SOCIAL media start-up Xiaohongshu has seen its app go to the top of the iPhone’s U.S. download charts, as short-form video app TikTok is facing a ban at the end of this week.

Xiaohongshu, which translates as “Little Red Book” but is widely known in the U.S. as RedNote, topped Apple’s free-app downloads this week as so-called TikTok refugees flocked to its platform.

One employee at the Shanghai-based company described the sudden download surge as a surprise, as it has no plans for growth through targeting American users and the start-up is focused on consolidating its popularity in China.

Most of its content is in Mandarin, and the app does not have a translation feature to enable new U.S. users to understand posts.

The app does not have an official English name.

They added that the company was trying to capitalize on the sudden surge in traffic and may have to change content review mechanisms if American influencers started uploading posts.

New U.S. users were initially focused on introducing themselves to a Chinese audience, identifying themselves as “TikTok refugees” or “TikTok nomads.” One user named Trini was posting her book recommendations, echoing the “BookTok” community within TikTok, while another user known as “SoCal Masker” wrote in English and Chinese that he was looking forward to “this new opportunity to share my content.”

The sudden influx of users is largely a symbolic shift led by influencers protesting against the U.S. move to ban TikTok, with several viral posts joking that they were simply switching to another Chinese platform.

TikTok’s parent ByteDance is bracing for a potential ban if the U.S. Supreme Court does not overturn a law to block the app unless a non-Chinese buyer is found before the Jan. 19 deadline.

For TikTok’s 170 million users in the U.S., this would not mean the platform immediately disappears, but ByteDance would be unable to update the app and performance would decline.

Xiaohongshu is an Instagram-like app hugely popular with young Chinese women, who use the platform for travel, dining and beauty tips.

It is an important platform for fashion and beauty brands to reach affluent consumers in cities through promotions in posts or by paying influencers. It has also been steadily growing its male user base.

(SD-Agencies)