Chinese social media app RedNote has jumped to the top Apple’s app store, highlighting concerns that TikTok will soon be effectively banned in the US
RedNote, or Xiaohongshu as it is known in China, is the #1 free app on the Apple app store as of Monday, followed by TikTok’s photo-sharing app Lemon8 and OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Many TikTok creators are rushing to find alternatives where they can continue to post videos while they wait to see what happens with TikTok, which faces a potential ban on January 19 in the US. The Supreme Court held oral argument last week on the April law that sets the stage for the ban, and it appeared more approves the arguments of the US government that ByteDance’s ownership of TikTok poses a national security risk.
Lawyers representing TikTok and its creators argued that the law violates protecting the free speech of millions of its users in the US.
If the Supreme Court upholds the law, third-party service providers such as Apple and Google will be fined for endorsing TikTok, effectively banning the app in the US. It is not clear whether President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on January 20, will decide to implement the law.
Some TikTok creators are making contingency plans by switching to RedNote.
One content creator, who goes by the username allieusyaps, said ua publish On Monday, he said that while it’s “okay” that TikTok could be banned in the US, he and other TikTok creators “aren’t going back to Instagram and Facebook” because they joined RedNote.
“Look, I might not have a job next week, but we’re going to learn Mandarin, baby!” user wrote.
Another TikTok creator named Krystan Walmsley published a short video that teaches people how to set up and manage their RedNote accounts.
“This app is so cute and so far so much fun,” Walmsley said.
RedNote, based in Shanghai, was founded in 2013 and has been taking on ever-increasing challenges Alibaba and Douyin, ByteDance’s version of TikTok in China, in e-commerce and social media. It had about 300 million monthly active users as of July 2024, according to a report published by the South China Morning Post.
RedNote was valued at $17 billion after raising funding in July from investors such as Boyu Capital and HongShan Capital Group, the former Chinese investment arm of Sequoia Capital, according to PitchBook. It has raised more than $900 million in total funding and has more than 2,000 employees, PitchBook said.
Representatives for RedNote and TikTok did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Watch: TikTok is considered “China’s eyes and ears in Western society”.
