The date of the proposed TikTok ban is coming closer, and in an effort to maintain the communities they’ve found on the groundbreaking app, users are moving to a similar Chinese platform to spite the government.
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A viral post has everyone musing on Shrek’s bisexuality — or “bishreksuality,” if you will.
But what is Rednote, and should you make a profile? Here’s what a few TikTokers have to say about the social media space.
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Not only is it a great place to learn a new language (mandarin!) it’s also a great way to spite the powers that be.
Taking away our one source of joy in these troubling times? No thanks. TikTokers are using this move to let the powers that be know that whatever happens, we will manage to be as petty as humanely possible.
“So let me get this straight,” says user @the.marchie in a recent video. “The US Government said ‘we’re scared the Chinese government might be taking your data from TikTok, so we’re going to take TikTok away from you,’ and Americans said, ‘alright, you take that away from us, I’m gonna go give my data directly to the Chinese goverment. I’m gonna make sure they have it!'”
It’s a measure of how pissed people truly are at the decision to move forward with the ban. Plus, Rednote is looking really cute right now.
Red Note is genuinely a blast, the cross-cultural exchange going on is one of the most wholesome things I’ve seen in years
— Jerry Iannelli (@jerryiannelli.bsky.social) January 14, 2025 at 12:05 PM
amazing stuff is happening on rednote
— onion person (@junlper.beer) January 14, 2025 at 2:05 PM
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practically my entire RedNote feed is LGBTQ content..
— Skylar (@bbskybison.bsky.social) January 15, 2025 at 7:02 AM
But wait a minute…didn’t TikTok just expand the period of divestiture? According to legendary creator Jools Lebron, we’ve still got 9 months on the app as the government continues to try to force a sale.
It’s not clear if that’s set in stone, however. Meanwhile, people are still moving over to Rednote in anticipation of the app becoming impossible to use in the near future. To be clear: the app might not completely disappear, but American users won’t be able to upload or view content without a VPN (and even then it’s possible that the workaround might fail.)
Everything is up in the air right now, and while TikTok tries to rebrand as Lemon 8 and Rednote continues to gain new users, it’s hard to tell how things will shake out. But one thing is certain: you can’t keep the gay content creators down. Life finds a way!
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