As the date for the banning of TikTok from the US is getting closer, Americans are showing their middle fingers at their Congress and government by downloading another Chinese app, the Red Note.
The US government's fear of TikTok is allegedly based on the proclivity of the app's owner, ByteDance, a Shanghai-based company which also owns Douyin, the Chinese version of the same app, would likely bow down to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) demand to have access to the data derived from the app that may pinpoint specific trends in the US. This point, however, was seemingly defeated during the recent US Presidential election, where both Democrat and Republican US Presidential nominees had their own TikTok accounts. So much for fear of data leaks.
There are also fears that the algorithm for the app may be tweaked by the CCP to spread pro-China or anti-US stances to the American masses. This particular point may have its basis. The US dislike of TikTok evolved into fear after the devastating Israeli invasion of Gaza after the October 7th attack. For years, pro-Israeli American media and other social media platforms had hidden the very nature of the Israelis' subjugation of the Palestinians. TikTok broke that wall.
And now, TikTok is facing a ban in the US. Either they exit the market or sell the TikTok app in the US to US owners or US-friendly personalities. Elon Musk, the South African owner of X is said to be a leading contender.
In retaliation, Americans have now downloaded the Red Note app on a massive scale. The Red Note is a version of the popular Xiao Hung Shu that mimics Instagram in China (Western social media are largely blocked from China, therefore an uneven level playing field itself that we can only address separately).
Compared to TikTok, which could not be directly linked to the communist ideology, the very name of the Red Note app is a reference to the red notebook that was introduced by then CCP Chairman Mao Zedong during the Cultural Revolution. The very same notebook that CCP members used to remind their people of their responsibilities to the party. What an irony.
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