As the clock ticks toward TikTok’s potential shutdown in the United States, millions of American content creators are exploring new digital territories. Their destination? Another Chinese social media app, Xiaohongshu—marketed in English as RedNote.
On Monday, RedNote skyrocketed to the top of the Apple App Store downloads, driven by its unique blend of Instagram’s visual appeal and Pinterest’s discovery features. The app’s Mandarin-heavy interface has done little to deter the migration, with creators and users alike diving into the platform in search of a new online home.
One prominent influencer, Jen Hamilton, known for her sharp wit and 3.9 million followers on TikTok, embraced the move with characteristic humor. “Oh, you don’t want the Chinese to have our very sensitive personal data?” she quipped in a video, mocking concerns about data privacy as she announced her switch to RedNote.
The looming TikTok ban stems from U.S. legislation passed last year, compelling ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, to either sell the app or face shutdown. The law, set to take effect this Sunday, has sparked intense debate. Critics decry it as an attack on free speech, while U.S. officials claim TikTok poses a national security risk, accusing it of enabling data collection and propaganda dissemination by Beijing—claims both ByteDance and the Chinese government vehemently deny.
For creators like Hamilton, however, the controversy is little more than background noise. “It’s impossible how little I care that the Chinese [have] my data,” she joked in her video, adding, “Come on over,” as she welcomed fellow “TikTok refugees” to RedNote.
With TikTok boasting 170 million users in the U.S., the mass migration is a significant moment in the ever-evolving social media landscape, signaling not just a platform shift but a redefinition of global digital communities.