January 19, 2025 brought pure panic to the U.S. TikTok users as it was said the app would be banned in the states. The app, however, returned only hours after its shutdown. It was back up and running after roughly 12 hours, with the greeting “Thanks for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!” as a pop-up before they reentered the app. 

However, during the heat of the crisis, users began flocking to other apps to create and consume their content. One app popularly claimed by the American public was a popular Chinese social media platform known as RedNote. On the app, users are able to share short form video content, chat, and shop similar to TikTok. Seeing these similarities, Americans decided to give the app a try, but not without its own unique set challenges. 

The app’s captions, as well as a large portion of its content are in Mandarin. Former TikTok users went as far as teaching themselves and each other words in Mandarin, as to make the app more accessible to the US. users. RedNote also has a much stricter set of community guidelines compared to TikTok. The Chinese app encourages users to post content that aligns with positive social views that does not promote any dangerous behavior, adult content, or content involving personal information of minors. Some American users were shocked to be banned for something as seemingly innocent as wearing a low cut top in a video. 

The setups of the two apps are also drastically different. Upon opening RedNote, the app’s layout is more reminiscent of Pinterest. RedNot is actually China’s version of Instagram, while ByteDance is their TikTok adjacent platform. Rather than the ever popular doom scroll down the TikTok for you page, RedNote users select a video from their homepage to start their swiping journey.

Without the return of some of the apps most popular creators, will TikTok stand a chance, or will the people turn over a new red page?