If nothing extraordinary happens between now and Sunday, January 19, TikTok will be officially banned in the United States and will no longer be available for download from any app store such as iOS AppStore and Android PlayStore, which would cause an earthquake in the world of influencers and social networks.
Although users who already have the app installed on their phone will still be able to use TikTok, there will be no updates or technical support for the app, so there will come a time when it will be completely unusable and, in addition, it will no longer be possible to monetize the content shared on the platform.
What is RedNote or ‘Xiaohongshu’?
With the almost imminent ban of TikTok, US users have made a massive exodus to another similar application also of Chinese origin known as ‘RedNote’ in English or ‘Xiaohongshu’, which translates as ‘the Little Red Book’, which is the most downloaded application in recent days in the US.
This application is a mixture of Pinterest, Instagram and TikTok, where there is the format of short videos, besides that you can share text and photos, which makes it a very complete experience.
Perhaps most impressive of all is the cultural exchange that has taken place between Chinese and American users, as with the rise in popularity of the platform, almost all videos shared now have subtitles in both English and Mandarin.
In fact, several American influencers have completely migrated to RedNote at the prospect of no longer being able to monetize their videos on TikTok and the removal of the platform.
Why does the US want to ban TikTok?
TikTok has been in the ‘eye of the storm’ since last year, as the US government is concerned that the platform is a threat to ‘national security’.
Specifically, in the new era of American ‘McCarthyism’, a hearing that TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew (a Singaporean citizen) had with US congressmen went viral last year, where he was asked if he was affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party or if TikTok worked directly with the Chinese government.
According to journalist Ken Klippenstein, the US government is concerned about TikTok because they have no direct influence or ability to moderate or censor the content published there, so there are fears that its users are ‘susceptible to anti-American propaganda’.
The intention of the US government was to force TikTok to sell its operations on US soil to an investor so that the app could continue to operate. However, ByteDance has not yet given in and this could mean the end of TikTok in the US.