More than 700,000 US users have downloaded RedNote, a popular Chinese social app, as the TikTok ban deadline approaches, but they may soon find themselves looking for another alternative to TikTok. An American official told CBS News that Xiaohongshu, the app more commonly known as RedNote, has many of the same problems that led Congress to ban TikTok and that the app could eventually face a similar ban unless it ditches its China-based parent company.
Among the issues lawmakers raised in the run-up to the TikTok ban was the Chinese government's influence over TikTok's content moderation practices, an issue that appears to apply to RedNote as well. By The informationRedNote has begun removing posts from American users that are deemed “too sensitive” for the app, including posts that discuss LGBTQ issues. Three people with knowledge of communications between RedNote and Cyberspace Administration of China officials said The information That regulators are concerned about politically sensitive posts, and Chinese officials told RedNote's government relations team to make sure users in China couldn't see posts from American users.
Privacy advocates also warn against using RedNote. In an emailed statement, Cooper Quintin, senior technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said that “anyone for whom privacy is a matter of personal security” should think twice before downloading RedNote, adding that the EFF has concerns similar about US-based apps like facebook.
“People looking for alternative social media apps should be careful about the privacy implications of sharing information with an app that has not yet undergone substantial public scrutiny outside of China,” Quintin said. “This is certainly not a platform that values freedom of expression; is a heavily censored app in which topics such as political speech, drugs and addictions, and sexuality are more strictly controlled than even similar social networks. “This is also not a platform that will protect you from US-based surveillance capitalism as it shares data with facebook and Google ad networks.”
