A Chinese social media platform has grown so popular in the US that it’s this week’s most downloaded iPhone app — and it’s become the site of a sudden East-Meets-West cultural exchange.
Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote, hit the top spot on the US Apple store’s ranking this week as a divest-or-ban law threatens to shut off American access to TikTok.
The app, commonly referred to as China’s version of Instagram, has been flooded with posts from Chinese users greeting the influx of US newcomers.
One post titled “American please help me” went viral on Monday and received over 10,000 comments after its poster, from Zhejiang, requested help with their English homework.
Other popular posts also featured users, who listed their location as being in the US, offering their assistance for Chinese users’ homework.
“Ask me any questions! I can help with your English homework, or answer questions about America (Texas). Thank you for welcoming us TikTok refugees,” one post read. Several commenters uploaded photos of English-language worksheets in response.
The surge in American users on Chinese apps has also led to a rise in the hashtag #TikTokRefugee on Xiaohongshu, with dozens of Chinese creators posting guides on how to use the platform. The hashtag itself has been viewed over 64 million times, according to data seen by Business Insider.
“If you see a video that’s downright awesome, just comment 6 or 66 or 666,” said a cowboy hat-toting user, Big Tooth Chinese Redneck, in one viral video, referencing a Chinese internet slang term.
The sudden interest in Chinese social media platforms comes as TikTok continues to challenge the divest-or-ban law that the Senate passed in April. According to the law, TikTok will have to stop operating in the US on January 19 if its Chinese-based owner, Bytedance, doesn’t sell the app.
The divest-and-ban law was passed amid widespread security concerns that the Chinese government could access user data if Bytedance continued to own the platform. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew told The Wall Street Journal in 2023 that such concerns are unfounded since the company would work with Oracle to store user data in the US.
TikTok argued its case with the Supreme Court on Friday, saying it will “go dark” in January if the court doesn’t extend its divestment deadline. The court is expected to rule on the company’s fate this week.
There’s a lot on the line for TikTok now — it lost a challenge to the law in December when it brought the case before a panel of three judges from the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
In December, President-elect Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court to pause the law until after his inauguration. Trump is set to take office on January 20.
Allowing TikTok to operate in the US is a reversal of Trump’s policy position on the company. Trump pushed for a TikTok ban in 2020 when he was still president. But more recently, the president-elect told reporters in December that he had a “warm spot” in his heart for TikTok.
Still, TikTok’s troubles have brought unexpected benefits to platforms like Xiaohongshu and Lemon8, which both surged to the top two spots on Apple app store rankings. Lemon8 is also owned by Bytedance.
Meagan Loyst, founder of the investor collective Gen Z VCs, told Business Insider on Monday that users were flocking to these platforms to protest the government’s planned TikTok ban.
“It really is just retaliation towards the government in the simplest way, but in a way that feels very native to Gen Z,” Loyst said.Representatives for TikTok and Xiaohongshu did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
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