Thousands of American users of the social media TikTok have created profiles on the Chinese social media Xiaohongshu.
This is happening after the US Supreme Court on Friday evening Danish time approved a law that could lead to the sale of or a ban on TikTok in the US.
The law requires the owner ByteDance, which is founded in China, to sell TikTok by January 19 at the latest.
It was adopted on the basis of American politicians’ concern about whether ByteDance shares Americans’ data with the Chinese government – or perhaps even provides the opportunity to monitor them.
Xiaohongshu can be translated as “(the, ed.) little red book” and, according to Reuters, the platform resembles the social media Instagram, where users can share video content and images.
Among American users, Xiaohongshu has also become known as “Red Note” – and this week it is the most downloaded app in the American Apple’s App Store.
– I almost don’t know how to define myself without TikTok, says 24-year-old TikTok user Ayman Chaudhary.
She makes money on TikTok through advertising revenue and sponsorships, where companies offer her paid collaborations. Her content centers around books where she shares her recommendations with her followers.
Chaudhary has also created a profile on Xiaohongshu.
According to her, TikTok users are moving to Xiaohongshu as “a kind of protest because it’s a Chinese-owned app, and TikTok is being banned because it’s Chinese-owned”.
Exactly how many American users of TikTok have created a profile on Xiaohongshu is not clear.
Social media TikTok claims to have around 170 million monthly US users.
– I am more upset than I am shocked, says Ayman Chaudhary about the Supreme Court’s decision.
It is far from certain that the many millions of Americans will have to wave goodbye to TikTok.
The ban takes effect on outgoing US President Joe Biden’s last day in office – Sunday.
However, the White House announced shortly after Friday’s ruling that TikTok should be available to Americans and that it will be up to the next administration to implement the TikTok law.
The day after, on January 20, Republican Donald Trump is sworn in. He has said that he will negotiate a solution, although according to the AP news agency it is somewhat uncertain what options the future president has.
According to AFP, there are possible buyers interested in becoming owners of TikTok, but ByteDance has so far rejected them.
/ritzau/AFP
Source: www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk
