Americans Flocked to RedNote as the TikTok Ban Loomed. Will the Party Last?

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The US ban on TikTok saw millions of users – predominantly Americans – flock to another Chinese social media platform: Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote. So far, the vibe between Chinese and American users has been convivial.

But can the good times last? On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha is joined by a TikTok user from Mississippi who recently joined RedNote and by Bloomberg reporter Gao Yuan to discuss what this sudden influx means for the app, its users and China’s censorship machine.

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Here is a lightly edited transcript of the conversation:

Xiaohongshu user: Hello everybody, we’re from TikTok from America… 

Xiaohongshu user: What’s up, new friends. Thanks for letting us crash the party here at “little red book”…

Xiaohongshu user: I would like to welcome all my fellow Americans to Xiahongshu…

K. Oanh Ha: Last week, as the US ban on TikTok drew closer, its 170 million American users were forced to face the fact that they might be kicked off their favorite social media app. And in a surprising turn of events, they began flocking to another Chinese social media platform: Xiaohongshu – also known as RedNote.

Xiaohongshu user: (singing)  Xiaohongshu, it’s nice to meet you. Thanks for taking me in, me and all my friends. I hope we don’t break you… 

Ha: These newcomers have come up with a name for themselves –

Xiaohongshu user: We’re all TikTok refugees…

Xiaohongshu user: TikTok refugee here…

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Xiaohongshu user: Hello to my TikTok refugees…

Ha: For those who aren’t familiar, Xiaohongshu looks a lot like Instagram. And the app is hosting almost unheard-of interactions between Chinese and American netizens.

Gao Yuan: This is probably the biggest public to public social exchange between Chinese and Americans since the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Ha: Gao Yuan is a Bloomberg technology reporter based in Singapore.

Gao: Before this saga on Xiaohongshu, we were not seeing too many opportunities for people from China and the US to directly communicate with each other. The only way for people inside China is to use VPN to get across the Great Firewall so that they can browse Google, Instagram or Facebook, and this technology is only reserved to the tech savvy.

Ha: China’s internet firewall is designed to restrict Chinese citizens’ access to any content that the government deems sensitive – and foreign websites like Google and Facebook are blocked in mainland China. The controls had effectively prevented Chinese netizens from having direct information exchange with the outside world. But now the threat of a ban on TikTok has changed all that. So many Americans are interacting with Chinese users on Xiaohongshu, and it became the most downloaded free app on iOS in the US.

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Gao: It’s the first time that people from China and the people from the US are having a chance to actually talk online to each other without any barriers.  It’s something that would excite people from China, and I believe also from the US.

Ha: This surge of TikTok exiles might on the face of it look like a good thing for Xiaohongshu. More users mean more eyeballs and traffic for the company, but all those good things come with a high degree of risk for the Chinese app.

Gao: They will need to manage the contents on the app,  and it’s going to be tough because they have never experienced this surge of non-Chinese speaking posts. If the government sees the contents on Xiaohongshu are not being properly managed, they would do something. You don’t want the government to step in and say, hey, you have to delete something that is not fitting the Chinese law.  

Ha: Welcome to the Big Take Asia from Bloomberg News. I’m Oanh Ha. Every week, we take you inside some of the world’s biggest and most powerful economies, and the markets, tycoons and businesses that drive this ever-shifting region. Today on the show – the American TikTok users jumping ship for another Chinese app – What does this mean for Xiaohongshu? And with US President Donald Trump now delaying the TikTok ban, will they stay for good? 

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Ha: In the past week, it’s estimated that Xiaohongshu has drawn millions of users ahead of the ban on TikTok. Many of them are from the US and we chatted with one of them.  

Brecken Neumann: I am Brecken Neumann. I am 31 years old and I am currently a realtor in the state of Mississippi. I’m in the city Gulfport. 

Ha: Brecken, how long have you been using TikTok?  

Neumann: Probably like five or six years. I just kind of go on there and put content every now and then. I’ve posted a couple of videos of like home tours. There was a rental that my wife and I bought that was like completely destroyed. So I did like a before and after video on there, but pretty much just like family stuff with me and my daughter, my wife, my dogs.

Ha: Oh nice. So when did you actually join Xiaohongshu?

Neumann: I joined Xiaohongshu like, it’s been like 48 hours probably. It’s only been like two days. I just was scrolling through TikTok and they were like, hey, everybody go check out RedNote. 

Ha: And what brought you there?

Neumann: To be honest, it was just the fact that it was something different. If I get on Instagram, it’s gonna be the same thing I see on Facebook here or X. I literally just wanted to join and meet people because it’s like, I don’t judge a book by its cover until I meet you, you know, I don’t listen to the government. I don’t listen to the media. I just try to put my thought process in there as well.

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Ha: And describe to me your first post on Xiaohongshu? 

Neumann: So, it is a picture of my daughter and I. It was from like a Christmas event that we went to. We were just walking around looking at Christmas lights and I just decided to post it. I was like, hello from America, nice to meet everybody. Coming over here to make friends, see cultures. And then the first family to really see it was this beautiful family that I’m now best friends with. They’re in Shanghai and their daughter’s name, I think is like Tiu Tiu. And then they were one of the first comments to ever post on that picture. So Tiu Tiu’s mother she posted a picture of her family, like an up close picture of their beautiful family, of course, and they were just saying, hello, welcome. And then after that, it just seemed like from there, everybody else was just posting family pictures and welcoming and going from there.

Ha: And that post just blew up overnight right – it made its way to X as well? 

Neumann: Yup. Someone ended up taking a picture of me and Tiu Tiu’s family, and it got onto X. I think it’s got like over eight million views right now and like I just posted it. I wasn’t expecting nothing from it. And then I get on Xiaohongshu again. And I was like, holy smokes, you know, there’s so many people commenting and liking, sharing pictures of their families, which was awesome. I think that was really great. Just seeing everybody come together. Everybody was getting emotional and everyone was, like, connected. It was crazy. I guess this is really the first time, I mean, we’ve really connected with any Chinese people to be honest.

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Ha: That’s really nice. Now, you’re posting a lot on Xiaohongshu and interacting with new friends – are you at all concerned about giving personal information to an app owned by a Chinese company?

Neumann: So the reason they’re trying to get rid of TikTok, they’re saying it’s Chinese-owned. And you know, Chinese are stealing our data. And it’s like, none of us really care because our data is being sold everywhere anyways, so it’s like we might as well continue on like we don’t worry about it.

Ha: So data security aside, what about censorship on Xiaohongshu? How familiar are you with China’s censorship system? 

Neumann: I’m not gonna lie. I don’t know too much about it. In terms of Chinese censorship, I think the only thing that I really knew not to talk about was government stuff. So I was like, let me just stay away from that in general. Right when everything started going viral, everyone’s like, hey, don’t post this. Don’t post that. Here in America, when people go to the gym, they’re like half-naked. They’re like, hey, don’t do that here, don’t post links, don’t talk about government stuff, we’re very regulated here. And I’m like, that’s perfectly fine. You know, because at the end of the day, this is your house. Like I knew for a fact of coming in, I needed to respect your culture and you as a whole.

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Ha: And I bet that’s something that Chinese users on Xiaohongshu really appreciate. Now, with so many American users on Xiaohongshu, if China were to clamp down or find a way to segregate US and Chinese users, or if – like TikTok – the US government ends up wanting to ban Xiaohongshu – how would you feel about those kinds of controls? 

Neumann: That would be a little sad, to be honest, because I’ve, I’ve talked to a couple other people about that on the app, especially, of course, like I said, I’ve been making quite a bit of friends, so it’s like that would suck to be able to, to lose that communication with them to an extent, but I mean, I’ve officially downloaded um WeChat… 

Ha: Oh really? 

Neumann:  Yeah. We’ve been connecting that way, which has been great. Tiu Tiu and her, her mother – we’re best friends now – we were already talking about visiting each other… 

Ha: Oh!

Neumann: …Or going places. They were talking about making a trip over here to America and we’re talking about going over there to China.

Ha: Wow, that’s fantastic!

Ha: Brecken says he and his family are thinking about visiting Tiu Tiu’s family in Shanghai as soon as March. He’s excited to tour the city and see China for himself. After the break – how is Xiaohongshu handling this sudden influx of American users – and will the party last? 

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Ha: To better understand how unusual this exchange is between Chinese and American users on Xiaohongshu, we talked to Gao Yuan, a Bloomberg tech reporter in Singapore.

Ha: Gao, how are you? Thanks for joining us.

Gao: I’m good. Thanks for having me. 

Ha:  Now, Gao, do you use Xiaohongshu?  

Gao: Yes, I do. Actually, it’s my guilty pleasure. I think I used it maybe too much.  Ten hours a week. 

Ha: (laughter) I know what you mean, I use it a lot too.

Ha: Xiaohongshu is known by many Americans as a Chinese equivalent of Instagram. But Gao says it’s much more than that.

Gao:  The users get all kinds of content and services from the app. They can post their travel photos, share videos, maybe find some restaurants or chat with strangers. And some people do online shopping on Xiaohongshu. So essentially, it’s a hyper combination of many functionalities that you see on many apps from X, Instagram, Clubhouse, Shein, and beyond. 

Ha: The name Xiaohongshu literally translates to “Little Red Book.” And before this app became a household name, if you asked a typical Chinese what “xiaohongshu” means, they would probably direct you to a particular little red book, entitled Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong. 

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Gao:  It’s the name of a pamphlet with scarlet red cover full of Chairman Mao Zedong’s quotes collections. It was once a bible for the communist movement during the Cultural  Revolution in China in the 1960s and ‘70s. 

Ha: Xiaohongshu’s co-founder Miranda Qu said the app was created originally to help people shop overseas. That’s according to Chinese media reports. Qu said the color red is memorable, and they wanted the app to serve as a guidebook for users, hence “little red book.” And before American users began signing up, Xiaohongshu was already popular outside of mainland China, in places like Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. And most of the app’s users are Mandarin speakers. But a lot has changed in the last week.  

Ha: Gao, when you open up your Xiaohongshu now, what does the feed show you? And what are Chinese and American users talking about?

Gao: It’s been crazy to be honest.  They have all kinds of questions asked and answered, from like, what you had for lunch to jokes, Taylor Swift, even some aliens. So all kinds of topics that you can think of. One interesting topic was the cat or dog tax. 

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Ha: Hmm?

Xiaohongshu user: Tessa, we gotta pay the cat tax for RedNote. You wanna say hi to RedNote? Say meow. (cat meows) Yeah, that’s nice, say hi to the Chinese people…

Xiaohongshu user:  RedNote, I don’t have a cat tax, but I have a pug tax. Here, check this out. This is my tax. Hello, say hello Tuffy… 

Ha: Explain that to us.

Gao:   I think Chinese people know that in America, having a pet is, very popular. They actually kind of want to see the American, family’s pets. So basically the American users on Xiaohongshu, they should pay dog or cat tax because first thing they do on Xiaohongshu once they created account is to post the photos of their pets. 

Ha: And how are Chinese users responding to these newcomers?

Xiaohongshu user: Hello, TikTok refugee from the US. Welcome to…

Xiaohongshu user: Welcome to visit China…

Xiaohongshu user: You are not just welcome here. I really, really hope you will stay. Love you… 

Gao:  The Chinese users reactions were extremely friendly and they are very accepting. I have to say most of the conversations or exchanges were very, very friendly. People did not mean any harm to each other and it’s very beautiful. 

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Ha: These exchanges haven’t been without friction. A lot of new joiners were challenged by the language barrier. Many found themselves disoriented by an entirely new social media platform. And to help them out, some Chinese users have organized live Q&A sessions for the newcomers, and they’ve been spreading guidelines in posts and comments. Top of the list of concerns: making sure new users don’t talk about sensitive topics like politics – for fear of censorship or a clampdown. Here’s one exchange from a live Q&A session where people discussed the TikTok ban –

Xiaohongshu user:  It’s a lot more than that. It’s our First Amendment right that’s at stake.  

Ha: And immediately, somebody in the room reminded them –

Xiaohongshu user: (singing) Political…

Xiaohongshu user: Yeah, I know, I’m being careful, but like, that’s kind of the main, that’s the main issue here… 

Ha: Gao, for the new users – who are overwhelmingly American, they are certainly not used to censorship – what do you think the Chinese government makes of this sudden influx of new users? 

Gao:  That’s a very good question. As the government has been always saying, the internet is not a land without law. So from China’s perspective,  the contents is the big risk for them. Remember, this is a walled garden – the internet within the borders of mainland China – so essentially, this flocks of American users from another platform somehow breaks the Great Firewall. If the wall no longer works in Xiaohongshu’s case right now, it has every reason to cause some concerns.

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Ha: It’s not yet clear how Xiaohongshu is managing this unexpected flood of TikTok converts, but there have been rumors about the company tinkering with the app’s algorithm. Word is that they’re trying to segregate American users somewhat, perhaps to forestall interference by the Chinese authorities. But it’s not just the Chinese government Xiaohongshu has to worry about. They may have to contend with what the US government might do too.

Gao:  For Washington, I think Xiaohongshu posed a series of new challenges, to the regulators in the US because this is a new app that probably they have never thought of making some changes to regulate it. As we speak, there are so many American users, registering Xiaohongshu accounts. I was told they will need to submit their phone number and email address. So, yeah, that’s some kind of sensitive information that the US government has been reluctant for its citizens to submit to other countries, especially to a Chinese company.

Ha: Now Gao, do you think this Xiaohongshu craze will last? 

Gao: To be honest, I didn’t expect this kind of free exchange could survive its first 24 hours. But it’s already been going on for days.  It’s definitely has some legs, but it’s really hard to estimate what’s going to happen next.

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Ha: Shortly after taking office on Monday, President Trump issued an order to delay the ban on TikTok for 75 days – meaning all those converts to Xiaohongshu are now able to return to TikTok. But for now, a lot of them are saying that they feel like they’ve discovered a new digital home.

Xiaohongshu user: Even with the TikTok ban being lifted in the US, I think I’m going to stick around. If you’ll let me stay…

Xiaohongshu user:  I’m staying here on RedNote. Xiaohongshu. I love the energy. I love the community. I love the vibe…

Xiaohongshu user:  I probably will stay on RedNote and also be on TikTok because they not about to play with me again, okay? Red Note, hey sister…

(Updated the transcript)

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