For TikTok Refugees, RedNote Spring Is Too Sweet to Last
Something bizarre and beautiful is happening as Chinese and American youth break barriers online. It’s only a matter of time before political reality bites.
The crackdown will inevitably come.
Photographer: Anna Kurth/AFP/Getty Images
I wrote about Chinese app Xiaohongshu, known as RedNote in the US, months ago because it offered a window into the trends driving Gen Z culture in China, with lessons for policymakers and business leaders from Beijing to Washington. The app is now also allowing us to watch American youth culture in action.
With the law banning TikTok set to take effect in just days, swaths of its American users have protested by joining Xiaohongshu rebelling against their government’s crackdown. US downloads of Xiaohongshu during the second week of January are up more than 30 times compared to the same period last year, and grew 20-fold on the previous week, according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower. This week, it topped the Apple and Google Play US app store charts.