As a potential US ban on TikTok looms, users have been flocking to download Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu, pushing the app to number one on US app stores. But what is Xiaohongshu, and is it even like TikTok?
With the US Supreme Court seeming increasingly likely to uphold a law banning TikTok over national security concerns unless parent company ByteDance sells the platform to a non China based company by 19 January 2025, many of TikTok’s 170 million US users have been preemptively downloading Xiaohongshu.
In a twist no one saw coming, content creators say they are checking out the platform as a potential alternative to share their content and maintain their communities, while others have done it to point out the irony of being able to download and use other Chinese apps just days before TikTok could be removed from US app stores.
What is Xiaohongshu?
Xiaohongshu, also known as Red or Rednote in English, began life in 2013 as an online overseas travel guide for Chinese shoppers. Often compared to Instagram (but more realistically a blend of Instagram, Pinterest, Amazon and TripAdvisor), today, the platform incorporates a range of functions, including text and image posts, videos, live streaming, and social commerce. Targeting 18-to-35-year-old Chinese urban females, the platform is known for its strong interest-based communities and high-quality, trustworthy user-generated content. It has around 300 million monthly users.
Will Xiaohongshu become more popular than TikTok?
While Xiaohongshu’s current surge in US popularity is significant, with the number of posts on the app tagged ‘#tiktokrefugee’ now well over 60,000, it is likely to be relatively short-lived. The platform was not designed with English speakers in mind (although many bilingual Chinese users have shared guides for new US users), and it will take time for creators to build up the kind of communities that they had on TikTok. Moreover, the law banning TikTok states that any “foreign adversary controlled application”, like Xiaohongshu, faces a similar ban in future. Nonetheless, the trend underscores a growing user desire for diverse social media experiences and the resilience of online communities in the face of regulatory challenges.
