this post was submitted on 15 Jan 2025
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Americans are joining the Chinese social media app en masse to protest an imminent TikTok ban.

  • American users have flocked to Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu in defiance of security warnings.
  • Chinese and American users have engaged in surprisingly friendly conversations about each other’s lives.
  • The influx of American users could burden Xiaohongshu’s censorship mechanism, experts say.
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[–] Boomkop3@reddthat.com 63 points 6 days ago (3 children)

I've seen a bunch of companies claiming us users are flocking to them. I guess we shall see where users end up

[–] CameronDev@programming.dev 38 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Yeah, this honestly sounds like a press release with made up "users". Definitely part of a marketing campaign.

[–] alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml 68 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

Everyone I followed on tiktok said they're going to Rednote, and my FYP on rednote is extremely active with tiktok refugees. It's also been the number 1 app on both apple and chrome for 3 days. The users are very real.

[–] Enkers@sh.itjust.works 28 points 5 days ago

That picture is amazing, lol.

[–] ByteJunk@lemmy.world 7 points 4 days ago

Ahahah the eagle with the cat, that's hilarious

[–] sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml 31 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (6 children)

Nah, I am on xiaohongshu. Its fucking crazy. Most of the mandarin speaking audience woke up to their app filled with english. There is a running joke on the site now about US citizens "colonizing" the app. It is silly and in good fun but I cannot stress enough how real the influx of users is. Some brits are even moving there because so many Americans they follow did. I have seen multiple chinese citizens have their account jump from a few hundred followers to 30k in an hour or two. I mean you can hop on and see for yourself, it is free. It has actually been really wholesome so far and I hope the vibes continue to be good.

[–] CameronDev@programming.dev 16 points 5 days ago (7 children)

With all due respect, this comment is exactly what a faked "Grass roots marketing campaign" would write. But your account has an extensive post history, so thats a lot more effort than a typical astro turf account.

Also, inflating subscriber numbers and view counts wouldn't be out of the question either, remember Facebook video...

[–] sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml 26 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (11 children)

I just talk like that. Is it so hard to believe that there are plenty of Americans who would flock to a genuinely chinese owned social media out of spite or just bc it is funny? I haven't even seen an ad on the site so I don't think they are making enough money to astroturf nor can I find a reason why they'd want to.

[–] dreadbeef@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Id question the intelligence of anyone who used any app specifically because of a country associated with it when it's not an app about countries. Going to Chinese apps just because TikTok gets banned is kinda silly imo, but then again I don't use state-sponsored social media like TikTok or instagram etc

[–] NuclearDolphin@lemmy.ml 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

The whole point is to say fuck you to America for banning their app

[–] dreadbeef@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

You can say fuck you to America without supporting other capitalist or otherwise authoritarian nations, and instead support anti capitalism by using decentralized networks. I won't slurp on Winnie's hunny pot to say fuck you to Uncle Sam, but you do you lemmy.ml

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[–] Kalysta@lemm.ee 3 points 4 days ago

I am 100% seeing the same thing over there. It’s not astroturfed. A popular tiktoker got the idea and we’re all hopping over to say fuck you to the government.

And have all been shocked to find a very sweet, wholesome experience.

[–] priapus@sh.itjust.works 6 points 5 days ago

a company that now owns the most talked about app online is not astro turfing on Lemmy.

[–] unphazed@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Signed up myself. Still rebuilding my FYP. Most US users I've seen are TikTok refugees. It picks up quickly though. I see less and less Chinese users and more and more US. Pearlmania is on there, Tizzyent (still kinda unsure if that's a good thing). It's happening.

[–] CameronDev@programming.dev 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Would be interesting to see if the Chinese and US communities eventually separate entirely, or if there will remain some significant cross over between them. The article implied significant cross over, but your experience so far seems less so?

[–] unphazed@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago

Oh the algorithm is very very intuitive. It isn't taking long to connect me with content I like. The Chinese videos are definitely there, but the app is learning and adapting quickly as US content is flooding in

My roommate mentioned it a few days ago, and I found out this evening that her and her girlfriend are both using it. While it may have started off as an astroturf, it's legit now.

[–] alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml 4 points 5 days ago

Just check it out, the volume of engagement is massive enough the FYP page can get very specific and very recent.

There's even a few Australians like "Yeah, they're not gonna ban the app, but here's a kangaroo"

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[–] Chozo@fedia.io 13 points 5 days ago (7 children)

RedNote is seeing the largest influx of new users right now. There's a few other TikTok-like apps that are also seeing some bumps, but RedNote is soaring.

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[–] CosmoNova@lemmy.world 6 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Most likely banned because the rules on that app are insane. It’s made for chinese people abroad and the chinese government does not want a bunch of foreigners there anyway.

[–] alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml 14 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (10 children)

It seems similar to tiktok; nudity is not OK, but sex-adjacent stuff like bondage is just fine. Art is fine as long as the genitals and nips are censored.

If anything, the chinese government should be thrilled by the idea of Americans seeing that chinese people are just like them and learning first-hand that 90% of what they thought they knew about China was just racism and western propaganda.

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