As the effective date of TikTok’s “Sell or Ban” bill approaches, the legal battle over this issue has entered a critical moment. According to multiple foreign media reports, many American TikTok users are turning their attention to another social app from China – Xiaohongshu.
As of noon on January 14, this application, known as the “Chinese version of Instagram”, has topped the download list of the US region of the Apple App Store, followed by Lemon8, a photo-sharing app owned by TikTok.
Bloomberg News in the United States observed that Xiaohongshu has recently welcomed a large number of new foreign users. The hashtag “Escape TikTok” has been viewed more than 25 million times. In a popular video, a creator called on all TikTok users to migrate to Xiaohongshu and said that he had adapted well to this new platform. Content creator “allieusyaps” posted that even if TikTok was banned in the United States, “I will not turn to Instagram and Facebook.”
According to Forbes magazine in the United States, users’ attention to Xiaohongshu is largely a protest against the possible ban on TikTok in the United States. For example, a user named “Jeff” on the X platform wrote: “If the US government claims that the ban on TikTok is due to data security issues, I might as well go directly to the source.” The communication atmosphere between Chinese and American users on Xiaohongshu is very friendly, and there are trends such as “helping Chinese people with English homework” and “American users learning Chinese”. An American user recorded a video using AI translation software, saying that “Americans’ support for Chinese people is far beyond your imagination.”
At the same time, Forbes observed that although platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube Shorts have been imitating TikTok’s development model and focusing on the short video field, they have not yet become the leading force in leading popular culture.
The New York Post commented that as a social application that emerged in China, Xiaohongshu’s popularity in the United States shows that users pay more attention to the quality of content and community atmosphere rather than geopolitical factors.
The newspaper also mentioned that the rapid development momentum has made Xiaohongshu favored by the capital market, raising $917 million in venture capital from investors such as Tencent, Alibaba and Sequoia China. According to Bloomberg, after completing its secondary stock offering, Xiaohongshu’s valuation reached $17 billion in 2024, with expected profits exceeding $1 billion.
Xiaohongshu topped the Apple App Store’s US download chart. Image source: X
X user “Jeff” posted, “If the US government claims that the ban on TikTok is due to data security issues, then I might as well go directly to the source.” Image source X
American Xiaohongshu users help Chinese users solve their English homework. Image source: X
Chinese and American users interact enthusiastically on Xiaohongshu
