In response to a possible upcoming on TikTok in the USA, many young Americans are now flocking to REDNote. The saying goes that between two evils, people should choose the lesser one, but now they seem to be choosing the bigger one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Concerns about TikTok are understandable. It does indeed collect people’s data and may promote biased narratives or disinformation. But fundamentally, Americans are wary of, and concerned about, the governmental forces behind ByteDance. A complete ban may not be the best solution<\/a>, but it could be better than doing nothing. Recently, rumors have surfaced suggesting that TikTok might be sold to an American company, which could serve as a better compromise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether it’s banned or sold, the hoped-for result of recent legal actions is that people will transition to another platform with a higher level of credibility. However, instead of choosing between the infamous Zuckerberg or Elon Musk, many have opted for the worse-than-bad, and worse-than-ever, REDNote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, what is REDNote? You can find an introduction to it elsewhere; our task here is to critique it. As a long-time user of the Chinese Internet, I\u2019ve avoided REDNote for years for the most part \u2014 in its early days, I mistakenly thought the name referred to Mao’s Little Red Book<\/em> or some kind of postgraduate exam review material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, over time, I\u2019ve felt the significant impact of REDNote on the entire Chinese Internet. Since Chinese users can\u2019t directly access Google, their main search engines are Bing China (which is heavily censored by Microsoft) and Baidu. Two recent developments are worth noting: First, Bing China’s market share has surpassed that of Baidu<\/a>. Second, REDNote\u2019s average daily searches have now exceeded half of Baidu’s<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Increasingly, Chinese people are relying on REDNote for searches. What does this mean? First, REDNote is a closed content platform, and public search engines like Google, Bing, or Baidu can\u2019t retrieve its content. Second, in recent years, more and more Chinese users have been posting content on REDNote, turning it into a content absorber, absorbing information from the entire Chinese Internet. In essence, REDNote has become a dominant closed platform. If people want to know something, they will think of going to the REDNote to find it, not a public search engine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some might argue that this is true for all large content platforms, but I\u2019d like to highlight the fact that REDNote is a mobile-only app (which means it can collect more of your personal data) and has content that is not open to the public (like a vampire), which sets it apart from multi-platforms like X\/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. The latter is open to the public, meaning that people can retrieve the content inside the platform through a public search engine, which is very different from a closed platform like REDNote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first two points may not be the most crucial, but it’s the third one that matters: REDNote is an information dump on the internet. REDNote has led to the deterioration of content on the Chinese Internet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The reason for this situation is likely due to the app’s design. Every time the app is opened, users are forced to view at least four posts. Since posts must include images, even those without meaningful content can be generated by the system using beautiful pictures. At least 90% of the posts are uninspired, pretentious, posturing, low-quality information. The remaining 9% might make sense but is often of little relevance to your own life. Some users, who might lack real understanding, seem to think they can become teachers to teach others lessons. When you’re using REDNote, you run the risk of becoming a vulgarian who stretches the neck around looking at things that are only superficially interesting. The push mechanism of REDNote, meanwhile, ensures that you receive all kinds of exaggerated, bizarre content that reflects people’s peculiar subjectivity, drawing you into an endless scroll and wasting your time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I used to advise people around me that if they had to use REDNote, they should cover the homepage\u2019s recommended posts with one hand as soon as they open the app, then immediately search for what they need and exit as soon as they’ve found it. Unfortunately, few people followed this advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There has been widespread concern about the overuse of social media, but Americans haven’t encountered a content platform perhaps more addictive than TikTok. Some may believe they can control the time spent on it, but in reality, most people cannot. Of course, if you’re not a common user and you’re trying to monetize, then that also means exploiting the group mentality to make money. That’s a whole other thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, I haven\u2019t mentioned that TikTok is based in at least Singapore and Los Angeles, whereas REDNote is based in Shanghai. While Chinese users can’t access TikTok directly, the vast majority of REDNote users are Chinese. This should be a more serious concern for U.S. lawmakers than TikTok.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’m not advocating for specific legislation, but I want to warn the large number of non-Chinese people interested in REDNote: It can be a very seductive platform that strongly tempts you and wastes your life. Instead of facing it head on, avoid it altogether.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In response to a possible upcoming on TikTok in the USA, many young Americans are now flocking to REDNote. The saying goes that between two evils, people should choose the lesser one, but now they seem to be choosing the bigger one. Concerns about TikTok are understandable. It does indeed collect people’s data and may promote biased narratives or disinformation. But fundamentally, Americans are wary of, and concerned about, the governmental forces behind ByteDance. A complete ban may not be the best solution, but it could be better than doing nothing. Recently, rumors have surfaced suggesting that TikTok might be sold to an American company, which could serve as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":96,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/my-img.stephenleng.com\/rednote.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/my-img.stephenleng.com\/rednote.jpg?w=1520&resize=1520,855&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":76,"url":"https:\/\/stephenleng.com\/en\/correspondence-between-china-and-the-worlds-mainstream-social-media-from-both-respective\/","url_meta":{"origin":32,"position":0},"title":"Correspondence Between China and the World’s Mainstream Social Media: From Both Respectives","author":"Stephen Leng","date":"01\/15\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"From the World's Perspective: WorldChinaNotesFacebookNoAfter Renren's demise, China no longer has an open, real-name, all-in-one social platformInstagramNoX\/TwitterWeibo\uff08\u5fae\u535a\uff09Weibo's content is semi-closed loop, while X\/Twitter is openMessenger\/WhatsApp\/TelegramWeChat (only chatting part)YouTubeBiliBili\uff08\u54d4\u54e9\u54d4\u54e9\uff09YouTube doesn't have BiliBili's signature pop-up feature, and it has ads. Its 4K videos are free, and YouTube's audience is all-ages, while BiliBili's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/stephenleng.com\/en\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":127,"url":"https:\/\/stephenleng.com\/en\/eating-while-looking-at-your-phone\/","url_meta":{"origin":32,"position":1},"title":"Eating While Looking at Your Phone","author":"Stephen Leng","date":"09\/13\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"One afternoon, I was installing a custom Rom on my phone. Even though it was a 2024 model, it still only had USB 2.0, so data transfer was painfully slow\u2014and I had a lot to back up and restore. 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As I was reading through various academic papers, I noticed some scholars still describe China as a collectivist society, while others have already picked up on its growing atomization. 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