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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[–] LouNeko@lemmy.world 11 points 1 hour ago

😳😳😳 Westerners not voluntarily giving personal information to the Chinese government for 5 seconds [Challenge Impossible (They caught us)] 😵😵‍💫😧

[–] Murvel@lemm.ee 5 points 1 hour ago

Replacing one Chinese Spyware app with another. Lmao, it's just so funny to me.

[–] callmepk@lemmy.world 35 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (3 children)

I saw people in some Chinese source saying XiaoHongShu is updating the algorithm to segregate Chinese users and foreign users (image 1) and hiring English Post Inspectors (image 2) to moderate English contents due to China’s policy

Image 1:

Image 2:

It’s kind of like why there are Weixin and WeChat, Douyin and TikTok, Taobao and AliExpress, Pinduoduo and Temu

[–] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 26 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

When I saw the headline, this was my first thought.

But damn, it could have been something cool if reality wasn't so fucking predictable and ugly.

I mean, imagine a reality where a bunch of humans end up using the same service like that, between two countries at odds, and they realize that they have a lot more in common than they thought possible. It could be a bridge that changes a world.

Well, that world, because it sure as hell isn't the one we're in

[–] callmepk@lemmy.world 36 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

I mean, imagine a reality where a bunch of humans end up using the same service like that, between two countries at odds, and they realize that they have a lot more in common than they thought possible. It could be a bridge that changes a world.

The answer is Fediverse. From last time I checked while I am in Mainland China, lemmy.world is not banned (yet lemmy.ml is banned lol)

I am also able to use my own Mastodon instance in Mainland China.

Fediverse is the key and tool to break the Great Firewall.

[–] paraphrand@lemmy.world 20 points 4 hours ago

Until they turn their gaze to it. I’m sure it’s trivial to block and monitor due to the federated/networked nature.

[–] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 17 points 4 hours ago

Let's hope it stays that way :)

We don't get to actually interact much with chinese people in China, here in the states. The more all us regular people can get to know each other, the more chance we have of maybe breaking down the artificial barriers that keep us locked into our own worlds

[–] alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml 10 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

I mean, imagine a reality where a bunch of humans end up using the same service like that, between two countries at odds, and they realize that they have a lot more in common than they thought possible. It could be a bridge that changes a world.

There's a lot of users expressing as much:

[–] ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 hour ago

[Winds of Change by Scorpions playing loudly]

[–] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 3 points 4 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Squizzy@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago

The liberation of humanity comment is worrying

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[–] devfuuu@lemmy.world 12 points 4 hours ago

People really are that dumb. We really deserve everything we have.

[–] Boomkop3@reddthat.com 31 points 5 hours ago (9 children)

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

[–] Chozo@fedia.io 5 points 2 hours ago (3 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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[–] CameronDev@programming.dev 28 points 5 hours ago (3 children)

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

[–] alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml 29 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 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 7 points 4 hours ago

That picture is amazing, lol.

[–] sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml 14 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (3 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 14 points 5 hours ago (3 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 14 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (2 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.

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

I dont mean that your tone is bot like or anything, just that they would want authentic voices.

I do find it hard to beleive, because look at the reddit and twitter transitions. They either took years (bluesky is only barely starting to gain notability, and I'm not convinced that isn't also doing astroturfing) or never happened (Lemmy userbase is a rounding error). Getting people to switch social media is very difficult. And tiktok isnt even banned yet.

Also, just because there are no ads, doesn't mean that no one is propping up the business. Someone is paying to keep the servers running and lights on, and an astro turfing campaign isnt that expensive. Social media companies either grow or die.

So if your liking this new site, power to you, but I suggest you enjoy it while it lasts, because its going to have to become profitable somehow, and that is never good for the users.

[–] sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 minutes ago

Remember that twiiter was not up against a deadline. There was no reason to move to move quickly.

We just had a supreme Court hearing on tiktok yesterday and it didn't look good for tiktok. That's why this is more sudden.

Why RedNote instead of loops.video or something? I'm not sure how the influencers decided to go there. Maybe that's your conspiracy. Or maybe one person thought of migrating to another Chinese app as protest and other people copied them

[–] alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Also, just because there are no ads, doesn’t mean that no one is propping up the business.

There is a shopping tab, and ads are allowed as long as it's declared I think. Undeclared sponsored content gets bans.

[–] dreadbeef@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 3 hours ago

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

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.

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[–] takeda@lemm.ee 5 points 4 hours ago (2 children)
[–] jaschen@lemm.ee 1 points 18 minutes ago (1 children)

How do you actually sign up? I tried and it said it will send me an email and that's it.

[–] stroz@infosec.pub 1 points 4 minutes ago

It might take a little while for the email to show up. When I signed up, it was a couple of hours, but it was under a good bit of stress at the time.

Things are going smoothly this morning. Uploads are quick to process, and the timeline seems to be moving along with new content. So YMMV

[–] Chozo@fedia.io 7 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

"Nobody I want to follow is using it."

By and large, the average user is a content consumer, not a creator. The consumers want to go where the creators are, but the creators won't go where there aren't already consumers. This will always be the biggest problem for any Fediverse platform.

[–] coherent_domain@infosec.pub 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

So is red note, who is on red note?!

[–] ParetoOptimalDev@lemmy.today 1 points 12 minutes ago

Kim Kardashian

[–] schizoidman@lemm.ee 8 points 5 hours ago
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