TikTok Refugees in US Test Xi’s Firewall While Embracing Chinese

Americans embrace Xiaohongshu as act of rebellion against US
Episode opens rare channel between citizens of both nations

WATCH: Sarah Kreps of the Tech Policy Institute at Cornell University joins to discuss the complicated nature of divesting TikTok from parent company ByteDance and its impact on other social media platforms. She joins Caroline Hyde and Mike Shepard on “Bloomberg Technology” to discuss.Source: Bloomberg

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By Bloomberg News

January 16, 2025 at 10:00 AM UTC

Updated on

January 17, 2025 at 2:02 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

President Xi Jinping has touted people exchanges as the foundation of healthy US ties. A flood of TikTok “refugees” to Chinese app Xiaohongshu may test his limit for such unscripted interactions.

After the US Supreme Court signaled it was likely to uphold a law banning the popular TikTok app, some 2 million users flooded onto a platform previously little-known overseas between Monday and Wednesday, according to digital marketing agency Hennessey Digital.