By Kayla Carino

SAN JOSE, CALIF.—After the brief ban on TikTok, a widely used app in Silver Creek, on Jan. 18, American TikTok users have started switching their attention to an app called “RedNote.”

TikTok is a popular social media platform that hosts short videos made by their users. The app has been controversial because of the belief that it’s a threat to data privacy and national security in the United States, according to BBC News.. The platform was banned for less than a day before USA President Donald Trump signed to uplift the ban. 

TikTok was founded by a Chinese company, similar to RedNote. RedNote, or Xiaohongshu, is a popular Chinese social media app in China similar to TikTok. Due to the announcement of TikTok being banned, thousands of Americans have started going on the app. Users can upload and scroll through various short videos, similar to TikTok. Users are also able to shop directly within the app.

“I would use RedNote as an alternative to TikTok because if the government wants to take away our form of speech I’ll find a different platform,” says Danielle Fuentes, a freshman at Silver Creek. 

Another reason Americans have started using RedNote is to protest against the Tiktok ban. These Americans call themselves “TikTok refugees,” a term that has gained much popularity on the internet, according to CNN. Despite TikTok’s ban, many Americans continue to protest against it and even use other apps such as YouTube Shorts as an alternative to do so. 

Currently, people under the age of 16 cannot use RedNote, so many students, specifically freshmen, of Silver Creek may not be able to use it as an alternative for TikTok.