This photo taken on Aug. 21, 2020 shows a logo of TikTok's Los Angeles Office in Culver City, Los Angeles County, the United States. (Xinhua)

It may well be a shock to U.S. legislators who voted a ban on TikTok and the Supreme Court justices who upheld the ban that thousands of TikTok subscribers are fleeing to another Chinese online platform, Xiaohongshu, or RedNote.  

Reuters reported that more than 700,000 people had joined RedNote in just two days – even before the Supreme Court decision.  The New York Times reported that 100,000 former TikTok users have joined a live group chat called the Tiktok Refugee Club, and many of those have turned to RedNote. 

Obviously, there is little concern among TikTok users about the allegations that China is using the app to spy on them. Instead, there is a lot of anger over the ban. Many of those who switched to RedNote are expressing their disdain for Congress’ decision on the alleged “China threat.” For many Americans, TikTok was one of the most prominent social media websites and many were dependent on it for their livelihood.  

A 2023 study reported that 23 million make an income through TikTok. Of those, nearly 44 percent, or around 11.6 million people, say the work they do through social media is their full-time job. The ban will be taking a heavy economic toll on a lot of people. All in all, TikTok had 170 million users, nearly half the U.S. population. 

The TikTokers exodus to RedNote may be a dilemma for the China hawks on Capitol Hill. Many of their own constituents have ignored the overly dramatic “cries of alarm” about the app.  

The U.S. Congress last year voted for a ban on TikTok because it is owned by Chinese company ByteDance. The ultimatum was either ByteDance sell TikTok or the app would be banned in the U.S. from January 20. ByteDance refused and there was some push-back by some Democrats in the Senate, and even President Donald Trump, trying to delay the ban.   

There is a clear realization among many that the large number of TikTok users, including members of Congress, means such a measure, based on tenuous claims, could backfire politically. TikTok is especially popular among young people, as it allows them to bring their activities to a larger public. These youth were a key constituency for both parties in last year’s presidential election. Now they can directly communicate with their Chinese counterparts on RedNote and see the real China and Chinese, without the U.S. media and political filters. 

TikTok challenged the law in court on the basis that it was a violation of the free speech amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The case went to the Supreme Court which ruled on January 17, upholding the legislation. The judges said “national security concerns” outweigh the free speech concerns.  

The final decision now lies with the new president. Trump had indicated his opposition to banning TikTok, which he himself used effectively during his presidential campaign, as did his opponent, Kamala Harris, but there will no doubt be a pushback from the military-industrial complex on the matter. It will be a question of whether the president is willing to ignore their claims and try to save TikTok.  

RedNote will no doubt also come under fire from Congress. Its developers never intended it to be used by any other than the Chinese but the furor over TikTok has made it into a major item of interest for Americans. It also clearly indicates that a good portion of the population is not at all happy with the growing anti-China mood on Capitol Hill.  

The initial contacts on RedNote between the Chinese users and the new TikTok refugees have been very friendly. These social media apps have in fact become an important element in people-to-people relationships, underpinning the goodwill between the U.S. and China.  

As controversies grow over trade and technology issues, Congress should allow people-to-people relationships online to flourish in order to avoid these controversies from leading to conflict. 

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William Jones is a former Washington bureau chief of Executive Intelligence Review and a non-resident fellow of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies Renmin University of China.