China gives a wary welcome to influx of ‘TikTok refugees’ on RedNote By Reuters

(This Jan. 15 story has been corrected to make clear that registration is allowed with a overseas telephone quantity, and never require customers to have a Chinese language telephone quantity, in paragraph 11)

By Brenda Goh

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Customers of the Chinese language social media app RedNote welcomed “TikTok refugees” from the US with selfies and messages on Wednesday, as Beijing stated it inspired stronger cultural ties with different nations in response to the sudden inflow.

Identified in China as Xiaohongshu and as a platform to seek out way of life suggestions on areas from magnificence to meals, the app has in current days been remodeled into an sudden bilateral channel for U.S.-China exchanges, with customers swapping photographs and questions on pets, favorite meals and their lives.

Not everybody was comfortable, although, with some grumbling that their platform was being taken over and nationalist bloggers warning towards American influences.

The inflow of greater than 700,000 new customers has been pushed by a looming U.S. ban on TikTok, utilized by 170 million People, on nationwide safety issues.

Many Chinese language customers on Wednesday posted selfies and messages saying “welcome TikTok refugees”, and responded eagerly to questions from U.S. customers on subjects reminiscent of well-liked Chinese language dishes, metropolis vacationer sights and even China’s beginning insurance policies. 

Amongst them was Jacob Hui, a translator within the jap Chinese language metropolis of Hangzhou, who stated he joined a stay chat co-hosted by Chinese language and American influencers on the platform and posed questions – reminiscent of what video video games have been well-liked within the U.S. – to the brand new customers.

“There weren’t many such alternatives to instantly work together with People up to now,” he stated.

Chinese language state media has additionally cheered the pattern, with state broadcaster CCTV saying that the TikTok customers had discovered a “new residence”. Chinese language overseas ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun, requested at a daily press briefing, stated the usage of social media was a “private alternative”. 

“China has at all times supported and inspired strengthening cultural exchanges and selling mutual understanding among the many peoples of all nations,” Guo stated. 

China has for years tightly managed our on-line world by means of its “Nice Firewall” censorship structure and blocked overseas social media networks reminiscent of Instagram and X. 

Whereas many Chinese language social media platforms reminiscent of Weibo (NASDAQ:) permit overseas telephone numbers to register, they normally restrict such customers to the worldwide variations. ByteDance restricts TikTok to overseas customers and runs a separate model for mainland Chinese language residents known as Douyin.      

RedNote, in distinction, doesn’t require customers to have such a quantity and maintains just one model of its app. The corporate didn’t reply to Reuters’ request for touch upon Wednesday. 

Up to now, different Western social media platforms, reminiscent of Clubhouse, have loved an analogous pattern of Chinese language mainland customers becoming a member of in swathes earlier than being blocked by Beijing’s censors. 

‘PROPAGANDISTS FROM THE UNITED STATES’

The newcomers to RedNote haven’t been universally welcomed, nonetheless, with criticism from some Chinese language customers sad with how they have been altering the content material of the platform and from some nationalist Chinese language bloggers. 

Ren Yi, the Harvard-educated grandson of a former Chinese language Communist chief who runs a well-liked WeChat weblog beneath the pen identify “Chairman Rabbit”, warned his followers towards being unsuspectingly influenced. 

“Propagandists from the US can simply obtain their targets by following a easy routine – first reward you a couple of phrases to make you ‘loosen up your vigilance’, after which convey their very own items to subtly affect you,” he stated in an article first printed on Wednesday morning that was later deleted. 

Beijing-based unbiased trade analyst Liu Xingliang stated he believed the sudden recognition of RedNote amongst TikTok customers can be short-lived, although the present ambiance was “very heat and joyful”.

“American netizens are in a dissatisfied temper, and wanting to seek out one other Chinese language app to make use of is a catharsis of short-term feelings and a rebellious gesture. You’ll be able to see that Xiaohongshu can also be caught unprepared, the expertise on it isn’t excellent for foreigners,” he stated. 

There have been additionally indicators that some new overseas customers have been testing the platform’s censorship limits, with some posting on social media community X that they have been unable to put up about subjects recognized to be delicate in China such because the 1989 Tiananmen Sq. crackdown. 

Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing two sources conversant in the corporate, that the platform was scrambling to seek out methods to average English-language content material and construct English-Chinese language translation instruments.