With the fear of TikTok getting banned in the United States, users of the app flooded to a different platform, Rednote. Recently, the app became one of the most searched topics on Google and quickly soared to first place in the App Store’s charts.
What is Rednote? China’s Instagram is a term that has been loosely thrown around to describe the app. Many users of the app have said it resembles the famous multi-picture layout of Pinterest, though it functions more closely to TikTok. Features of the app include posting videos, buying and selling items, as well as basic chatting mechanics like calling and texting.
The reactions of Rednote users to a swarm of American refugees coming into the app were relatively positive. Some people welcomed them, excited to share the app. “For so long we really haven’t been able to connect or talk with each other like this, but now we finally can, and it feels so special,” one Chinese user, who identified himself as Abe, said in a now-viral post.” Stated npr.org. Many new users have also reported the app to be a much kinder version of TikTok, though the app does not come without its controversy.
In the heyday of the app, many users described it as a sort of safe haven for women to go to. Around 90% of the user base was women in 2021. “Sometimes, a woman would share a story about having a fight with her boyfriend, and other women would show her compassion and encourage her,” says Zhu, a long-term Xiaohongshu user from Shanghai. “There used to be this kind of sisterhood.” shared Sixthtone.
Once Xingyin Information Technology, the parent company of Rednote, noticed that its user base was nearly all women, it tried to advertise more towards men, mainly using misogynistic comments. “Beautiful ladies… without spending any money!”, “Sexy, beautiful car models and stylish beauties” are two examples of the kinds of advertisements the app would make to try and gain a more diverse demographic. Though the company did apologize after heavy amounts of backlash, people were still upset.
Many of the women who once found friends and peace on the app were now being bombarded with strange and uncomfortable messages from men. “ …Sexual harassment and misogynistic comments, once relatively scarce, are becoming increasingly common…” said Sixthtone. The sisterhood that was once found in the app was gone, according to Zhu.
Rednote is still skyrocketing in the United States with thousands of new users downloading the app daily, despite its controversial past surrounding misogyny and strange advertisements.
