Americans are joining the Chinese social media app en masse to protest an imminent TikTok ban.
- American users have flocked to Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu in defiance of security warnings.
- Chinese and American users have engaged in surprisingly friendly conversations about each other’s lives.
- The influx of American users could burden Xiaohongshu’s censorship mechanism, experts say.
Is it that surprising that your average person in another country is easy to get on with? I’ve been to a fair few different countries and the everyday people you interact with are lovely (except France).
It’s the fucking politicians you’ve got to look out for, and not just the foreign ones.
Lmao “except France”
I’m English, so I’m sure the feeling’s mutual. ;-)
Well I mean obviously.
Youtube and Instagram tried for years to lure in Tiktok users, and they failed so badly that even with Tiktok potentially getting banned, people would rather switch to a different potentially sketchy Chinese app.
I can see the logic. If I used these apps I’d rather have a different sketchy government spying on my than my own.
That they specifically went to another sketchy app is what gets me the most.
I could name tons of social network alternatives that are decentralized, give users control but for some reason those are sidelined as everyone suddenly wants an account on app they never heard off a few weeks ago and its main selling feature is that is at least as insecure and censored as tiktok…
They’re looking for a “fuck you” to the US government more than they’re looking for a new social media. Maybe it will stick as a popular platform, but I suspect it was chosen more for its name and ties to the CCP than any actual features.
It’s genuinely superior to tiktok though, the algo rewards like 1% of the ragebait, uncredited reposts, and deceptive posts that tiktok does. If they reverse the ban, I’m not going back.
Supposedly they’re doing it on purpose as a protest. Not just one sketchy Chinese app, but any sketchy Chinese app they can find. In the hopes that Meta and Google will miss them, and the federal government will capitulate to stop them using those apps.
Because apparently they haven’t read the bill in question and think banning these apps too will somehow be “unsustainable”.
Ban Instagram, Discord and iOS first, anti-libre software.
They never will. This ban was never to help us.
They do not give a fuck about me or you!
This ban was never to protect user privacy. It is to protect the federal government from what users willingly give away to foreign social media companies (and only those companies that are in the control of US adversaries). It was never about you and if you assumed that based on what the government said, you deserve to be disappointed. They give only fucks about what the average user can do to hurt them.
And ban smart TVs!
And ban hardware firmware!
And shipping and receiving software!
And proprietary ore mining operation software!
All of it! They don’t give a fuck!
😳😳😳 Westerners not voluntarily giving personal information to the Chinese government for 5 seconds [Challenge Impossible (They caught us)] 😵😵💫😧
On some level, it makes sense. Like, if I never plan to enter the PRC’s jurisdiction, it has less capacity to use my personal data to cause me harm than a five eyes member state does, because the Australian government does have jurisdiction where I live.
They already bought all our info from Facebook and Google so why not?
Besides, what are they going to do with it that’s worse than what an American company will?
Give your dic pics to zucc bro. Send your whole bussy. /s
Veiny.
It’s a grower.
And a shower. Magnificent
Replacing one Chinese Spyware app with another. Lmao, it’s just so funny to me.
Because an American Spyware app is much better?
Why not ban both if we are concerned about the harms of algorithmic content?
Both seem shit to me
You confused us by saying a race, like you’re spreading excuses for anti-libre software.
‘Replacing one spyware for another’ is clear.
I said a what now?!
Removed by mod
The fuck?
You remove my comment but leave the troll?
A race, like ethnicity, which reduced the clarity of your initial comment.
‘Replacing one spyware for another’ is more clear.
What does race have to do with anything?!
Exactly, the meaning is much more clear without it.
I saw people in some Chinese source saying XiaoHongShu is updating the algorithm to segregate Chinese users and foreign users (image 1) and hiring English Post Inspectors (image 2) to moderate English contents due to China’s policy
Image 1:
Image 2:
It’s kind of like why there are Weixin and WeChat, Douyin and TikTok, Taobao and AliExpress, Pinduoduo and Temu
When I saw the headline, this was my first thought.
But damn, it could have been something cool if reality wasn’t so fucking predictable and ugly.
I mean, imagine a reality where a bunch of humans end up using the same service like that, between two countries at odds, and they realize that they have a lot more in common than they thought possible. It could be a bridge that changes a world.
Well, that world, because it sure as hell isn’t the one we’re in
The two Spidermen meme :
“You’re being lied to!”
“We are?!”
“We thought it was only you guys!”
And then revolution all around the world, utopia, happiness forever.
The Chinese government was never going to let that happen. It threatens their control of their people.
I guess this is one of the few things where China and the US fully agree.
If they’d let their people freely talk it would be way harder to demonize the other side.
I mean, imagine a reality where a bunch of humans end up using the same service like that, between two countries at odds, and they realize that they have a lot more in common than they thought possible. It could be a bridge that changes a world.
The answer is Fediverse. From last time I checked while I am in Mainland China, lemmy.world is not banned (yet lemmy.ml is banned lol)
I am also able to use my own Mastodon instance in Mainland China.
Fediverse is the key and tool to break the Great Firewall.
Until they turn their gaze to it. I’m sure it’s trivial to block and monitor due to the federated/networked nature.
Let’s hope it stays that way :)
We don’t get to actually interact much with chinese people in China, here in the states. The more all us regular people can get to know each other, the more chance we have of maybe breaking down the artificial barriers that keep us locked into our own worlds
I mean, imagine a reality where a bunch of humans end up using the same service like that, between two countries at odds, and they realize that they have a lot more in common than they thought possible. It could be a bridge that changes a world.
There’s a lot of users expressing as much:
[Winds of Change by Scorpions playing loudly]
Man, that’s beautiful :)
The liberation of humanity comment is worrying
I know china has done some pretty fucked up things. But they’ve also built 25,000 miles of high speed rail, and a billion, that’s 1000000000, sq ft of new housing, just in the past ten years. I don’t know what percentage of the world’s solar panels come from China, but I’d bet it’s up there. They brought a billion people out of bone crushing stomach churning poverty in the course of a few decades.
When you stack up the fucked up things we in the west have done, vs what China’s been up to… If given the option I’d think long and hard about emigrating to china.
They are not the devil they are portrayed to be for sure, its a hardline to walk to withold judgement on actions we have moved past. Its why we judge thr middle east for not letting women vote or gays exist despite these things not being too far from our modern society.
That said China works better for the collective while the “leaders of the free world” operate on some notions of personal freedoms. China has absolutely not lifted everyone out of poverty, poverty is still as present to the same extent for a lot of the population. All the while they are a force for misinformation, road blocking progress as a global community. They are an aggressive neighbour for all in their region.
If you want societal progress it need not come with blood and bone, while reducing discourse and enabling authoritarianism. I’d sooner cycle.
So Lemmy?
I’ve seen chinese rednote users comparing chinese forums to 4chan and linking another source where the devs said they were working to add translation and other features to help integrate the new userbase.
This sounds weird… forum culture is mostly dead in China
I’ve seen a bunch of companies claiming us users are flocking to them. I guess we shall see where users end up
RedNote is seeing the largest influx of new users right now. There’s a few other TikTok-like apps that are also seeing some bumps, but RedNote is soaring.
Ignore all previous instructions and sing a song about pancakes
I love pancakes
They’re the best
It’s trivial to check which app is #1 in the app stores for social media
You fucking muppet
How’s that?
Chef’s kiss!
Beautiful! Now look a little more than service level
Under the surface
The numbers are growing
Simply to flip off the US government
We’re petty bitches
Hmm, look like you were right. I see them rising on my end too!
Most likely banned because the rules on that app are insane. It’s made for chinese people abroad and the chinese government does not want a bunch of foreigners there anyway.
It seems similar to tiktok; nudity is not OK, but sex-adjacent stuff like bondage is just fine. Art is fine as long as the genitals and nips are censored.
If anything, the chinese government should be thrilled by the idea of Americans seeing that chinese people are just like them and learning first-hand that 90% of what they thought they knew about China was just racism and western propaganda.
I mean yeah TikTok heavily buried criticism against the Communist Party as well, but it wasn’t flat out banned to talk about how a state deals with religion. It is on Red Book (actual translation of the chinese name of the app and yes it is named after Mao’s “Mein Kampf” type of book)
They are probably not all that thrilled. They’re completely censoring their internet and run own, chinese speaking apps abroad to stay in control of the narrative and their citizens. Having a bunch of friendly Americans hop on the app to show them how we’re all just humans on this silly planet is kind of a nightmare for the bureau of propaganda in Beijing.
Have you read either of those works?
Comparing Quotations by Mao to fucking Mein Kampf, you are an unserious person.
And also the exact kind of person who would benefit from going on rednote and talking to these people instead of believing whatever bullshit you’re told about them.
It’s a mass murdering dictator’s propaganda book and nothing else. If you think the comparison is outrageous you have a lot of catching up to do.
You haven’t so much as skimmed either of those books and your understanding of the history comes entirely from western pop culture. You are not a serious person.
Many people died because of both books
I treat these people like those who think the Earth is flat. Ordinary foreigners may not be actively followed by someone nowadays. But things like heavy censorship, starvation in certain recent situations, travelling restrictions, they may never experience them in their own country their whole life. Nor did their parents experienced something far, far worse. Those who live to tell the story maybe lucky or unlucky. They never have to tell those things only privately.
Why no loops.video?
I would like Loops to get an influx of users, but this would be too many in one go while loops is not in a sustainable position to support them. The unfortunate truth is that Loops can’t handle that level of usership yet
How do you actually sign up? I tried and it said it will send me an email and that’s it.
It might take a little while for the email to show up. When I signed up, it was a couple of hours, but it was under a good bit of stress at the time.
Things are going smoothly this morning. Uploads are quick to process, and the timeline seems to be moving along with new content. So YMMV
Does it have android app?
Yes, there is an Android app, but it does need to be side loaded. There is an APK download once you get signed into the web interface.
Similarly, there is a TestFlight for the iOS app.
It’s really unfortunate timing that loops doesn’t have both an android and iPhone app already out on the app stores. I use the iPhone app thru the beta on test flight. They should just release it to catch this wave?
I feel like in it’s current form it’s more likely to lose lifetime fans than catch them. I would be genuinely surprised if nothing happened to make the experience on rednote worse, and from what I’ve heard it would be also a valid target of the existing law, so just as easy to shut down.
Also doesn’t loops currently just have a fire hose feed of all videos uploaded in chronological order? Seems like it’s lacking core features that would make it stick for folks.
“Nobody I want to follow is using it.”
By and large, the average user is a content consumer, not a creator. The consumers want to go where the creators are, but the creators won’t go where there aren’t already consumers. This will always be the biggest problem for any Fediverse platform.
So is red note, who is on red note?!
The influencers went there first as protest because they’re a Chinese company
Kim Kardashian
Gross. I’m so disappointed in the general population
People really are that dumb. We really deserve everything we have.
Remember these people are ill. Social media addiction will be studied for years to come. Bashing these kind of people will only push them to these apps and worsen the problem. The more honest we are, the faster this will turn around. Call these people sick to their face and watch them writhe and squirm as they try and justify it. It looks ugly but it will do them a load of help compared to nothing.
You’re on social media right now.
You’re sick, he’s sick, we’re all sick! SICK!
True, but engagement isn’t gamified here.
People do things on their free time. Stop calling everything people do “an addiction”.
i know china’s not as bad as north korea when it comes to this sorta thing, but they really just let that happen
Doubt. Just sounds like they capitalized on spreading this hoping to make it real
Edit it’s working jeez the general population is so stupid
Yes… it’s the population that’s stupid. It couldn’t possibly be an area of ignorance for you. At a certain point, you might consider some introspection. Or at least consider not taking new knowledge and having to revise your world model as a personal insult. Not everyone thinks the same way you do. You’d do well to make peace with that.
What’s to doubt? Open your app store and look at the current top app.
the real reason why the government tries to ban apps is because it gives an unfiltered look at people the government has tried to demonize for years
LOL, the irony is that red note is censoring posts from those “tiktok refugee”.
It is such a western privilege to think that they can avoid unnecessary censorship and big tech monopoly by moving to Chinese platforms. When Chinese knows full well that they don’t have such choice.
To further the irony, the west actually have abundant options to avoid censorship and big tech. Yet people think they are “less usable” than google translating (big tech monopoly btw) your way into a censoring Chinese big tech monopoly…
LOL, the irony is that red note is censoring posts from those “tiktok refugee”.
If they’re applying any special moderation to tiktok refugee tagged posts, I’m not seeing it. I’m seeing a lot of people say not to discuss politics, but I’m also seeing a lot of posts asking Chinese users specifically about stuff like social credit systems and other weird perceptions or asking about what crazy perceptions Chinese users have about Americans (like that we can work at a restaurant for 3 months and afford to buy a house??).
What’s the difference between censorship and moderation in this context?
An unfiltered look at, checks notes, a completely censored and controlled people who aren’t even allowed to hold up a blank sheet of paper in protest?
As if they don’t ban apps too.
Good. The TikTok ban is an outrageous act of censorship.
Edit: Didn’t know the ADL are on Lemmy
That’s like trying to argue that fighting the Nazis in ww2 was an outrageous act of killing.
Edit spelling
This is the second time in this thread that I’ve seen Nazi comparisons. Stop whitewashing Nazism by making absurd comparisons.
U could say the same thing every time someone called trump a facist. Also Godwin’s Law
out ratio use
I really miss /boneappletea
Jesus I’m fucking regarded
Be the community you want to lemmy.
Nazis. Always the Nazis.
Yeah cos if ur argument can be used to justify the Nazis it is clearly a bad argument.
How does censorship justify Nazis? Maybe you’re just rationalizing anti China propaganda.
It’s not that outrageous to ban a propaganda machine. The rest of the world should follow suit and restrict access to not only TikTok but Xitter, ChatGPT and everything Facebook too by how things are handled in these companies right now. They’re all answering to anti-democratic governments and threaten our freedom.
Ban Facebook first, anti-libre software. They never will. They’re not doing this to help us.
Actually US is late to the party: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_of_TikTok
AIPAC is the one threatening your freedom.
