As “TikTok refugees” flock to RedNote, a U.S. official says the Chinese language app could possibly be banned, too

With the U.S. authorities’s TikTok ban set to kick in on Sunday, Individuals have been flocking to an alternate social media platform, but it surely’s one other Chinese language app, and consultants say it may current the identical, if not much more points. There’s been a surge in U.S. downloads of the Chinese language-owned utility Xiaohongshu, or “RedNote” as many customers name it.  

A U.S. official informed CBS Information on Thursday that RedNote, similar to TikTok, may face an ultimatum to divest, or be banned.

“This seems to be the sort of app that the statute would apply to and will face the identical restrictions as TikTok if it isn’t divested,” a U.S. official informed CBS Information. 

CBS Information has reached out to Xiaohongshu for remark as as to whether the corporate would agree with that evaluation. 

What’s RedNote?

Xiaohongshu has been essentially the most downloaded free app on Apple’s app retailer within the U.S. since Tuesday. Evaluation by Sensor Tower, a market intelligence agency, confirmed the platform’s downloads within the U.S. had elevated 200% year-on-year and seen a 194% uptick since final week. 

QR Code Generator, a agency that gives statistics on developments on-line, stated there had been a 4,900% enhance in searches on Google for Xiaohongshu within the U.S. on Monday alone.

Xiaohongshu was based in 2013 and is a way of life platform “the place over 300 million customers each month share their life experiences,” in line with an outline on Apple’s app retailer. 

The Chinese language photograph and video-sharing platform has usually been in comparison with Instagram. It operates as a platform for e-commerce, a guide for recommendations on journey and fantastic eating, in addition to a automobile for customers to share content material from their on a regular basis lives. 

Xiaohongshu actually interprets from Mandarin to “little purple ebook,” probably a reference to the famed little purple ebook of quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong, the founding father of Communist China. 

That reference has not postpone the various American customers who’ve turned to the app to share their experiences as so-called “TikTok refugees” forward of the U.S. ban. Movies together with a use of the “TikTok refugee” time period on RedNote have racked up thousands and thousands of views and impressions this week.

“That is for my fellow TikTok refugees and Individuals, behave on this app! You higher behave as a result of everybody in China is being so sort to us as we colonize their cutesy tootsy app simply because our authorities sucks,” one American consumer account utilizing the title “Savannah” posted on Wednesday. The submit had gained nearly 128,000 impressions by Thursday.

TikTok, in its worldwide type, will not be accessible to customers in mainland China, that means the U.S. exodus to Xiaohongshu has put Individuals in nearer contact with Chinese language customers than they ever had been earlier than. It is led to some amusing cultural exchanges. 

One American “TikTok refugee” with the username “anieladiaz” posted a video asking Chinese language customers if they’d any questions. A Chinese language consumer commented below the submit with a screenshot of what gave the impression to be their English homework. Anieladiaz was completely satisfied to offer the solutions to the take a look at questions, which they shared in their very own screenshot. Different Chinese language customers have been posting movies through which they educate Individuals to make use of Mandarin slang phrases. 

Is RedNote secure?

The speedy rise in U.S. downloads could also be trigger for concern for a similar U.S. lawmakers who ushered within the ban on TikTok. One cybersecurity professional informed CBS Information that RedNote may very well characterize a fair larger risk. 

“RedNote was by no means meant for out of doors of the China market. All the knowledge sharing and all of the servers to which the info is being shared is in China,” Adrianus Warmenhoven, a cybersecurity professional at Nord VPN, informed CBS Information on Wednesday. “It means they’re exempt from all of those knowledge protections and out of doors of the view of the American authorities.”

Warmenhoven stated TikTok and its mum or dad firm ByteDance had a minimum of saved knowledge in U.S.-based servers, which gave the U.S. authorities “some modicum of moderation or limitations on knowledge that may be despatched to China and the way a lot and in what means.”

He additionally stated RedNote’s phrases and situations lack transparency, which he stated presents an enormous cybersecurity danger for Individuals. 

“Its phrases and situations are in Mandarin, leaving non-Chinese language-speaking customers unclear about what knowledge is collected and the way it’s used,” Warmenhoven stated. “I am fairly positive these thousands and thousands who’re shifting over will not be utilizing Google Translate to learn [the terms and conditions] so they do not know what they’re agreeing to.” 

The particular U.S. laws used to ban TikTok — the “Defending Individuals from Overseas Adversary Managed Functions Act,” which President Biden signed into regulation final April, grants the federal authorities broad scope to crack down on international social media platforms. 

Beneath the regulation, Congress can compel a platform to divest its U.S. operations from international possession, and it may be shut down if it qualifies as a risk. The regulation can apply to any platform that enables customers to share content material with one another and has greater than 1 million month-to-month energetic customers, is owned by an organization situated in a international adversary-controlled nation, and has been decided by the president to current a big nationwide safety risk.

The laws is at the moment topic to a authorized problem by ByteDance, which has argued that it is unconstitutional and violates the primary modification defending free speech. A ruling from the Supreme Courtroom is pending in that case.

CBS Information has requested President-elect Donald Trump’s transition group whether or not the incoming administration would possibly deem RedNote a nationwide safety risk that needs to be topic to the regulation. The transition group had not responded by the point of the publication of this text. 

Trump has spoken out just lately in opposition to the TikTok ban. Final month, he stated he had a “heat spot in my coronary heart” for TikTok – a reversal from his stance when he final occupied the Oval Workplace. 

The Federal Commerce Fee, the company tasked with implementing the ban and making certain that web service suppliers within the U.S. and app retailer firms corresponding to Apple and Google adjust to the regulation, declined to remark. 

RedNote is closely censored

Content material on RedNote seems to be far more closely censored than posts on TikTok. A CBS Information evaluation discovered that any seek for “Xi Jinping,” China’s autocratic president, on RedNote yielded no outcomes in any respect. 

The time period “Free Hong Kong” additionally introduced again no outcomes. A seek for “Taiwan” will flip up a number of memes welcoming Individuals to the platform, however noting that customers should acknowledge the Beijing-imposed narrative that the democratically ruled island simply off China’s coast, which the U.S. is legally certain to assist defend from invasion, is an inseparable a part of China. 

An identical seek for these phrases on TikTok turns up a variety of political beliefs from customers, together with posts closely important of Chinese language censorship. 

RedNote even seems to be scaling up operations to observe content material given the huge variety of Individuals signing onto the app. CBS Information discovered native job listings posted by the corporate on-line in mainland China promoting jobs to assessment English content material and promising a month-to-month wage of between $950 and $1,200.

“Customers will not be going to a spot with extra freedom. RedNote is moderated in another way, and the algorithm is totally different from TikTok,” Warmenhoven informed CBS Information. “You’ll not get traction or it is not going to unfold politically delicate points, or perhaps social delicate points — particularly points which are socially delicate in China.”