Manimatana Lee spent the past five years building one of the hottest commodities on the internet: a group of people who reliably watch her videos on TikTok. She built an audience of nearly 10,000 followers with videos of herself vacuuming her house in Wisconsin while her youngest daughter napped in a carrier on her back. A video of Lee dancing and doing the dishes – while wearing her sleeping baby – has been watched more than 1 million times since Nov.
Now, with Supreme Court soon to rule in a case that could determine whether TikTok could be banned in the US over security concerns, Lee and other Americans looking for alternatives are downloading Xiaohongshu, a social media app that is popular in China and little known outside the country. “How funny would it be if they ban TikTok and we all just move over to this Chinese app,” Lee wrote Monday on TikTok encouraging her followers to join her.
Xiaohongshu was the most downloaded free app in the US Apple store on Tuesday. Over 300 million people, mostly in China, use the app, where they share short videos as well as still, text-based posts. People flocking to it said, in interviews and on the app, that they wanted to show they do not share Washington’s concerns about TikTok’s ties to China.
TikTok, which is available in more than 150 countries but not China, is owned by the Chinese internet company ByteDance. American creators who post videos on TikTok say the app has been a source of connection, entertainment and information since it became a sensation during the Covid-19 pandemic. Its secret sauce is its proprietary algorithm, technology that recommends a constant stream of short videos targeted to keep people scrolling.
But lawmakers in the US and other countries have warned that the Chinese govt could use TikTok to access data about its users. Officials in Washington say they are also concerned that China could use TikTok to spread false information among the 170 million American users.
Xiaohongshu means “little red book” in Mandarin. Americans new to the app said they were not put off by the reference to a book of Mao Zedong’s sayings. Many call the app “Red Note.” “I don’t really care if I’m using a Chinese app at all,” said Lee. “If it’s making me feel good, I’m here for it.” A group of American creators have sued the govt over the law that could see the TikTok app forcibly sold or banned in the US, and TikTok is paying their legal fees. Lee and another creator said in interviews that interest in Xiaohongshu hadn’t been incentivised by either firm. TikTok and Xiaohongshu didn’t comment.
Americans on Xiaohongshu have rallied under the hashtag “TikTokrefugee”, which had been viewed 100 million times and sparked around 2.5 million discussion threads on the app by Tuesday. Joining the app has put American users in closer contact with people online in China than they have ever been on TikTok. Many shared tips on how to navigate the app, which is mainly made for and used by people who read and speak Mandarin. Some took screenshots and asked ChatGPT to translate posts, they said.
