The Slatest The Supreme Court Upheld the TikTok Ban. Is RedNote Next?
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Now that the Supreme Court supported a law that successfully prohibits TikTok unless it's offered to a U.S. owner by Jan. 19, what will take place to other Chinese apps that Americans have been gathering to as an option, like RedNote?
Since of the law, come Sunday, TikTok will no longer be provided in U.S. mobile app shops. While the law does not take TikTok off of existing users' phones, the business informed Reuters it prepares to shut its U.S. operations on Sunday, making the app go dark for U.S. users.
As the high court signified it was inclined to support the law throughout oral arguments previously this month, U.S. TikTok users began relocating to Xiaohongshu, nicknamed RedNote. It's a Chinese-owned way of life platform where users can submit pictures and videos, and it's one of China's most popular apps, with over 300 million users. Today, the app got almost 3 million U.S. users, Reuters reported, mentioning information analytics firm Similarweb. Since Friday, it's No. 1 on Apple's complimentary app chart. Lemon8 is another Chinese-owned app that's getting traction in the U.S., though it's likewise owned by TikTok owner ByteDance.
RedNote might likely deal with the exact same fate as TikTok here in the U.S. due to the fact that it holds the really exact same attributes that turned Congress versus TikTok. One U.S. authorities informed CBS News, “This seems the sort of app that the statute would use to and might deal with the very same constraints as TikTok if it's not divested.”
Under the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, an app needs to fulfill a couple of requirements in order to be thought about illegal. The app has actually to be managed by a foreign enemy, like China, Russia, or Iran, that the president figures out provides a considerable risk to nationwide security. RedNote is Chinese-owned and is headquartered in Shanghai, plus its investors consist of Chinese tech giants Alibaba and Tencent.
If the app is mostly implied for users to publish “item evaluations, company evaluations, or take a trip details” then it would be exempt from the law. That is not Rednote, as the app's user interface is comparable to TikTok's, and it's created for publishing photos and videos of one's daily life.
The app has to have more than 1 million regular monthly active users– RedNote acquired 3 million U.S. users this week alone.
The law does not immediately prohibit RedNote. Trump, or future U.S. presidents, would initially need to suggest they think RedNote threatens the nation's nationwide security. Trump would be needed to send a report to Congress detailing “the particular nationwide security issue included” and how the app would require to divest its ownership.
