Over the weekend, there was confusion when TikTok briefly went offline, only to return shortly thereafter amid its still-uncertain future. Now, another Chinese app, Xiaohongshu—or RedNote in the U.S.—has capitalized on the opportunity, rising to the number one spot in both the Apple and Google Play app stores.
The Chinese company has launched an active influencer campaign in the U.S. to increase its presence in the market. Wired obtained a copy of the campaign brief. It included hiring a New York-based marketing agency to recruit American social media influencers.
According to the campaign, RedNote paid U.S. influencers to promote the app as “fun and engaging” and encouraged them to highlight its “international appeal.” RedNote also instructed influencers to share their accounts and urge their followers to join them on the platform.
RedNote, based in Shanghai, has been around for more than a decade. Predominantly marketed in China, RedNote operates primarily in Mandarin.
Last week, Straight Arrow News reported on some U.S. users’ concerns about censorship on the app. It aligns with the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) restrictions on free speech.
For lawmakers, the TikTok ban seems to be backfiring. Many Americans are flocking to other Chinese-owned apps despite concerns about security risks posed by their CCP ties.
Under the law that could ban TikTok, Congress can force a platform to divest if its parent company is based in a “foreign adversary-controlled country” and the app has more than a million monthly U.S. users.
RedNote would easily meet that criteria. Analytics firm SimilarWeb reported on X that RedNote’s daily active U.S. iPhone users surged to 1.8 million on Jan. 13.
It remains unclear whether TikTok’s alternative platforms will continue to be available for U.S. users, given the new law banning foreign apps in the country.
