“Hey everybody, my title is Ryan. I am a TikTok refugee. The American authorities is banning TikTok so we’re searching for another … We’re very sorry to interrupt you right here. Hope we do not have to remain right here for too lengthy,” a Xiaohongshu person utilizing the title Ryan Martin stated in a video posted yesterday seemingly addressing the app’s Chinese language person base. He translated the assertion into Chinese language and used a robotic voice generator to learn it within the video, which has since been favored greater than 24,000 occasions. “It’s positive, you aren’t interrupting. Once you guys are energetic, we’re sleeping,” reads one of many high feedback in Chinese language.
There are additionally dozens of stay audio chatrooms on the platform the place American and Chinese language customers defined to one another, in all probability for the primary time in lots of instances, how their respective societies work and clarified frequent misunderstandings. Some of the widespread chatrooms has been listened to by practically 30,000 customers.
Whereas Xiaohongshu isn’t particularly named within the Defending Individuals from Overseas Adversary Managed Purposes Act that the Supreme Court docket is at present contemplating and will lead to a US ban on TikTok, the legislation does stipulate that any “overseas adversary managed utility” could face an identical destiny sooner or later. In different phrases, there’s no assure that Xiaohongshu received’t observe in TikTok’s footsteps in being blocked by the US authorities.
The TikTok ban might need catapulted Xiaohongshu to the focus within the US, however the app has been profitable for a very long time in China. Based in 2013, the Shanghai-based firm has operated some of the, if not the most, fashionable platforms in China over the previous few years and reportedly generated over $1 billion in annual income in 2024. To place it merely, it’s the most well liked app in China that non-Chinese language individuals have by no means heard of earlier than.
It additionally has a large following amongst Chinese language-speakers exterior of the nation, starting from Chinese language college students abroad to Taiwanese individuals to diaspora communities in Malaysia. Eating places, vacationer sizzling spots, and journey firms around the globe have began noticing the app due to what number of Chinese language vacationers closely depend on it for native info and proposals shared by fellow Chinese language individuals.
The app is starkly totally different from TikTok in just a few main methods. Whereas Xiaohongshu does enable customers to put up quick vertical movies identical to TikTok, nearly all of the content material on the platform is picture slideshows coupled with textual content, which is why individuals usually view it extra as a competitor to Instagram than TikTok. The app’s AI-powered grid-shaped feed (known as a “masonry grid” in skilled tech circles) has been so profitable in driving engagement that bigger social media firms like Tencent and ByteDance have copied the design in their very own merchandise. Lemon8, the opposite widespread social media app developed by ByteDance except for TikTok, is broadly seen as an try to emulate Xiaohongshu and its success.