With TikTok potentially leaving U.S. app stores next week, millions of scrollers and posters are looking for greener — or in this case, redder — pastures.
What happened: Chinese app Xiaohongshu, or RedNote, has topped Apple’s Canadian and U.S. App Stores as “TikTok refugees” frantically look for an alternative. The fact it’s barely been formatted for English speakers hasn’t stopped users from flocking to the platform.
- Xiaohongshu is an eclectic app, featuring video scrolling, Instagram-like picture slides, audio chatrooms, and e-commerce features.
- In addition to Xiaohongshu, four of the five top free apps on Apple’s U.S. App Store yesterday were TikTok replacements, including one from TikTok owner ByteDance.
Why it matters: If Xiaohongshu actually takes TikTok’s place, the U.S. government might be in for déjà vu. As a Chinese-owned app, it could face the same heat TikTok is currently getting under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.
- While some TikTokers have fled to Instagram, others desire platforms more like TikTok, and have even sought out other Chinese apps to spite their own government.
Zoom out: TikTok’s not dead yet. Senator Ed Markey proposed a bill to extend ByteDance’s deadline to sell the app. Meanwhile, the company is reportedly in talks with Elon Musk (who else?) to facilitate a sale that would allow TikTok to keep operating in the U.S.—QH