OPINION: Am*ricans are taking c*nsorsh*p over a T*kTok ban

Photo via Xiaotingwang/Public domain/Wikimedia Commons

Ollie Hunt, a Freshman studying Journalism, argues that the exodus to RedNote is more than just a silly internet trend.

Preceding and following the brief TikTok ban, many users flocked to the Chinese lifestyle app, Xiaohongshu, known to Americans as “RedNote.” While many remarked on the difficulty of creating an account due to language barriers, others gloated about not reading the terms they agreed to when making the account. Is this to the detriment of these new American users? 

These dubbed “TikTok refugees” were in for an awakening when they began posting.  

China is ruled as a Communist state and has strict rules for its citizens. Reading a translated list of the guidelines on RedNote will tell you how different it is from the guidelines on TikTok – they are stricter. Many new users did not care to translate the posting guidelines outlined in the terms of use and subsequently were confused when they started posting their usual content from TikTok onto RedNote.  

After users learned about this, they embraced the strict rules instead of being upset. They understood they were in another social media territory and tried their best to respect the app's careful balance. 

Even posting an old TikTok video with the watermarked logo will result in a user’s video being banned. This is because TikTok is banned in China due to censorship laws.  

As most users hope, this flock to RedNote is a temporary solution. Users in the U.S. long to use their platforms for more than just fun videos as many influencers use their platform to spread awareness about politics and government, a topic that will also get your video and/or account banned on RedNote. Their strict rules are a direct result of their government policy and speaking about any politics on the app is not allowed.  

Are Americans giving this extra freedom up in protest? While the app isn’t “Chinese TikTok,” the algorithm and interface of RedNote is similar to TikTok and gives the same feel with the length of videos, giving the user the ability to “doomscroll” as they would on TikTok. Since the TikTok ban has been extended, we are seeing a lot of users flock back to the app and resume posting and scrolling on their uncensored feeds.  

This entire situation goes to show the pull that apps like TikTok and RedNote have on a user's attention span and moral compass. Many American users are so addicted to the way TikTok makes them feel that they would rather have a highly censored app from a Communist country than nothing at all.  

Please note that these views and opinions do not reflect those of The New Political.