摘要：AsianFin -- Ahead of a critical U.S. Supreme Court decision on short-video TikTok's future, many users fled the ByteDance-owned ap

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AsianFin -- Ahead of a critical U.S. Supreme Court decision on short-video TikTok's future, many users fled the ByteDance-owned app, pushing a rival Chinese social media platform to the top of Apple's U.S. charts. On Monday, Xiaohongshu, literally translated as "Little Red Book," surged to the No. 1 spot for free-to-use social platforms on the iPhone App Store.

A group of U.S. TikTok users, calling themselves "TikTok refugees," was suddenly seen on Xiaohongshu platform, known as "Red Note" in English. This week, Xiaohongshu saw a surge in new English-language content and users, with the #tiktokrefugee hashtag gaining over 25 million views.

Newcomers to Xiaohongshu are introducing themselves with posts like, "Yes, I’m from America because of the TikTok ban lol. Anybody else from America?" In the comments, users are sharing their locations from states like California, Missouri, New York, Texas, Ohio, and Colorado, with one user humorously remarking, "Lmfaooo the migration is hilarious."

Chinese netizens have reacted with a mix of amusement and confusion. One user quipped, “Why today so many English posts in my feed! Oh my eyes! I can’t read it or translate it!” Another welcomed the influx, saying, "Welcome! Finally, we break the invisible wall together!" Another commented, “Interesting. Little Red Book has become international overnight.” There are also comments like “If you had come earlier, wouldn't I have already passed the IELTS and TOEFL exams?” As English content grows, bilingual users are stepping up to assist with translations.

Interestingly, Chinese netizens are turning Red Note into another Zuoyebang app, the largest K12 online education platform in China. They uploaded English exam papers in their posts or comment section and these “TikTok refugees” are taking the initiative to write answers for them.

Unlike Tiktok, which only provides short video feeds, Xiaohongshu is more like a search engine, offering everything from life hacks to styling suggestions.

In one widely shared video, a creator encouraged fellow TikTok users to migrate to Xiaohongshu, sharing her experience on the app. Another creator used an AI translator to convey the message in Mandarin, saying, "Americans support Chinese more than you think." Other newcomers humorously lamented how they would miss their "Chinese spy" when TikTok is potentially banned in the U.S., sparking responses from Chinese users.

"The reason so many Americans are moving here is because TikTok is about to be banned in the U.S. due to concerns over data privacy, given its Chinese ownership," explained WakoGeek, a newcomer, in a video she posted on Red Note.

The U.S. Supreme Court held a two-hour hearing on January 10 regarding TikTok's future in the U.S., with a decision expected soon. On December 6, 2024, a U.S. federal appeals court upheld a law requiring ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, to divest the app in the U.S. by January 19, 2025, or face a ban.

Dakota, an Indiana resident and new user, told AsianFin that many people like her have turned to Red Note following the developments surrounding TikTok. On Red Note, Dakota posted photos of her book collections and cat.

"After opening an account on Red Note, I found it very similar to TikTok, and it's one of the few Chinese apps available on the U.S. App Store," Dakota said.

Speaking of other alternatives of TikTok app, an American user expressed dissatisfaction about Instagram, saying “Everything about it sucks. It's like a fake runway for people to show off in the reels. The vibes, the humor, the interface, everything is different. I'm gonna miss TikTok so much. Love you.”

Meanwhile, many existing users on the platform have shared videos offering English-language tutorials on how to navigate the app, which is predominantly in Mandarin. Tips include how to activate Chinese-English subtitles and use the app's translation feature to understand Chinese content. New users are welcomed with comments and helpful advice on how to use the platform. "If you’re interested, you can click the link in the comments to join a group chat," one Chinese netizen wrote.

A Chinese user, Liu, who posted some helpful tips for international users, noted that many foreigners had questions about how to use Red Note. She said sharing these tips would help newcomers use the app more effectively and avoid inappropriate content.

"The fundamental principle of communication is openness and inclusiveness. We also hope that they will bring their perspectives on China, allowing us a chance for fair communication," Liu said.

Vladdy, another new comer, told AsianFin that she is willing to learn Chinese to better use the app, adding that studying the language is now on her to-do list for 2025.

As of the latest reports, Red Note ranks first among U.S. social networking apps in the App Store. Many newcomers have expressed their apologies for not knowing Mandarin and promised to take Chinese language lessons.

"I would love to interact with both Chinese and U.S. users. One thing I hope to see is an in-app translation feature for comments," Dakota said. She also noted the shopping feature in the app and hopes it will be available to international users in the future.

In March 2024, China’s Foreign Ministry stated that the proposed TikTok ban puts the U.S. government in opposition to the principles of fair competition and international economic rules.

If so-called 'national security' concerns can be used to arbitrarily suppress other countries' leading companies, there is no fairness or justice left. It’s entirely the logic of a robber when one seeks to take something good from another, the ministry said. The ministry pointed out that the U.S.'s handling of TikTok will reveal whether its so-called "rules" and "order" benefit the world or only serve U.S. interests.

According to The New York Times, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump may attempt to "rescue" TikTok, which boasts 170 million U.S. users, though the law is set to take effect the day before his inauguration.

"We're still hoping for a miracle, and even if the ban doesn't happen, I’d still love to stay on Red Note," Dakota said. "The Chinese people here are so kind, and I wouldn't want to leave such a wonderful community."

Alongside ByteDance, Xiaohongshu remains one of the few major Chinese tech unicorns yet to go public. Backed by China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and venture capital firm HongShan, the app is projected to double its net profit to over $1 billion in 2024, according to Bloomberg News.

The booming traffic has catapulted Xiaohongshu to the top of the social media download rankings in the U.S. App Store. Following closely behind are some emerging apps, along with some familiar old products.

Lemon8, ByteDance's social app launched overseas, is focusing on sharing and recommending products. It was first introduced in Japan as "Sharee" in May 2020, and it launched in the U.S. and Britain in February 2023. Through influencer marketing campaigns, it quickly reached the top of the U.S. App Store download charts.

In recent weeks, Lemon8 has been promoting its app to TikTok users by sponsoring TikTok short videos, guiding TikTok users to migrate to its platform.

Industry insiders said that Lemon8's advertisements are part of TikTok's early promotional campaign, and ByteDance is now re-promoting it to increase Lemon8's registration numbers before the ban takes effect.

ByteDance’s earlier preparations began in November 2024 when it integrated Lemon8 with the TikTok account system, allowing TikTok user profiles and data to be directly used on Lemon8, ensuring seamless migration of users between the two apps.

According to estimates by Sensor Tower, Lemon8's global downloads surged 150% in December 2024, with the U.S. users accounting for 70% of the downloads in that month.

Migrating users to Lemon8 may be ByteDance’s "self-rescue" or alternative plan in response to the crisis, but it also indicates that ByteDance is not willing to give up the U.S. market.

Other products from Chinese companies that have performed well on the download charts include ReelShort, a short video platform launched overseas by Fengye Interactive under COL, a leading Chinese digital culture content group. It launched in August 2022, and by December 2024, its downloads surpassed 100 million, with a near 10-fold jump in downloads between 2023 and 2024.

Surprisingly, Threads also ranks highly on the list. This was a product that Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg launched in response to the stiff competition following Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter, with hopes of making significant changes to the platform.

However, after Musk rebranded Twitter as X, Threads faded from the center of the discussion, with its downloads and activity plummeting.

Meanwhile, users in the U.S. have made the situation a cause for celebration, particularly in China.

AsianFin observed that some official corporate accounts on Xiaohongshu have also jumped on the bandwagon.

Earlier, Elizabeth Prelogar, Deputy Attorney General of the United States, signed a bipartisan law that requires TikTok to be divested from ByteDance or shut down by January 19, immediately before Trump is sworn in on January 20. This bipartisan bill targeting TikTok is called the "Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act."

ByteDance has made it clear that it will not sell TikTok. The alternative seems to be "ban or sell," which suggests TikTok may be heading toward closure.

The public has grown inclined to believe that TikTok could soon be banned in the U.S. Market data shows a 72% chance that TikTok will be banned nationwide by May.

Starting from January 20, any updates to "foreign adversary-controlled applications" in U.S. app stores will be illegal, including the App Store and Google Play.

But why Xiaohongshu? This remains quite puzzling.

After all, apart from the direct economic losses suffered by TikTok creators and businesses due to the ban, many regular users worried about not being able to surf the internet for fun are not left with nowhere to go.

The U.S. market is not short of powerful, widely used, and diverse social networking platforms.

Apart from Facebook, which has over three billion monthly active users worldwide, Instagram, which targets younger users, has two billion monthly active users globally. Additionally, Snapchat, which started as a social app for Gen Z, has also surpassed 850 million monthly active users.

For those who enjoy short video products, YouTube Shorts (over two billion MAUs) and Instagram Reels (over 1.5 billion MAUs), both launched in response to TikTok, have extensive content matrices.

Meanwhile, Xiaohongshu has not taken an aggressive international expansion strategy.

Xiaohongshu has not yet publicly disclosed its performance in international markets, and the company has remained relatively low-key regarding internationalization.

In terms of functionality and content form, the differences between Xiaohongshu and TikTok are vast. TikTok focuses on entertainment, with an emphasis on short videos and live streaming, attracting young users with creativity and visual impact; while Xiaohongshu focuses on social interaction and content sharing, primarily featuring image-text posts supplemented by short videos. As of the press time, the translation function is still available on Xiaohongshu.

However, there is a more convincing perspective. Social networks like Facebook, Instagram, and X have long-established user groups, and their product models mainly focus on user subscription, with AI not initially involved in social relationships and content distribution.

TikTok, however, uses a unique AI-driven algorithm for traffic distribution, which not only disrupted the global tech industry but also carved out a place for itself despite fierce competition from giants like Meta. It has enabled ordinary people to dream of becoming internet celebrities and to have the possibility of a "change of fate" or overnight success in the cyber world.

In other words, the AI algorithm-driven traffic mechanism, which has been widely criticized, has become an advantage that users are reluctant to give up.

TikTok has leveraged this mechanism to gain over 170 million monthly active users in the US, more than half of the US population, with an average user session length approaching one hour. Globally, TikTok has 1.5 billion monthly active users and ranks fifth globally.

Another important factor is that TikTok's commercialization is relatively innovative compared to Meta and others. In addition to ad revenue, TikTok's e-commerce platform, TikTok Shop, has rapidly expanded globally, covering Southeast Asia, six countries, as well as the UK and the US.

Since Trump attempted to ban TikTok during his first term in 2020, the fate of the app in the U.S. market has been like a four-year-long drama, with constant twists and turns.

Last month, Trump urged the Supreme Court to block the law targeting TikTok, saying he wanted to "negotiate a solution," urging the court to suspend the TikTok ban law so that he could resolve the issue through "political means" after taking office.

However, the US Department of Justice later sent a letter to the Supreme Court requesting that the Justices reject Trump's request.

It is important to note that even if the court eventually enforces the ban, Trump could still find ways to save TikTok after taking office.

For example, he could use presidential executive powers to delay the ban's implementation. If TikTok shows it is in the process of separating from ByteDance, the president could suspend the ban for 90 days, meaning Trump could delay the ban even on day one of the White House.. Additionally, he could push Congress to modify or repeal the law, and he could also unilaterally declare that TikTok complies with the law.

The issue is that Trump may not have time to save TikTok, and these proposals could face challenges from various parties, including the Supreme Court.

来源：钛媒体