this post was submitted on 15 Jan 2025
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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.
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[–] essteeyou@lemmy.world 45 points 15 hours ago (7 children)

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.

[–] hydroxycotton@lemmy.world 24 points 13 hours ago (2 children)
[–] essteeyou@lemmy.world 8 points 13 hours ago

I'm English, so I'm sure the feeling's mutual. ;-)

[–] echodot 4 points 13 hours ago (1 children)
[–] rakeshmondal@lemmy.zip 3 points 11 hours ago (7 children)

Are they really that unwelcoming? I've heard a bunch about this, fortunately never got to experience it first hand.

[–] danciestlobster@lemm.ee 3 points 8 hours ago

I have only ever had great experiences visiting france, but then again I avoided Paris for the most part

[–] MITM0@lemmy.world 0 points 6 hours ago

Yes, they are

[–] essteeyou@lemmy.world 0 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

I spent one day in Paris, let me give you the highlights...

  1. We arrived, left the train station, and were immediately accosted by like 5 people trying to sell us friendship bracelets, or little string bracelets
  2. We left the area and walked to a local Metro station to get across the city, we wanted to check something, so we went to the nearby information section, where the lady refused to speak any English, despite the signage indicating that English was spoken there
  3. We figured it out on our own and entered the station, which smelled exactly and completely of piss
  4. We got off the train and walked along the river for about 10 seconds before being accosted by a conman pretending we'd just dropped some jewelry. Apparently it's a common con. We ignored him and moved on.
  5. We had an ok time for the rest of the day trip, until we got back to the original train station, where we sat in a café beside a family who decided to change their kid's diaper at their table, and then threw the used one to the nearest bin like they were playing cornhole

I'm not in a big rush to go back.

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[–] arararagi@ani.social 4 points 10 hours ago

I'm surprised most didn't go to lemon8, since that is also bytedance it will just be banned too.

[–] samunder@lemmynsfw.com -3 points 6 hours ago
[–] ryper@lemmy.ca 118 points 1 day ago (13 children)

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.

[–] Blackmist 26 points 17 hours ago

I can see the logic. If I used these apps I'd rather have a different sketchy government spying on my than my own.

[–] webghost0101@sopuli.xyz 59 points 1 day ago (4 children)

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..

[–] AltheaHunter@lemmy.blahaj.zone 38 points 16 hours ago

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.

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[–] atrielienz@lemmy.world 22 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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".

[–] spicehoarder@lemm.ee 6 points 10 hours ago (3 children)

It's still an act of protest. Even if it will only last a week.

However, XHS has gone through 3-4 major revisions in the past 4 days, they clearly are anticipating sticking around.

It would be so hilarious to me if they build a VPN directly into the app to sidestep the Great Firewall of America

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[–] LouNeko@lemmy.world 45 points 1 day ago (7 children)

😳😳😳 Westerners not voluntarily giving personal information to the Chinese government for 5 seconds [Challenge Impossible (They caught us)] 😵😵‍💫😧

[–] Glytch@lemmy.world 19 points 16 hours ago (3 children)

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?

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[–] Walk_blesseD@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 13 hours ago

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.

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