Over half a million ‘TikTok refugees’ flock to China's RedNote

The Manila Times

Over half a million ‘TikTok refugees’ flock to China's RedNote  New users pile in to Chinese social media app RedNote just days before a proposed US ban on the popular social media app TikTok, as the lesser-known company rushes to capitalize on the sudden influx while walking a delicate line of moderating English-language content, sources told Reuters. In a live chat dubbed 'TikTok Refugees' on RedNote on Jan. 13, 2025, more than 50,000 American and Chinese users joined the room. Such impromptu cultural exchanges were taking place all across RedNote, known in China as Xiaohongshu, as the app surged to the top of US download rankings this week. Its popularity was driven by American social media users casting about for an alternative to ByteDance-owned TikTok days ahead of its looming ban.   REUTERS / GWENNA LAITHLAND / SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITE  Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe    Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net    Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook  Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram  Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter  DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion    Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital    Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify  Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts  Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic  Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer  Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein   #TheManilaTimes #tmtnews #tiktok  #rednote

Transcript

00:00As I sit here and record this video with everyone staring at me, it's okay, because I'm one

00:05of the TikTok refugees, and I'm used to this.

00:07I just want to thank you for welcoming us to this app.

00:11If we do anything wrong, just let us know.

00:14Because we're used to making videos where we dance and do stupid stuff, or the OGs are.

00:19The new TikTok people, they're not really used to that.

00:22They're just used to pushing sales to the TikTok shop.

00:25So just tell us, and we will correct it.

00:28Just let us know, and hopefully within two weeks, we're bilingual.

00:33I mean, that's my goal in life.

00:35It would help us everywhere.

00:37But yeah, also, anything.

00:41Just let us know.

00:42Say, listen, you need to stop that.

00:44And we will do whatever you need us to do, because it doesn't look like we're going anywhere.

00:48Looks like that ban is going into effect, and I'm probably going to lose my three cents

00:52per video.

00:53But you know what?

00:54That's okay.

00:55I like you guys.

00:56You guys are awesome.

00:57So thanks.

01:01I moved because I really believe the ban is happening, where a lot of people don't believe

01:05it is, and they're still over there.

01:08But I went to Red Note because one of my friends referred me to it, and I just think it's great.

01:16I love us.

01:17I'll be honest with you.

01:18On any given day, I vacillate wildly between loving us and just hating us all.

01:26But today, today I love us.

01:27I love us especially today, because the government said we're taking away TikTok because the

01:32Chinese government having our data is a threat, to which hundreds of thousands of millennial

01:39Gen Z and Gen X Americans went, and we, myself included, downloaded an even more Chinese

01:49Chinese app and went, here's our data.

01:52Now give us the dancing cats.

01:55It's Red Note.

01:56Xiao Hong Xue.

01:57Confident I didn't say that right.

01:59But so many of us downloaded it.

02:01We crashed out their system.

02:02It can't verify users right now.

02:04It's so overwhelmed by Americans just flocking to it.

02:08I love us.

02:09Somebody asked Duolingo how many people switched to Mandarin in the last couple of days.

02:12I need to know.

02:13We, as an American public, feel so very silenced and ignored that this right here is our opportunity

02:20to really just shove a middle finger up in the air and go, no, no.

02:26We don't like this.

02:27You didn't listen to us.

02:28And if it were a problem, then Red Note would also not be available in the app stores.

02:32Timu, Sheen, all of these other apps that are directly tied to American dollars leaving

02:38American soil and being invested in the Chinese economy, all of that is sort of tied into

02:45we're sort of sick of being told what to think and how to think, but we feel rather powerless

02:52as to do anything because when we call our reps, we get ignored.

02:56When we try to vote in a way that's meaningful and impactful, we somehow end up on the wrong

03:01side.

03:02Like there's so many factors involved in downloading Red Note feels more like a quiet, passive

03:12revolt more than a, I'm going to, this is going to be my new primary platform.

03:18It's probably not.

03:19It probably isn't.

03:23I've heard about Red Note, Neptune, Blue Ski, things like that.

03:31I'm not fully sure yet.

03:35I'm not fully convinced that TikTok is getting banned yet.

03:39It's like hard to believe almost.

03:41But if it does, like all I can do is to keep doing what I'm doing, you know, I'll hop on

03:46the other apps, of course.

03:47I will keep writing, keep singing and doing what I'm doing and just going forth with that.

03:56That's all that I can really do.

03:57I just, I want to be the best that I can be.

03:59And I want to keep going no matter whether it's on TikTok or not.

04:03It'll just be like we wake up on the 20th and it either doesn't work or it still does.

04:21It's probably better for my productivity because I use it a lot.

04:25But also I know a lot of people rely on the app like influencers and a lot of brands do

04:31a lot of marketing through TikTok.

04:32And I definitely hear about a lot of like restaurants, cafes, products through TikTok.

04:38So I'm curious to see kind of what the impact would be on a lot of people that rely on that

04:43for their primary source of marketing.

04:46I use it a lot, but I use it for cooking and stuff like that, so I really like it.

04:51But besides that, I'm like, it's not really going to affect me too much.

04:55But I will be sad because I use it for everything, cleaning, cooking, how to get places,

05:00you know, that kind of stuff.

05:03I'm honestly really excited for it because I'm 24 and I feel like I kind of grew up with

05:07Instagram, TikTok, whatever.

05:08But I know it's a TikTok. There's like such a decrease in like people's kind of mental

05:12capabilities. I just saw something recently where someone was like, oh, you know, they

05:17asked like a China gen alpha person, like someone asked them how old they were.

05:20And like, I'm 25, like, oh, you're so old.

05:22And like, let's ban TikTok then because it's like such a completely accelerating brain

05:25rot. So I'm excited to see it banned, honestly.

06:00But yeah, I'm really excited for it because I feel like it's going to be a lot of fun.

06:03I'm really excited for it because I feel like it's going to be a lot of fun.

06:06I'm really excited for it because I feel like it's going to be a lot of fun.

06:08I'm really excited for it because I feel like it's going to be a lot of fun.

06:10I'm really excited for it because I feel like it's going to be a lot of fun.

06:12I'm really excited for it because I feel like it's going to be a lot of fun.

06:14I'm really excited for it because I feel like it's going to be a lot of fun.

06:16I'm really excited for it because I feel like it's going to be a lot of fun.

06:18I'm really excited for it because I feel like it's going to be a lot of fun.

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