, when I first started learning English, we would practice writing by pretending to have a pen pal from the US or the UK,” Zoe said. “And we would write it in English. This sounds very similar to what’s happening at Red Note now.
“It’s a bit messy,” Zoe admits, but says people are generally very curious about each other.
“It’s almost magical that the will to connect and come together can still transcend so many boundaries, especially in an age where the internet has become so fragmented, and algorithms have built really powerful echo chambers that prevent people from understanding each other,” Zoe says. To call it too magical.
Zoe doesn’t have to pretend she’s writing to a pen pal anymore. At least not at the moment. But Zoe knows that it might just be an illusion, and that this brief moment could disappear very quickly.
“Maybe I’m over-romanticizing this, but it’s been a long time since I’ve felt this way. People can actually connect and people are really interested and curious about each other,” Zoe said. “I don’t know how long this moment will last. I’m not an optimistic person, but I really hope this lasts a little longer.
Other English-speaking users based in China spoke of their mixed feelings upon seeing the American influx on the app. One creator said she was a TikTok Live host and would come to the Red Note (or Red Book, as she calls it) to complain about Americans she met on TikTok.
“The Red Book is also where I can talk about my American clients behind their backs. So I was wondering where I should post this stuff now,” the user joked.
The user also encouraged Americans to start learning Mandarin, a common sentiment that came up repeatedly for US-based users trying out the site.
But it’s not all serious discussion, of course. There are countless jokes on Red Note about the surge in American interest. Many users have joked Being spies on TikTok and want to continue spying as more US users move to Red Note. This type of joke has been very popular among Americans on TikTok in recent days and weeks.
Other Red Note users who have spoken to longtime Americans welcomed new users but offered advice on everything from ignoring trolls to engaging in Mandarin if you can.
“At the end of the day, we’re not that different,” one Red Note user said He said in English About the cultural gap between American and Chinese users. But the same user also spoke in coded language about Red Note’s “rules.”
The user says: “Yes, there are rules here.” “It’s very quiet, but not without rules. To be honest, I don’t know much about that, because I don’t have to, if you know what I mean.”
The user goes on to say that “things you should say” in the US, “chances are you wouldn’t say here either.” The user continues: “Do you see what I’m trying to say here?” While encouraging Americans to “just use common sense.”
Red Note is not a utopia from the perspective of any American who cares about the ideals of liberal democracy and free speech. The app works under the rules of the Chinese government, which means you won’t find any criticism of the Communist Party. China is not a utopia for gay people. Recent years have witnessed a campaign on LGBT advocacy groups by Beijing.
One area where Americans might find more freedom is on topics like Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old man accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson last December. Social media sites like TikTok have been playing whacka-mole to suppress content Celebrating Mangione But there seems to be no such restrictions on Red Note.
One of the funniest things Americans have realized on TikTok in recent days is that other English-speaking creators they might enjoy around the world aren’t necessarily being kicked off the platform. As an American user named Mystery of Kyle joked about the British users who would stay on the platform, Saying“We won’t be able to make fun of each other anymore. What will you do without us?”
“It’s literally going to be a British app now. “There’s not that many of you guys,” he continued. “They’re all in a restricted area and serving terrible food. What are you guys going to do? Talk about canned fish? There is a guy called canned fish reviews. He’ll probably be the first creator of this app after we’re gone.
The ideals of the online global village have always been romanticized. The US intelligence community has literally helped build the Internet since its earliest days in the world The sixties and seventieswith the NSA and CIA spying on her ever since. The Internet was a creation of the Cold War, and the frontiers of the Web were created along the same Cold War battle lines. After all, the first Internet node outside the United States was set up in Norway for surveillance Soviet nuclear tests.
China, though a latecomer to the Internet party, has had a government that has been spying on the Internet for almost as long as the Americans, corralling and surveilling its population by blocking access to American websites for decades. Now it’s Americans’ turn to learn about dangerous forms of censorship with the TikTok ban.
If a critical mass of Americans are on Red Note weeks from now, it is possible that the US government will take steps to ban this app under the guise of “national security” concerns. But with Trump taking office on Monday, a new ban on a Chinese-owned app is unlikely to be front-page news. With everything Trump promised to do on day one — from mass deportations to serious crackdowns on political opponents — the other app to be banned would be just any other Monday in America.
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