What is RedNote? Chinese app shoots to #1 with TikTok ban looming | EUROtoday

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A Chinese short-form video app known as Xiaohongshu is now the highest free app within the Apple App Store, as social media customers look to get out forward of a possible U.S. TikTok ban set to take impact on Sunday.

The app, referred to as RedNote in English, features like a cross between Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest, and boasts over 300 million month-to-month energetic customers, significantly beneath the consumer base of TikTok.

Launched in 2013, RedNote is among the hottest apps in China.

It is valued at over $3 billion and has raised almost $1 billion in enterprise funding, in keeping with TechCrunch.

In April, the U.S. Congress handed a bipartisan invoice to ban TikTok until it finds a brand new proprietor.

Federal officers have argued the positioning is “a national-security threat of immense depth and scale” due to alleged hyperlinks with China and considerations about U.S. customers’ information being shared unlawfully with the Communist authorities.

TikTok and its dad or mum firm ByteDance have denied these allegations, and are at the moment difficult the TikTok ban on the Supreme Court.

On Friday, the justices appeared skeptical of the corporate’s First Amendment arguments.

“Congress doesn’t care about what’s on TikTok,” Chief Justice John Roberts stated throughout oral arguments. “They don’t care about the expression. That’s shown by the remedy. They’re not saying TikTok has to stop. They’re saying the Chinese have to stop controlling TikTok.”

The “law is only targeted at this foreign corporation, which doesn’t have First Amendment rights,” Justice Elena Kagan added.

Donald Trump has sought to delay the ban, looking for an answer by means of, as his lawyer put it in a quick, “political means once he takes office.”

The Republicans tried to ban TikTok in 2020.

Observers have argued the ban would devastate the sprawling creator economic system that is dependent upon the platform.

“A TikTok ban would be absolutely catastrophic for the creators and the small businesses who rely on it,” Jess Maddox, an assistant professor on the University of Alabama advised CNN. “I’ve spent my career talking to creators and influencers, they are resilient, they’ll pivot, but it will be a struggle in the meantime and take a hit to them financially.”

Ahead of a possible ban, creators have additionally taken to utilizing one other widespread app, Lemon8, with comparable options, which is owned by ByteDance.