Xiaohongshu, the popular Chinese app many users have dubbed “Red Note,” has jumped to the top of the Apple App Store as TikTok races towards a Jan. 19 ban. But there are some topics that are off limits for American users to talk about on the app — like the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre.
TheWrap learned that firsthand on Wednesday. The app quickly censored a post that included the famous photo of “Tank Man,” the unidentified individual who stood in front of Chinese tanks; the post was accompanied by the caption: “Does anyone know what happened to tank man at Tiananmen Square in 1989?” Within five minutes, the post was hit with a violation notice and blocked from other users.
“Please abide by community standards when creating,” the violation notice said, when translated to English.
Here are the top 4 rules outlined by Xiaohongshu:
— “Comply with the [Chinese] Constitution and laws and regulations”
— “Practice the core values of socialism”
— “Promote patriotism, collectivism, and socialism”
— “Spread the correct view of history, nationality, country, and culture”
At least hundreds, if not thousands, of people were killed during the Chinese government’s crackdown on the peaceful protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, according to Amnesty International.
Xiaohongshu’s censorship should not come as much of a surprise. The app, which uses a bright red icon, translates to “Little Red Book” in English. In China, The Little Red Book is also the name for a propaganda book that includes quotes from Mao Zedong, the longtime leader of China’s communist party. And all Chinese apps, including TikTok, answer to China’s government.
There are other topics that lead to quick censorship too, like mentioning the CCP’s treatment of the Uyghurs, a Muslim ethnic minority in China. Between 800,000 and 3 million Uyghurs have been sent to internment camps in China, but mentioning that on Xiaohongshu led to another violation.
The app said the Uyghur post needed to be reviewed, according to an English translation, to help create a “safe, harmonious and beautiful” environment.
Xiaohongshu and Lemon8 — which is owned by ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company — hit the top of Apple’s App Store this week.
As TikTok barrels toward its ban date, several prominent TikTok users have been promoting Xiaohongshu on their profiles. On its app description page, Xiaohongshu describes itself as a “lifestyle platform” where users can post about personal experiences, travel, and fashion, among other topics. The app does not share a parent company with TikTok, but all Chinese companies ultimately answer to the same boss — the country’s communist government.
Lemon8, meanwhile, is a pictures-and-video social app focused on lifestyle content like beauty, food and travel. In September, TheWrap reported Lemon8 had a big summer in terms of user growth, pushing the app to 12 million total downloads in the U.S.
But several users told TheWrap they were skeptical Lemon8 would have much staying power, as its user base is comprised of almost exclusively women and it is struggling to achieve cross-app sharing amongst its competitors.
“I found it underwhelming,” one former user told TheWrap. “I wasn’t seeing too much that was new.”
ByteDance aggressively advertised Lemon8 last year, primarily on TikTok. The company started paying TikTok influencers a few hundred dollars each to post about Lemon8 — a campaign that led to pushback from many other TikTok users. Still, the app appears to have found stable footing in the U.S., at least for now, as it has raced up the App Store rankings.
TikTok is set to be banned on Jan. 19. President Joe Biden signed a law last April kicking the popular app — which has 170 million monthly American users — out of the States, unless ByteDance divests from its U.S. operations. The chief concern U.S. lawmakers say they have with TikTok is that it could double as a spyware app for the Chinese government; TikTok, per Chinese law, is required to share user data if asked to do so.
The Supreme Court is currently weighing TikTok’s plea to overturn the law banning the app, but it does not appear likely before Sunday, when the app’s ban date hits.
