1-minute News | TikTok refugee's coming! Xiaohongshu becomes No.1 app in North America

Under the looming cloud of the TikTok ban in the United States, an unexpected wave of digital migration is unfolding. Many users of Xiaohongshu opened the app this morning only to find a significant increase in foreign users on their homepages, humorously referring to themselves as "TikTok Refugees." They flooded into Xiaohongshu, dubbing it a safe haven after the ban on TikTok, catapulting Xiaohongshu to the top downloaded app in North America overnight.

On Jan. 10 this year, the U.S. Supreme Court held an oral argument on the "sell or ban" case concerning TikTok. Despite TikTok's strong advocacy efforts, a majority of justices still appeared inclined to support the ban, putting TikTok at risk of being shut down nationwide on Jan. 19. This news has left TikTok's 170 million American users in a state of panic, prompting them to seek out new social platforms.

A number of TikTok users see downloading and using Chinese social media Xiaohongshu as a form of protest against the U.S. government. Many TikTok users scoff at the U.S. government's claim that TikTok "collects user data, threatening national security," believing that the government's move to ban TikTok undoubtedly violates the Second Amendment of the Constitution. Some internet users also point out that the U.S. government allocated billions of dollars this year specifically for anti-China propaganda, yet is reluctant to truly invest taxpayers' money in the taxpayers themselves.

A large number of dissatisfied "refugees" are freely expressing their opinions on Xiaohongshu, some even starting to learn Chinese to integrate into the Xiaohongshu community. Familiar foreign users in China have begun introducing "refugees" to popular Chinese internet slang, and many English-speaking Chinese bloggers have shown kindness to the "digital refugees." For a moment, Xiaohongshu, a domestically developed app, has gathered users from all over the world. Many "refugees" even jest that the time difference between China and the U.S. allows for each group to have their "own turf": when Chinese users are online, the "refugees" are asleep, and when the "refugees" are online, Chinese users are already in dreamland.

Currently, Xiaohongshu's technical team is working around the clock to build English language capabilities.

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