The political drama surrounding TikTok has taken an ironic turn as US users, outraged at Washington’s attempt to ban their favorite app, have begun flocking to another Chinese offering in the name of “free speech.”
Xiaohongshu, whose name literally means “little red book” but is also known in English as RedNote, is wildly popular in its home market—one of the most censored countries in the world. This contradiction makes the app’s sudden popularity among US users both puzzling and potentially troubling for Xiaohongshu.
The platform, which does not even have an official English name, was caught off guard by the surge of “TikTok refugees” signing up to its service. Initially, the company “had no idea how to handle” the influx, as it had no capacity for censoring English content, multiple employees told Nikkei Asia.
Although US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on January 20 granting TikTok an additional 75 days before a sell-or-ban order is enforced, the fate of the viral app in the US is still up in the air, and users are continuing to throng to Xiaohongshu.
In the first two weeks of January, 22% of Xiaohongshu’s total app downloads came from the US, compared to merely 2% in the same period in 2024, according to Sensor Tower.
The data platform estimates that US mobile app downloads of Xiaohongshu between January 8 and 14 increased more than 20 times compared to the previous seven days. Over the same period, downloads of Lemon8, another social media app controlled by TikTok parent ByteDance, expanded more than 35% from the previous seven days. The two apps soon soared to the top two spots on Apple’s iPhone download charts in the US.
“I can imagine how Xiaohongshu is thinking about how to ensure they protect their Chinese user base from leaving the platform due to frustrations about the app turning into the American TikTok,” said Olivia Plotnick, founder of Wai Social, a Shanghai-based China social media agency.
“The app was not built for Western users,” she said. “It is not the Chinese version of TikTok and serves a completely different, highly valued purpose among its users.”
Existing users, half of whom were born after 1995 and around 70% of which are female, have already started complaining about the sudden flood of foreign posts. People close to Xiaohongshu told Nikkei that the company’s default algorithm is to give new users a lot of exposure, and that was why existing users were having such a dissatisfying experience.
Xiaohongshu quickly modified its algorithm last week to push less English content to Chinese users, the person added.
The company is also scrambling to comply with China’s internet regulations, including by removing many new accounts and deleting several posts.
“From Xiaohongshu’s perspective, the sudden influx of traffic may not be entirely desirable, as the platform primarily caters to Chinese users and the overseas Chinese community,” said Hu Jianlong, founder of Shenzhen consultancy Brands Factory. “This rapid surge also poses considerable regulatory challenges.”
Despite the potential for headaches, other Chinese apps are also trying to capitalize on the “TikTok refugee” trend. Baidu Maps announced on its official account on Xiaohongshu that it will launch “the first English map in China” for “dear foreign friends [to] have a happy and joyful journey in China.”
Chinese brands including beverage chains Luckin Coffee, Chagee, and Mixue Bingcheng, delivery platforms Meituan and Ele.me, e-commerce giant Taobao, and electric vehicle makers Li Auto and Xpeng Motors also embraced the wave of new US users on Xiaohongshu with English-language posts of welcome.
“Hello TT friends, this is the best EV you cannot buy in America,” Li Auto said in one such post introducing its lineup.
Washington imposes a 100% tariff on Chinese EVs, and no Chinese EV brands are currently sold in the US.
These efforts were largely met with mockery from Chinese users, who criticized the companies as “cheap” and ridiculed them for jumping. But that has not discouraged others from also seeing an opportunity.
Even financial institutions have got in on the action, with banks including China Merchants Bank, China Minsheng Bank, and China Guangfa Bank as well as brokers such as China Asset Management, Southern Asset Management, and Ant Fortune posting in English to introduce their businesses to new Xiaohongshu users.
“If played right, this could be the greatest, free ‘visit China’ tourism campaign China has ever had at a time when they have been desperately trying to boost international tourism to the country with visa-free measures,” Plotnick said.
Indeed, Xiaohongshu may have facilitated the largest civilian exchange between the US and China in decades. China has banned most US social media platforms, and while a mainland China mobile number is typically required to register for Chinese apps, Xiaohongshu is a rare exception. It is available in overseas app stores and allows users to register with foreign numbers without complying with China’s strict real-name registration system, which typically requires a Chinese ID number and sometimes facial recognition for verification to open a social media account.
The exception is related to Xiaohongshu starting off as an e-commerce platform, which is regulated slightly differently than a pure content platform. People close to the company say it has been able to maintain that exception by telling regulators that it is a good international publicity platform for China and assuring authorities that it enforces the strictest censorship among peers.
Over 30% of Xiaohongshu’s 15,000 employees, including contractors, are censors, one of the people said.
By contrast, Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese sister platform, is not available in overseas app stores and enforces real-name registration, though it does accept users with foreign mobile numbers.
A ByteDance employee told Nikkei in mid-January that the company would not launch Douyin for US users, as all entities under ByteDance are subject to the TikTok ban-or-sell law.
Xiaohongshu did not respond to Nikkei’s inquiry for comment.
Hu Wenjing, a marketing and public relations consultant with bases in both China and the US, said the influx of US users into social media is not a conventional business model, as it is driven more by geopolitical tensions and luck.
Over time, Chinese platforms may adopt various compliance strategies to better grow their overseas presence, such as separating international and domestic brands, segmenting servers or implementing IP restrictions, she said.
“While there may be a brief honeymoon period between the two cultures, the reality of cultural clashes between China and the West is inevitable. In the future, differences in perspectives, cultural tensions and conflicting values around lifestyles are likely to become increasingly apparent among users from both countries,” Hu added.
Questions have been raised about whether Xiaohongshu will launch a separate app to separate its Chinese and overseas users, but people close to the company told Nikkei that it does not currently have the capacity to do that. It would also be a risky move amid the present geopolitical tensions, they added.
“Xiaohongshu is an innovative platform without a direct US competitor, but I’m doubtful that the current buzz is sustainable,” said Jacob Cooke, co-founder and CEO of Beijing-based e-commerce consultancy WPIC Marketing and Technologies.
“Xiaohongshu could potentially serve an unfilled market niche in the US, as no US platform so seamlessly blends user-generated content with recommendations as Xiaohongshu does in China. However, Xiaohongshu will need to significantly scale in the US, and user behavior will need to evolve before it can function as more than a TikTok substitute,” he added.
And while Xiaohongshu has launched a translation function to facilitate communication between Chinese and English speakers, this method of interaction is not sustainable for most users, let alone creators who are not able to monetize their content in the same way as they can on TikTok, Plotnick said.
“It’s not a short-term solution for them. There are some brands and creators, athletes, musicians, and celebrities who can benefit in the long term if they are willing to play by the rules, but for the average user, this is not a home, it’s just a window,” she added.
This article first appeared on Nikkei Asia. It has been republished here as part of 36Kr’s ongoing partnership with Nikkei.