TikTok users in the U.S. have only a few days left to scroll through videos before the app faces a potential ban. U.S. officials have called for TikTok to divest from its parent company, ByteDance, due to concerns over data security and its ties to China, which the U.S. government sees as a threat to American users’ privacy.
However, that plan may be backfiring, as American users are flocking to other Chinese-owned apps as alternatives to TikTok, and they are now subject to Chinese government censorship rules, with their data stored on servers in China.
One such app, Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote, has recently seen millions of Americans join. However, many are noticing the app’s censorship practices, which follow Chinese Communist Party guidelines.
RedNote blocks discussions of sensitive topics such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and the ongoing Uyghur crisis, where an estimated 800,000 to 3 million Uyghur Muslims are reportedly detained in internment camps.
Other content, like mentions of being gay or certain references to Japanese anime, has also been flagged and removed, according to CNN interviews with users.
Posts are deleted for violating community guidelines that promote adherence to the Chinese Constitution, socialism, Chinese patriotism and “the correct view of history.”
Despite these strict censorship controls, RedNote has been the top-downloaded app in the U.S. App Store since Tuesday, Jan. 14. This has raised concerns among U.S. officials.
CBS News reported that sources said RedNote could be the next app banned under the same legislation targeting TikTok’s U.S. operations.
A cybersecurity expert with Nord VPN, Adrianus Warmenhoven, interviewed by CBS explained, “RedNote was never meant for outside the China market. All of the data sharing and all the servers to which the data is being shared is in China. It means they are exempt from all of these data protections and outside of the view of the American government.”
RedNote isn’t the only Chinese-based app gaining popularity. Lemon8, also owned by ByteDance, has also been attracting U.S. users. TikTok has even promoted Lemon8 as an alternative if TikTok is banned as expected on Sunday, Jan. 19.
The law used to ban TikTok was signed by President Joe Biden in 2024. It gives Congress broad authority to force a platform to divest if its parent company is based in a “foreign adversary-controlled country” and the app has more than 1 million monthly U.S. users. RedNote would meet that criteria.
It remains unclear whether these alternative platforms, including RedNote, will remain available to U.S. users in the future or if the law will also be used to require them to divest from Chinese ownership.
