The Supreme Court is hearing arguments that will determine TikTok’s fate in the US. As a potential ban looms, another Chinese-owned app has crept to the top of the App Store’s free downloads: Xiaohongshu, or Little Red Book (Red), a social media and e-commerce platform.
Speculation over where TikTok users would migrate if a ban were to take effect has centred around at-home alternatives YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels. But perhaps unexpectedly, some creators – ‘TikTok refugees’, they’re being called on the platform – are opting for Red to fill the impending TikTok void. (Though it’s worth noting that the app has had less traction on the Google Play store, ranking 36th as of Monday afternoon.)
They’re also taking to TikTok to encourage their followers to migrate with them. (Many are referring to Red as ‘Red Note’, which is what the app is called on Google Play.) “Congratulations to the US government for playing yourselves,” creator Saadia Mirza said in a TikTok video. “Do you know what creators are doing? My entire FYP has been people going to Red Note.” Another quipped: “If you guys hadn’t heard, we’re going over to Red Note.”
Tora Northman, a creative consultant and social media strategist (who is a content creator herself), downloaded Red on Monday. She’s UK-based, but her interest was piqued. “I’ve been seeing a lot of content on TikTok around Red/XHS (Xiaohongshu) today and how people are more keen to move over than to start posting on Instagram Reels,” she says. “The style of content on TikTok is unique and so many people have found a sense of community on the app. I figured I might as well download it and see if I genuinely think it could be a replacement to TikTok.”
Creators, many of whom earn money from their TikTok videos thanks to the platform’s Creator Fund, are scrambling to seek out a new home where their communities might follow them. The second most-downloaded app today is Lemon8, lauded as another potential TikTok alternative. But there’s a problem: Lemon8 is also owned by Bytedance. And, per the forthcoming law that would enforce TikTok’s ban, any subsidiaries of Bytedance will not be allowed to operate in the US.
Female-founded Neptune is another generating some buzz. Still in beta testing, the US-based platform geared towards creators, promising community-friendly algorithms and monetisation opportunities.
Red, on the other hand, has no ties to Bytedance. The company, founded by Miranda Qu and Charlwin Mao in 2013, is one of China’s top social media platforms, with 300 million monthly active users and 140,000 brands on board. The platform was valued at $17 billion at the time of a July 2024 funding round, with investment from DST Global (a Cayman-based venture capital firm), Hillhouse, Boyu Capital and Citic Capital. (It’s raised a total of $917 million in VC funding to date.) Red was on track to surpass $1 billion in revenue in 2024, Bloomberg reported in December 2024. (Xiaohongshu did not respond to a request for comment for this story.)
It’s the top social media platform for influencer marketing in China, per marketing platform PJdaren’s 2023 report on the state of influencers in China. Fifty-nine per cent of brands selected Xiaohongshu as the platform on which they saw the greatest impact for brand-building, beating out Weibo, Douyin (China’s TikTok equivalent) and WeChat. It also earned the top spot for social commerce success. Xiaohongshu emerged as the most popular platform among influencers, too; 67 per cent selected Xiaohongshu as their primary platform. That said, by earnings, Douyin was voted more lucrative.
Awareness is still low in the US. “Red isn’t on the radar in the influencer marketing industry,” says James Nord, CEO of influencer marketing agency Fohr. Scott Sutton, CEO of influencer marketing company Later, also hasn’t seen a high degree of interest in the app with Later’s North American clients, he says. Influencer Audrey Peters, known for her fashion and luxury content, also hasn’t heard of the app. Influencer marketing agency Billion Dollar Boy has begun internal conversations about Red after seeing content about it on other platforms, and plans to continue to monitor internally.
But some users want to get ahead of the curve. “Earlier creators are typically the ones that get the most reach,” says real estate agent Caroline Walker, who posts a combination of New York real estate and fashion content on TikTok. She joined Red this morning.
Plus, awareness of US creators may be better than expected. New York-based fashion creator Berenice Castro (@Benulus) joined Red today to find she already had an audience on the platform – users have been reposting her TikTok content dubbed in Mandarin. One fan page has 42,000 followers. “I have some followers telling me that the Red Note app is the first social platform they discovered me on and then proceeded to follow me on my other platforms,” she says. “I was even told they call me ‘Maximalist Big Sister.’”
TikTok content
Some creators caution that the format doesn’t directly align. TikTok creator Ryan (@Rysenseii) compared Red to Pinterest and Instagram. “There is a section where you can scroll videos just like TikTok, but the overall format of Xiaohongshu is Pinterest plus Instagram,” he told followers. That hasn’t stopped curious creators and users from signing up.
The next TikTok?
Though much of Red is in Chinese, users have noted on TikTok that more and more aspects of the platform are now available to translate to English. Northman expects a similar trajectory for the content. “Because it is still very centred around China, I do think it will take a while to be served content in English. However, with the mass downloading happening right now, the app’s algorithm will likely be able to give me the content I can understand in just a few hours.” (Sure enough, two hours later, two Vogue Business editors’ feeds on the newly-downloaded app were fully in English.)
For now, elements of the app are still in Mandarin. The fact that the app is primarily in Chinese characters is a new hurdle, Walker says, but notes that the fact that the interface is similar to TikTok helps. “It seems to be geared towards discovering new creators rather than focusing mostly on followers, which is my main issue with Instagram.”
The fact that it’s China owned is a turn-off for industry experts. “I wouldn’t suggest investing in another Chinese-owned platform if TikTok is banned,” Nord says. “Good new alternatives will emerge, but this doesn’t seem like one of them.”
Sutton echoes this concern. “Xiaohongshu is also headquartered in China and seemingly would be subject to potential government action in the same way that TikTok has come under scrutiny,” he says. “With that in mind, a shift towards this platform may see value in the short term, but may require another pivot down the line from brands and creators. Because of their US roots, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat are better answers to avoid additional disruption as this continues to play out.”
That said, incoming President Donald Trump has made it clear that he doesn’t want TikTok banned and has requested that the Supreme Court delay the ban to give him time to work on what he calls a “political resolution”. Given he is seemingly less concerned about the platform’s China ties than the current government, timing could be on Red’s side.
Billion Dollar Boy is holding off on any recommendations for now. “Since Red is so new, we’re waiting to see how the Supreme Court hearing unfolds, where audiences shift and how the platform develops before making any recommendations there,” says Billion Dollar Boy founder and group CEO Ed East.
Some creators, though, are joining precisely because it’s Chinese-owned. “I downloaded the Red Note app because I, along with many other creators, are unsatisfied with the way this TikTok ban process is being handled by the US government,” Castro says. “I want to make sure my content and my expression are seen and my voice is heard from the US all the way to China.”
Many are looking for ways to make up for lost business. For Walker, TikTok will be a major loss – not just from video earnings. “[It’s] become an integral part of my business. I’ve connected with some of my VIP clients because they saw a TikTok of mine,” she says. “In the past year I’ve gotten almost 7 million views, which advertises my services way more than a paid ad ever could.” If Red does emerge as TikTok’s successor, Walker hopes to use it in the same way. “I’ll just have to rebuild,” she says.
Castro is confident that her TikTok audience will follow her to Red. At present, 85 per cent of her income comes from brand deals (the remaining 15 per cent from social platform revenue); and TikTok is the biggest percentage of her income. But, she recognises, just like creators, brands will need to pivot their own budgets to other apps than TikTok. “It gives me hope that we are all in this together,” she says.
Luxury brands built-in
China concerns aside, the move could bode well for luxury brands, which are already well versed on the platform. Brands including Gucci, Dior, Louis Vuitton and Hermès are some of the brands already active.
In April 2024, Louis Vuitton (which debuted on the platform in 2019) broke Red’s live-streaming record, with over 470,000 unique visitors to its pre-fall 2024 resee stream. It was shoppable, too — most items shown were available for pre-order through a digital pop-up store on the platform.
For those who struggled to make full use of TikTok Shop, Red’s more established e-commerce capabilities could be a plus for creators.
So could Red replace TikTok? “Can anything ever replace TikTok?!” Northman asks. “I think it’s definitely a possibility, but I also think that the reason TikTok is so great is because most users have spent a lot of time on the platform training their algorithm. The question is if we have the patience to do it again.”
The fact that TikTok will exist and operate as normal outside of the States will mean that there will be limited videos and content creators on Red outside of Chinese and US creators, at least at this stage, Northman flags. “It’s possible it will be a slow burn.”
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