Chinese RedNote tops US app store as American users worry about potential TikTok ban

Amid growing concerns over a potential TikTok ban in the US, Chinese social media app RedNote – the international version of Xiaohongshu – has surged in popularity, claiming the top spot on the Apple App Store's free downloads chart as of Monday night (US time). Following closely behind RedNote are TikTok's Lemon8 and OpenAI's ChatGPT.

A large group of TikTok users based in the US, calling themselves "TikTok refugees", were seen on the Chinese social media platform. Many of them posted videos in which they shared reasons for joining a platform predominantly used by Chinese-speaking users.

At the Chinese A-share market's opening on Tuesday, RedNote-related stocks surged, with companies like Foshan Yowant Technology and Inly Media Co. reaching their daily limit during pre-market bidding.

The US Supreme Court conducted a two-hour session on January 10 to deliberate TikTok's future in the US, according to an audio livestream on the court's website. On December 6, 2024, a US federal appeals court upheld a law requiring ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, to divest the app in the US by January 19, 2025, or face a ban, Reuters reported.

TikTok on December 16 requested an injunction from the US Supreme Court that would block the ban against it "until the conservative majority court rules on TikTok's legality or dismisses the case," the Forbes reported. The US Supreme Court on December 18, only two days after TikTok's petition, agreed to review the request and decide to hear arguments on January 10.

In March 2024 when some US lawmakers are voting to possibly ban TikTok, then Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a press briefing that in recent years, though the US has failed to find any evidence of TikTok posing a threat to the US national security, it has never stopped going after TikTok.

"Such practice of resorting to hegemonic moves when one could not succeed in fair competition disrupts the normal operation of businesses, undermines the confidence of international investors in the investment environment, sabotages the normal economic and trade order in the world and will eventually backfire on the US itself," Wang said.