I don't know, it just reminds me of when Musk bought twitter and ppl online (especially this site) were like "hahahahah it's gonna implode in a week loolololol" and guess what, twitter is still around and now Musk is even more politically powerful. It kind of reminds me of how ppl were hyping up mastadon, blue sky, etc. and honestly who really uses those sites?

There's also the language barrier, like are ppl actually gonna seriously try to learn Chinese? Just installing duolingo and maybe doing a two day streak is what I predict most people will do. Btw learning a language from duolingo is like learning about socialism from AOC, i.e. it's actually harmful.

I just see this as a media hype cycle that will die down in a week or two and it's frustrating that ppl who call themselves materialists are now putting their faith (ironic right?) into some magical app just because it's controlled by a Chinese company, etc. The same ppl who say that real agitation/organizing/etc. is done offline are now advocating for some pure online shit and honestly just basing it off pure vibes. Kinda cringe.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] xiaohongshu@hexbear.net 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

Why would the US want to ban xiaohongshu?

The whole point of banning TikTok is to force China to open up their social media spaces again as China has kicked Google, Facebook, Twitter etc. out since the last decade.

They don’t want Chinese social media app to be able to operate in the US when the US is not allowed to operate theirs in Chinese soil. American users joining Chinese social media app in China will only raise the incentives for China to open up to American social media. So, this is actually good for the US because now they have an excuse that American cultural content are not infringing on the rules set by the Chinese government.

So, there is no reason for the US to ban American users from joining Chinese social media operating within Chinese soil.

The reasons given under “national security” is as legit as the Chinese government gave for banning Western social media. You can call the US out for being hypocritical since they’re the ones coercing other countries to open up their market, but you can see banning TikTok as a political move to force China to open up their spaces to the US.

I don’t know what is the bottom line for China when it comes to cultural sovereignty after all these years of the Great Firewall, but the financial sector is already being opened up for foreign capital. So, the last realm of sovereignty left for China is their cultural spaces - will the Americans invade this space as well?

[–] john_brown@hexbear.net 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)

They'll block access to it for the same reason they're going to ban Tik Tok - because they don't control the narrative

[–] xiaohongshu@hexbear.net 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

“National security” is just an excuse. The real reason is that US tech companies want to enter China (again).

[–] john_brown@hexbear.net 12 points 1 day ago

The US tech companies have been pushing this ban for years and they have been steadfastly ignored. What changed was the pro-Palestine narrative on Tik Tok after oct 7th. That is the prime motivator.

[–] Moonworm@hexbear.net 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

American users joining Chinese social media app in China will only raise the incentives for China to open up to American social media.

How? It seems like having Americans on their domestic apps means that if they want access to those users, they very much do not have to open up to American ones.

[–] xiaohongshu@hexbear.net 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

China wants foreign tech companies to invest to boost their domestic consumption and save their property market. So this could be an unexpectedly welcoming incident that may or may not have influenced the outcome anyway. In any case, both the US and China want to open up to each other and this could “ease” the tension since Google, Facebook, Twitter etc. were blacklisted or “made to leave”.

At least this is where all the signals are. The real question is how much is China willing to compromise after so many years of the Great Firewall. I expect China to at least try to guard them as best as they can when negotiating with Trump.

[–] Moonworm@hexbear.net 8 points 1 day ago

It still doesn't seem like this creates any new incentives for allowing the big US tech companies to operate their social media there. It sounds like you believe on background that China has incentives to open up to American social media and just wanted to talk about that.

[–] AssortedBiscuits@hexbear.net 13 points 1 day ago (2 children)

You're giving a bunch of senile technologically illiterate boomers way too much credit. They're going to ban XHS because they'll Google translate XHS, see that it spits out "little red book," and have a kneejerk reaction in banning the site. They also recognize that a lot of their propaganda strategy hinges on people not knowing basic info on China.

There are smarter moves than just banning the site. The smartest move is to keep XHS and use it as a vector to spread US propaganda. Contact between two different parties is a dialectical relationship after all, and it's undialectical to think that only one party will be affected. I don't think it's that hard to cultivate Westophilia within XHS's userbase, but that strategy hinges on some cultural contact between the two countries, which I believe would be unacceptable to the boomers in charge. Another move they can play is to create trolls that ruin the site and push XHS to block US accounts, which allows the US to push out propaganda about how China fears US cultural exports.

[–] ProletarianDictator@hexbear.net 2 points 22 hours ago

The thing about this is that who is going to signup for XHS to be a lib? They have their home on Western social media.

Dialectics doesn't mean both parties are changed equally. Westerners are getting a completely new look into something they've never seen before. Chinese people are making some Western friends who voluntarily chose this site.

[–] xiaohongshu@hexbear.net 4 points 1 day ago

I remember when Google “left” China back in the early 2010s lol. These tech companies have been eyeing China for so long and have been waiting to make a come back. They already have the entire world’s market - China is the final frontier they have been itching to conquer.

Everyone is now just waiting for Trump to take office and see how he deals with China. As I have said elsewhere I expect a lot of tension being eased on both sides. I don’t know how much China is willing to compromise but I hope China can come out on top of the negotiations.