Some say they joined Xiaohongshu, which translates to “little red book,” to spite the US government after a ban on TikTok became more likely.

American Tiktok users would rather use ACTUAL Chinese spyware app than Meta. XiaoHongShu (meaning “Little Red Book”) and ChatGPT (for translating the Mandarin only app) are currently #1 and #2 on the App store.

  • @[email protected]English
    1•12 hours ago

    Moving to something like Loops would absolutely be a better option, both because of it being part of the fediverse and therefore not controlled directly by any government, and because it’s not likely to get banned. The fact that rednote will absolutely get banned once it reaches the threshold of users is not going to endear anyone who doesn’t use tik tok to the movement. You don’t explain what they’re organizing or how the move to rednote makes the government look bad. If people don’t care about tik tok they aren’t going to care about rednote or the government banning it as well.

    The US Government is not going to get tired of banning these apps. It doesn’t cost them much of anything. The “tik tok” ban already has the terminology built into the relevant clauses to ban any app beholden to a hostile foreign power that is a threat to national security with a certain number of users. They’ll just add this to the list. People will use a VPN and give their data to China or Russia or whoever and get hacked because the average person is stupid about online security at the best of times.

    This doesn’t inconvenience the government, doesn’t inconvenience the average person who doesn’t use tik tok, doesn’t really detrimentally effect anyone but the people protesting, and I can’t even say it’s bringing awareness because nobody knows that’s the plan. People are moving but the motives are opaque to those who don’t use the app/aren’t active in the movement.

    You haven’t explained how this “protest” actually ticks any of the boxes for being an effective protest and that makes me think you probably don’t have that answer which is fine.

    As for public protest “in the streets” I certainly wasn’t suggesting that because I don’t think that will work in this instance.

    • @[email protected]English
      3•11 hours ago

      Like I said, we will see if it ends up having an effect. In the absence of other valid options, becoming ungovernable is the only reasonable option. Perhaps you have better ideas? I don’t know if it’s going to make a difference, but I’m not about to pretend I’m any better equipped to plan action to fight the constitutional abuses of the US government with a loosely organized group of social media users.

      The “tik tok” ban already has the terminology built into the relevant clauses to ban any app beholden to a hostile foreign power that is a threat to national security with a certain number of users. They’ll just add this to the list.

      Tiktok users are aware of this, especially the ones participating in this.

      It’s not just about rednote, either. The other compinent is boycotting Meta products. There is also a simultaneous effort to push people to follow tiktok creators on YouTube or bluesky, and not on facebook/threads/Instagram. There is also a mass understanding that this is all interim and not long term.

      Moving to something like Loops would absolutely be a better option, both because of it being part of the fediverse and therefore not controlled directly by any government, and because it’s not likely to get banned.

      Loops is 0% ready for people. I’m on loops. I hope it’ll be viable in the future. It’s taken loops months to send out beta access invites. How in the world could it handle several thousand up to 150 million users RIGHT NOW.

      The fediverse isn’t viable yet for the vast majority of people, especially creatoes with big followings. It can’t even keep up in moderating for its existing user base, it doesnt have rhe tools that people with thens of thousands of followers would need to sort through their interactions, and it couldn’t handle a mass influx of millions. Especially loops. Even Mastadon would cumble if its userbase went up by 50 million right now.

      The fediverse is absolutely a long term solution and I’m hopeful for it, but there are some major gaps in onboarding, moderation, and scaling that prevent it from being a viable option rn. As it grows stronger it’ll be able to serve that need.

      The fact that rednote will absolutely get banned once it reaches the threshold of users is not going to endear anyone who doesn’t use tik tok to the movement. You don’t explain what they’re organizing or how the move to rednote makes the government look bad. If people don’t care about tik tok they aren’t going to care about rednote or the government banning it as well.

      There are up to 150 million Americans on tiktok, and basically any creators of significance are widely talking about this there. You could go see yourself. If only 1/6 of the user base sees the information that means the average American is 6 degrees or less of separation from someone who does care. Its got a wider reach than you think. Just because you don’t understand the method of organizing doesn’t mean it’s bad.