US TikTok refugees flee to the Chinese app Xiaohongshu
While the United States decides whether to ban the platform, China must manage the flood of Western users on its alternative, the Little Red Book where there’s fun to be had with cultural crossover
When U.S. authorities decided to ban the video app TikTok, citing national security concerns, they probably did not imagine that thousands of users would seek refuge in another Chinese platform — Xiaohongshu, which in Mandarin means “little red book.” Virtually unknown outside China until mid-January, the app has reached the top of the Apple Store’s download chart in the U.S. The move is a kind of revenge on the part of many American content creators, outraged at the foreseeable imminent closure of TikTok on U.S. soil. The U.S. Supreme Court must rule on whether to uphold the law stipulating that the crown jewel of the Chinese technology company ByteDance must disassociate itself from its parent company by January 19, or cease to operate in the country.
Xiaohongshu is one of the most popular social networks among young urban Chinese, with 300 million active users every month, 79% of whom are female. It debuted in 2013 as a review app, with its name acting as a sort of ode to capitalism far removed from the ideals found in Mao’s Little Red Book. The reference to Mao’s Little Red Book has done nothing to put American TikTokers off, who call the social network RedNote or simply Red. The app is a mix of Instagram, Pinterest and Tripadvisor; it shares both photos and short videos as well as text-based posts, and recommends restaurants, tourist destinations, exhibitions, movies and recipes. It also has tips on fashion, makeup and gym and skincare routines. Since the pandemic, it has become the default internet search engine used by many Chinese women.
The flood of Americans on Xiaohongshu has been greeted with the hashtag #TikTok refugees, which triggered more than 5.5 million comments and nearly 250 million views. “Why are there so many laowai [Chinese term for foreigners] around here, did I get the wrong app?” many users ask. “Hey American friends, can anyone help me with my English homework?” is one of the most repeated jokes in the last few hours.
Generally, Chinese apps that go international create separate versions for domestic and foreign markets due to differences in content regulations — in China, many topics face heavy censorship. Then there’s data security and privacy protection policies pertaining to different countries. This is the case with TikTok itself, which is available in more than 150 countries, but not in China, where Douyin is used. And this is why the tsunami of Western faces on Xiaohongshu, which does not have an international version, has taken Chinese users completely by surprise.
“Many of you are wondering what we are doing here, why there are so many Americans,” begins TikToker @Definitelynotchippy in a video posted on Xiaohongshu. This content creator, who has half a million followers on TikTok, explains: “Our government is telling us that they are banning TikTok is because they’re insisting that it’s owned by you guys, the Chinese people, government, whatever. And they’re trying to make us think that you guys are bad. A lot of us are smarter than that though so we decided to piss off our government and download an actual Chinese app.”
According to sources quoted by Reuters, in just two days, Xiaohongshu has registered more than 700,000 new users. Although the sudden migration of U.S. TikTokers is making headlines, it is still difficult to quantify. Some analysts believe that it is probably a small fraction of the 170 million users that TikTok has in the U.S. — almost half of the country’s population. It also remains to be seen how long the fad will last, as Xiaohongshu is not a social network designed for foreign audiences. In China, where access to applications such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and a very long etcetera is highly restricted, there exists a specific ecosystem of platforms, whose use is not particularly intuitive for Western users, much less for those who do not live there.
“I have never had such a good time on Xiaohongshu,” a 30-something Beijing-based man who prefers to remain anonymous tells EL PAÍS. “I love this atmosphere where Chinese and Americans are constantly interacting. The world is really beautiful, it’s like watching a garden blooming.”
But the increase in foreign users also poses a challenge for Xiaohongshu itself because, as the volume of foreign-language content grows, the pressure on the app’s review and moderation systems increases. It also remains to be seen whether Xiaohongshu, on its own or at the behest of regulators in Beijing, will limit foreign users’ access to the platform. Another question thrown up by the trend is whether the algorithm will treat all users equally and whether communication will be seamless. “We want to be respectful of your community. We want to be good guests,” some U.S. users comment.
Hu Xijin, former editor-in-chief of the pro-government Global Times and one of China’s top opinion columnists, has already spoken out: “This development should not be viewed primarily as a risk but as a rare opportunity. Our initial response should be to welcome TikTok refugees into China’s Xiaohongshu with an open mindset rather than being intimidated by the overwhelming wave of ‘refugees,’” he posted on his personal blog. “In my personal view, the most appropriate response is to go with the flow, expand and strengthen our adaptability, and move towards becoming the center of the virtual internet world.”
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