TikTok refugees fled by the tens of millions to RedNote, a Chinese language app, in response to the TikTok ban, which went into impact Jan. 19, 2025. The corporate shut down the app shortly earlier than midnight on Jan. 18.
By means of cat memes, shared jokes in regards to the ban and trustworthy conversations about often prevented subjects, former TikTokers and RedNote natives are bridging years of U.S.-China digital separation. This spontaneous convergence remembers the web’s unique dream of a world village. It’s a glimmer of hope for connection and communication in a divided world.
I’m a researcher who research Chinese language and transnational digital media. I’m additionally a Chinese language one that lives within the U.S. I’ve been a RedNote person since 2014.
On Tuesday morning, Jan. 14, 2025, my typical RedNote morning scroll revealed a reworked For You Web page. Combined in with my typical TV drama, celeb and make-up content material have been new posts from self-proclaimed “TikTok refugees,” with U.S. IP addresses. As I continued scrolling, the advice algorithm flooded my feed with an increasing number of of those posts from new U.S. customers searching for to rebuild their neighborhood on RedNote.
Fast inflow
The phenomenon exploded quickly: inside 24 hours, the hashtag #TikTok Refugee# on RedNote had garnered 36.2 million views and sparked tens of millions of discussions. RedNote topped Apple’s App Retailer’s free app charts.
This cartoon posted on RedNote illustrates how native customers of the app skilled the inflow of Western TikTok customers.
screenshot by Jianqing Chen of RedNote person @蒜香排骨’s submit
In response to these TikTok refugees, with the Jan. 19, 2025, ban looming, customers feared shedding not simply their platform entry however their content material and earnings streams as effectively.
Moderately than switching to U.S.-based options like Meta’s Instagram or X, they selected to flee to a different Chinese language platform as their protest towards U.S. tech giants, whom they blamed for lobbying for the ban. Their platform of alternative was RedNote.
As a substitute of segregating customers by geographical areas with completely different variations as TikTok’s dad or mum firm, ByteDance Ltd., did, RedNote – referred to as Xiaohongshu in Chinese language – supplies entry to the identical platform globally. ByteDance is predicated in China however launched TikTok as a U.S. subsidiary in 2015. TikTok partnered with Oracle in 2022 to deal with People’ person information to deal with information safety issues. In distinction, RedNote proprietor Xingyin Data Expertise Ltd. is a Shanghai-based firm and so stays free from direct U.S. oversight.
RedNote’s world accessibility
This world accessibility aligns with the unique imaginative and prescient for Xiaohongshu. The title Little Crimson Ebook – its literal English translation – usually leads folks within the West to attract parallels with Mao’s revolutionary textual content, suggesting a communist focus. But the platform’s true aspirations couldn’t be extra completely different.
The app, created in 2013, emerged with a moderately bourgeois focus. The app’s founders, Qu Fang and Mao Wenchao, met whereas procuring within the U.S. They positioned Xiaohongshu as a platform that mixed social media, life-style content material and e-commerce, all centered round world journey and procuring.
Although RedNote has advanced to draw a broader demographic, its core person base stays worldwide college students, Chinese language abroad communities and worldwide vacationers. Its title reveals the platform’s promise to be a “red” – which means fashionable in Chinese language – information for international journey and procuring. It capabilities as each a journey bible for Chinese language vacationers and a style curator of glamorous international existence.
The app has been influential in reworking lesser-known areas into Chinese language vacationer locations. It turned Düsseldorf, Germany, right into a foodie vacation spot for Chinese language vacationers in 2023 and highlighted hip scenes and public restrooms in Paris through the 2024 Olympic video games.
For me, as a local Chinese language individual dwelling overseas, RedNote has turn out to be a necessary each day platform for looking out critiques, sharing life’s moments and staying linked with Chinese language communities. Even earlier than the TikTok refugee inflow, Xiaohongshu had attracted customers from Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and different Sinophone communities.
From memes to open dialog
A TikTok refugee pays the ‘cat tax’.
screenshot by Jianqing Chen of RedNote person Lauren Elizabeth’s submit
I nervously lurked within the dialogue sections, awaiting potential friction and conflicts between TikTok refugees and RedNote natives, or “red sweetpotatoes” as they name themselves. But the primary encounters have been surprisingly heartwarming and playful.
When TikTok refugees posted introductions with out pets, RedNote customers would reply with a meme: a cat holding a gun with the caption “Hello, I am a spy. Show me your cat.” This joke caught on rapidly. “Chinese spy” quickly grew to become one other strategy to say “Chinese friend.” TikTok refugees even requested “do you want to be my Chinese spy?” as a playful dialog starter.
The ‘I’m a spy, present me your cat’ meme on RedNote.
screenshot by Jianqing Chen of RedNote person dialog
By means of cute memes and witty jokes, each teams ridiculed the TikTok ban. They mocked how the ban twists information privateness points into dated narratives of Chilly Struggle rivalry and espionage, moderately than treating them as shared digital age challenges that each one people face collectively.
After these greetings, RedNote natives and TikTok refugees usually exchanged questions on varied subjects. A few of these subjects anxious me as a result of they may simply flip into conversation-breakers. For instance, A TikTok refugee requested about LGBTQ life in China, and a RedNote native inquired about U.S. incomes.
However as an alternative of making awkward stress as I feared, these exchanges led to significant dialog. Chinese language customers defined their questions on U.S. earnings: they have been curious as a result of Chinese language “American dreamers” – Chinese language who discuss of shifting to the U.S. – usually paint an exaggerated image of American salaries and dwelling requirements. People have been stunned to be taught that whereas same-sex marriage stays unlawful in China, town of Chengdu is called the nation’s “gay capital.”
Recalling the web’s misplaced promise
As I documented these interactions, they continued to develop and evolve. What began as textual content discussions prolonged into livestreaming conversations. This uncommon second of direct interplay between American and Chinese language social media customers reveals that they’re not as completely different as they could have thought. On-line, they have been sharing the identical pursuits: cute memes, “thirst traps” and humorous feedback. Offline, they face related each day struggles to make ends meet.
How would possibly this finish? Will TikTok refugees depart as soon as their enthusiasm fades, or will regulators from both facet step in? As somebody who has researched U.S.-China media exchanges for years, I’m struck by this second’s significance, nevertheless short-term it might be. This represents a significant reconnection between U.S. and Chinese language web customers after years of digital separation.
That separation was induced and bolstered by Google’s withdrawal from China, China’s Nice Firewall and the U.S. pressured segregation of ByteDance’s U.S. and Chinese language platforms. As well as, digital platforms and advice algorithms more and more lure folks in their very own info bubbles.
To me, the second remembers the utopian imaginative and prescient as soon as shared by California’s web pioneers and Chinese language tech innovators and customers: a digital agora and world village.
It’s additionally a silver lining within the cloud of world divides. Even in a world more and more fractured by platforms, misinformation and political divisions, surprising connections can nonetheless blossom. Seemingly unimaginable linguistic, cultural and digital divides could be crossed when folks method one another with respect, sincerity, a contact of humor – and maybe assistance from AI translators.
