RedNote: Chinese app gains users as TikTok ban looms

Chinese social media platform RedNote gained over 700,000 users in two days as the US TikTok ban draws closer. 

Reuters said US downloads rose over 200% year-over-year this week and 194% from the previous one. 

READ: Potential impacts of a TikTok ban

Lemon8, another app linked to TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, became Tuesday’s second most popular free app on the Apple App Store.

The RedNote enters more pockets worldwide

In 2013, Miranda Qu and Charlwin Mao co-founded the RedNote app in Shanghai, previously naming it the “Hong Kong Shopping Guide.”

It targeted Chinese tourists looking for recommendations outside the mainland.

Nowadays, the humble shopping guide is China’s rival to Instagram.

Its alternative name is “Xiaohongshu,” meaning “Little Red Book.”

CNN compares it to the Communist text “Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung.” 

Mao Tse-tung required every Chinese to carry the red book at all times and memorize its contents by heart. 

Nowadays, people worldwide are putting the RedNote in their pockets as it gains more downloads.

Americans like Heather Roberts joined the app to defy the United States’ upcoming TikTok ban.

“Our government is out of their minds if they think we’re going to stand for this TikTok ban,” the user told CNN.

On January 15, 2025, the terms “RedNote” and “xiaohongshu” topped Google Trends, gaining a 4,400% and 3,050% increase.

More Americans have also searched “learn Mandarin” on Google as they flock to the Chinese app.

Ivy Yang, a China tech analyst and founder of consulting firm Wavelet Strategy, commented on the sudden influx of Americans.

“[RedNote] unexpectedly created one of the most organic forms of cultural exchange between the US and China we’ve seen in recent years.”