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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[–] [email protected] 14 points 13 hours ago (12 children)
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[–] [email protected] 15 points 13 hours ago

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

[–] [email protected] 64 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (2 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

[–] [email protected] 65 points 13 hours ago (6 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

[–] [email protected] 16 points 13 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:

[–] [email protected] 8 points 13 hours ago (3 children)
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[–] [email protected] 50 points 13 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.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 13 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

[–] [email protected] 32 points 13 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.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

I've seen chinese rednote users comparing chinese forums to 4chan and linking another source where the devs said they were working to add translation and other features to help integrate the new userbase.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 13 hours ago

This sounds weird… forum culture is mostly dead in China

[–] [email protected] 12 points 14 hours ago
[–] [email protected] 2 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (2 children)

Doubt. Just sounds like they capitalized on spreading this hoping to make it real

Edit it’s working jeez the general population is so stupid

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[–] [email protected] 48 points 15 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

[–] [email protected] 6 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Most likely banned because the rules on that app are insane. It’s made for chinese people abroad and the chinese government does not want a bunch of foreigners there anyway.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (7 children)

It seems similar to tiktok; nudity is not OK, but sex-adjacent stuff like bondage is just fine. Art is fine as long as the genitals and nips are censored.

If anything, the chinese government should be thrilled by the idea of Americans seeing that chinese people are just like them and learning first-hand that 90% of what they thought they knew about China was just racism and western propaganda.

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 14 hours ago (3 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 42 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 13 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.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 13 hours ago

That picture is amazing, lol.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (2 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.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 14 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...

[–] [email protected] 5 points 13 hours ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (10 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.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 13 hours ago

Just check it out, the volume of engagement is massive enough the FYP page can get very specific and very recent.

There's even a few Australians like "Yeah, they're not gonna ban the app, but here's a kangaroo"

[–] [email protected] -3 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

From the article somebody further up posted up, rednote has had about half a million downloads from app stores in the US.

TikTok's US consumer base is about 136 million if my memory of what was said on NPR a couple mornings ago is accurate.

While I am sure that number will be growing, a lot of the feeling of everybody moving to redhorse appears to be astroturfing.

Like... they had a 50,000 person live event that sounds awfully a lot like like a recruitment seminar/product orientation.

This isn't organic.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

As someone who is experiencing it as it happens, it feels like the most organic thing I've experienced on a social media site. I'm sure that a huge part of why I feel the way I do about it is because I'm being served the content I interact with and I mostly interact with english content. However, I see PLENTY of faces I recognize. I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility to say that many americans responded to the tiktok ban with spite and chose an actual chinese social media bc fuck em.

To be clear though, it isn't organic. The American government gave it an impetus.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 14 hours ago

It's company advertising for sure, they lose to go after low hanging fruit in order to entrap them and harvest whatever they can without a care for damage they do

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