What is RedNote? TikTok ‘refugees’ flocked to the popular Chinese app ahead of the ban

Coming up Banning TikTok in the US has prompted a mass migration of “refugee” content creators to alternative social media platforms – and the most popular Chinese app appears to be named after Chairman Mao’s “Little Red Book”.

Shanghai-based Xiaohongshu, nicknamed RedNote in the US, catapulted to the top of the app store in the free apps section this week as social media users fled TikTok in anticipation of its shutdown on Sunday, January 20.

More than 700,000 new users joined Xiaohongshu in just two days, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

Downloads of RedNote in the US rose more than 200% this week from last year and 194% from the week before, according to estimates from app data research firm Sensor Tower, the report said.

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But with that surge in popularity comes a stark warning from a leading China hawk in Congress, who fears the app’s explicit ties to China could put US users at risk.

“Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book was instrumental in China’s Communist Cultural Revolution that led to the tragic deaths of tens of millions of Chinese citizens. Today, the Chinese app of the same name wants to be the next TikTok – complete with Chinese control,” House CCP Select Committee Chairman John Moolenaar, R -Mich., he told Fox Business.

What is RedNote?

The app store description calls Xiahongshu “a lifestyle platform that inspires people to discover and connect with a variety of different lifestyles.” The app claims to have more than 300 million daily users and seems to work similarly Instagram or Pinterestwith users able to post text, images or short video content.

Founded as a venture capital startup in 2013, Xiahongshu is now considered China’s premier search engine for recommendations on popular topics from beauty, fashion, travel and food, according to Reuters.

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Users can participate in discussions, share posts with each other, call each other and shop. The platform has recently made a big push into live streaming sales.

There is no international version of the app that is in Mandarin. It is owned and operated by Xingyin Information Technology, a Chinese company. Although users have the option to change the language of the app, most of the content is in Mandarin.

Xiahongshu was founded by Miranda Qu, the current president, and Charlwin Mao, the chief executive officer, in 2013 in Shanghai. Initially called the “Hong Kong Shopping Guide”, it was designed for Chinese tourists looking for recommendations outside the mainland, Reuters writes.

Safety concerns

TikTok said on Friday that its platform would “go dark” on Sunday after the US Supreme Court upheld a bipartisan bill passed last year requiring Chinese-owned parent company ByteDance to divest itself of the app, citing its ties to CCP.

Lawmakers have raised national security concern that China could use the app to download user data or otherwise push certain state-sponsored content to US users.

Moolenaar raised the same concerns about RedNote and suggested that the law used to force ByteDance to split from TikTok could similarly apply to platform owners.

“Parents and social media creators should be aware that the CCP is exploiting PRC-based apps to monitor and censor Americans. The good news is that President Trump has the authority under the TikTok bill to compel the sale of other CCP-controlled apps that represent national security risks as well,” he said.

Xiahongshu did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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TikTok creators who have switched to Xiahongshu have warned other US users to be wary of the platform’s strict content moderation rules and Chinese censorship.

“This is for my fellow TikTok refugees and Americans, behave yourself on this app! Better behave because everyone in China is so nice to us as we colonize their sweet app just because our government sucks,” an American user named “Savannah ” published Wednesday, CBS News reported.

If the objection to TikTok is that it collects too much user data, Xiahongshu has the same problem and is arguably worse.

RedNote’s privacy policy states the platform collects a large amount of data including sensitive data such as a user’s location via their IP address, browsing habits and more, Forbes reported.

The terms and conditions are written in Mandarin and English users had difficulty translating them.

In addition, Xiahongshu is subject to the same Chinese data laws as TikTok, which may allow CCP authorities access to user data, but without the privacy protections required by US law.

“The platform collects extensive personal data, including location, browsing activity and device-specific data such as IP addresses. It may also share this data with third-party service providers or government authorities, raising concerns about user privacy,” Adrianus Warmenhoven, cybersecurity expert at NordVPN, he told Forbes.

However, some TikTok users dismissed these concerns. Lifestyle content creator Kayla Murphy, who has more than 20,000 followers on TikTok, he told CT Insider she is not concerned about Chinese data collection.

“Personally, I’m not worried. I live a very honest and open life and I don’t feel like I have anything to hide. If the governments of China or the US want to know that I’m 28 – Old woman who loves travel, food and my cat, Wednesday, so be it “My bigger concern lies in systemic issues like health care and the economy,” Murphy said.

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Murphy said she uses Google Translate to add Mandarin subtitles to her RedNote videos so Chinese users can follow her content.

“One of my favorite posts featuring my cat, Wednesday, included a simple introduction in English and Chinese,” Murphy told the outlet. “Since most of my content is focused on visual storytelling – like travel and lifestyle – I think it will naturally transcend language barriers.”

Murphy said she wouldn’t be surprised if RedNote “became the next target in the US government’s battle with social media platforms.”

“It feels like a game of whack-a-mole,” she said, “but young people will always find a way to adapt.”

Fox Business Network’s Chase Williams and Reuters contributed to this report.