“With the pause of the TikTok ban in the U.S., American users are migrating away from the Chinese app RedNote. Though RedNote, also known as Xiaohongshu, briefly topped the U.S. App Store free apps spot, the halt of the ban sparked a sharp decline in usage. From its peak of 32.5 million daily active users on the anticipated day of the ban, RedNote saw more than half of its U.S. user base disappear by Monday.
Digital market intelligence firm, Similarweb, observed a 54% decline in RedNote’s daily U.S. users once the ban’s enforcement was postponed. This extension provided TikTok with an additional 75 days to arrange a deal allowing its presence in the U.S. market.
A similar descending pattern was presented by app intelligence provider, Sensor Tower. Average U.S. mobile daily active users for RedNote dropped by approximately 17% in the post-ban week. RedNote had seen a mass influx from TikTok in a boldly symbolic move against the supposed “national security threat” of Chinese-owned apps. They also sought to illustrate a preference to another Chinese app as opposed to returning to Instagram’s Reels.
Various beliefs influenced this large-scale migration towards RedNote. The perceived hypocrisy of the ban, with Meta’s exploitation of user data, called its logic into question. Others showed remarkable indifference over the potential Chinese control of their data.
As RedNote engagement grew, cultural dialogues emerged among users, discussing living expenses, societal depictions by governments, food and healthcare. However, the Mandarin-language-based RedNote isn’t expected to dominate the U.S. app arena, at least not as long as TikTok remains accessible. RedNote’s primary focus is on the Chinese market, giving global-oriented TikTok an edge. With the ban scare, TikTok’s daily active U.S. users rose to an annual record high of 106.8 million on the predicted ban day.”
Original source: Read the full article on TechCrunch
