Unintended Consequence of TikTok’s Potential Ban: Gen Z Cross-Continental Connections
A major question has arisen within the United States’ Congress. To ban TikTok, or not? TikTok, a Chinese-owned social media application, has been the recent talk of Congress. Democratic and Republican representatives alike have been debating issues and discussing the effects of the app in a case that has the nation sitting at the edge of their seats. Citing concerns over data collection and gateways of influence by the government of the People’s Republic of China, the U.S. government seeks to ban the app entirely.
Ostensibly, the political logic of the United States stands as: if they want to get rid of Chinese party association, then get rid of TikTok. However, many American users are on TikTok, relying on it for business, advertisement, and visibility. For many, it has become an ecosystem and a community. It seems like the app’s structure and features have become cornerstones of many Gen Z social media users, and as such, it stands to reason that they would turn to alternatives. The predominant assumption was that U.S.-based Meta, which powers Instagram Reels, stands to gain from the shutdown of TikTok.
RedNote, or “Xiaohongshu”
However, as we get closer to the projected January 19th official ban date, we’re seeing an interesting phenomenon. Copious amounts of users are making the shift from TikTok to “RedNote”, one of the biggest social media platforms in China. The rapid uptake of RedNote, or “ Xiaohongshu” in China, has many questioning whether the ban is an effective strategy at all or if the ban is just shooting itself in the foot. With the sudden increase in American RedNote users, Chinese users have been very welcoming, with users on both ends sharing memes, cat images, and jokes in an unprecedented cultural exchange. Some American users have even shared a sudden desire to learn Chinese, and some Chinese users have turned to American users for English homework help. Perhaps, as average citizens living beneath the games of political chess played between the U.S. and Chinese governments, we share more common ground than we might think.
Ultimately, the full scale of the results of the ban on TikTok remains to be seen; however, we do know the interconnected ecosystem Gen Z users have built up through TikTok is here to stay. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, and whether that name is “Xiaohongshu” or something else, the community of TikTok users seems intent on finding its way to prevail.
