Jakarta – TikTok users in the United States are migrating to the RedNote app ahead of a potential ban on the video-sharing platform. However, RedNote faces a similar threat of being banned in the US for the same concerns as TikTok.
A senior US government official stated that RedNote, known as Xiaohongshu in China, shares many of the issues that led Congress to ban TikTok. RedNote could face similar restrictions unless it separates itself from its parent company in China.
“This appears to be the kind of app that would fall under the legislation and could face the same restrictions as TikTok unless it is sold,” said the unnamed official, as quoted by CBS on Monday (January 20, 2025).
The legal basis for the US government to block TikTok is the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in April 2024. Under the legislation, Congress can compel a platform to separate its US operations from foreign ownership or face potential restrictions if deemed a threat.
One of the primary reasons the US government seeks to ban TikTok is to prevent American user data from being accessed by the Chinese government. TikTok has consistently stated that US user data is not stored in China and has never been shared with the Chinese government.
In contrast, RedNote’s servers are exclusively in China, and all user data is stored there, which, according to a cybersecurity expert, makes RedNote potentially riskier than TikTok.
“RedNote was never designed for markets outside China. All data sharing and the servers where the data is stored are located in China,” said Adrianus Warmenhoven, a cybersecurity expert from Nord VPN.
Warmenhoven added that TikTok at least stores US user data on servers located within the US, allowing the US government to moderate or restrict the type of data that can be sent to China. He also pointed out that RedNote’s terms and conditions are less transparent, posing significant cybersecurity risks to US citizens.
“The terms and conditions are in Mandarin, making it difficult for non-Mandarin-speaking users to understand what data is collected and how it is used,” Warmenhoven explained.
