Former Washington Post employee Taylor Lorenz and millions of others have migrated from TikTok to Xiaohongshu, another Chinese-owned app, as users await a Supreme Court ruling on TikTok’s legality in the United States.
Xiaohongshu, which means “little red book” in Mandarin, climbed to the top spot on Apple’s App Store rankings Monday, coinciding with the court’s upcoming decision on whether TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, must sell the platform to continue U.S. operations.
“Long live China,” Lorenz wrote in Mandarin.
中国万岁
— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) January 13, 2025
The app, whose title is an apparent reference to Mao Zedong’s “Little Red Book,” is widely referred to as “RedNote” among English-speaking users. Like TikTok, Xiaohongshu features lifestyle, comedy, and educational content, as well as an e-commerce platform — though it is primarily designed for and populated by Chinese users.
Lorenz called Xiaohongshu “the hottest new social app in America” in a post on Monday, sharing photos of herself captioned with Mandarin characters.
Follow me on Rednote, the hottest new social app in America!! https://t.co/aC1ioGTnVxpic.twitter.com/8OepWy1wBJ
— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) January 13, 2025
Some existing Xiaohongshu users have welcomed the “TikTok refugees,” even offering Chinese language advice to English-speaking users who struggle to navigate the site due to its predominately Mandarin-speaking user base.
“Welcome refugees! First, I want to say welcome, whatever race you are, what country you’re from, what language you speak — you are all welcome to RedNote,” a Chinese user, Rennnnn, said in a video posted to the platform. “I know there’s a lot of inconvenience on searching or finding what you like, since it’s all Chinese character[s]. So I’m gonna start making videos today about learning some Chinese keywords so you can learn the platform a lot easier, having a way better time on RedNote.”
This is the funniest thing to happen with the TikTok ban. TikTok refugees are flocking to an actual Chinese owned clone of TikTok called RedNote rather than use Meta or YouTube to the point it’s #1 on the AppStore now. It’s wild. Everyone is learning mandarin. Existing users are… pic.twitter.com/yuu0a7uiun
— Zac Bowling 🥑 (@zbowling) January 13, 2025
The Supreme Court will decide on Jan. 19 whether to uphold a law that would force ByteDance to disinvest in TikTok and penalize third-party platforms like Apple and Google for hosting the app. If upheld, the law would effectively bar the app from operating in the United States. It is unclear whether President-elect Donald Trump, who assumes office the following day, would enforce the law.
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