The weird surge in reputation within the US for China-based social media app RedNote forward of the looming TikTok ban has sparked alarm amongst coverage specialists – who warned it carries even better safety dangers than the favored video-sharing app.
Greater than 700,000 US customers – some calling themselves “TikTok Refugees” — joined RedNote within the final two days regardless of the content material on the location being principally in Mandarin.
However the language barrier is much from the most important concern.
Critics instructed The Submit that the app has even fewer guardrails in place for American customers than TikTok, whose guardian firm ByteDance faces a Sunday deadline to divest the app within the US resulting from nationwide safety issues.
“TikTok is FourLoko to RedNote’s fentanyl-laced painkiller,” mentioned Nathan Leamer, a former FCC coverage adviser and CEO of Mounted Gear Methods.
“Whereas TikTok pretends to have safeguards and has a US presence to give a veneer of credibility, RedNote doesn’t even try to hide its connection to the Chinese Communist Party.”
RedNote carries “serious cybersecurity and privacy risks” for American customers, added Adrianus Warmenhoven, a cybersecurity professional at NordVPN.
Recognized in China as Xiaohongshu, which interprets to “little red book” in English, the identify refers back to the notorious propaganda booklets stuffed with quotes by Communist China’s founder Mao Zedong.
The app’s phrases of service are written in Mandarin, which presents an impediment to English-speaking customers making an attempt to grasp its information practices.
“Like TikTok, RedNote is subject to Chinese data laws, which may grant government authorities access to user data without the privacy protections expected in the US,” Warmenhoven mentioned.
“The platform collects extensive personal data, including location, browsing activity, and device-specific information like IP addresses.”
As a Chinese language app, RedNote is required to observe the Chinese language Communist Get together’s requirements “potentially stifling free speech and exposing users to biased information,” Warmenhoven added.
Representatives for RedNote didn’t instantly return The Submit’s request for remark.
The heavily-censored TikTok various has greater than 300 million month-to-month energetic customers, principally in China, as of final yr, in keeping with Chinese language state media.
RedNote was the most-downloaded app in Apple’s App Retailer on Tuesday, adopted carefully by Lemon8, one other social media service owned by TikTok guardian ByteDance.
Among the many notable US customers to join RedNote was Taylor Lorenz, the previous Washington Submit reporter who inspired X customers to affix the app and wrote “Long Live China.” Lorenz later implied that she was joking.
“We are coming to the Chinese spies and begging them to let us stay here,” one American consumer wrote on RedNote. “Approved, welcome to RedNote,” a Shanghai-based consumer replied.
The app is concentrated totally on life-style content material and on-line procuring and permits customers to share brief movies in addition to text-based posts. It’s notably common amongst ladies, who comprise 79% of its consumer base.
The sudden inflow of US customers reportedly caught officers on the Chinese language-language app unexpectedly.
RedNote has been scrambling this week to implement content material moderation for English-language posts and English-Chinese language translation instruments for the app, sources instructed Reuters.
Congress gave ByteDance till Jan. 19 to divest management or face a complete US ban resulting from fears that its algorithm may secretly manipulate public opinion and collect delicate private information to spy on People.
TikTok is reportedly planning to close down the app solely on Sunday until the Supreme Court docket intervenes on its behalf.
The recognition of RedNote and every other Chinese language-owned apps that spring as much as change TikTok might be short-lived.
The divestment regulation provides Congress the leeway to ban different apps managed by overseas adversaries like China if they’ve over a million month-to-month customers, in keeping with Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow on the Hudson Institute.
“Once that is established, Xiaohongshu would be a natural candidate for a qualified divestiture,” Sobolik mentioned.
Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), chairman of Home Choose Committee on China – which performed a key position in driving the hassle in opposition to TikTok – urged that RedNote may face an identical crackdown underneath the divestment regulation.
“Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book was instrumental in China’s communist cultural revolution that led to the tragic deaths of tens of millions of Chinese citizens,” Moolenaar mentioned in a press release. “Right now, a Chinese language app of the identical identify desires to be the subsequent TikTok – full with Chinese language management.
“Parents and social media creators should be aware that the CCP exploits PRC-based applications to surveil and censor Americans,” Moolenaar added. “The good news is that President Trump has the authority under the TikTok bill to force divestment of other CCP controlled applications that pose national security risks as well.”
Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) referred to as RedNote “another CCP brain rot social media platform.”
China has lengthy applied a so-called “Great Firewall” that bans US-owned social media apps like Fb, Instagram and X. TikTok itself is unavailable in China.
So as to adjust to China’s stringent authorities censorship, RedNote limits or bans use of “sensitive” phrases, together with an inventory of 546 nicknames for Chinese language President Xi Jinping, in keeping with a 2022 report by China Digital Occasions.
