Fifteen Hours of RedNote: What Happened During TikTok’s Short-lived Ban?
TikTok’s short ban for American audiences began a migration from one company with evident ties to the Chinese Government to one that expressly states, in writing, that your information will be harvested as per Chinese law
By banning TikTok, the United States possibly enabled China’s greatest intelligence and cyber security victory in decades. This massive unforced error will present another cascading disaster for U.S. intelligence services and open Americans up to Chinese influence operations, the exact opposite of what U.S. lawmakers intended when banning TikTok. Let’s recount a turbulent week in social media influence operations.
In a dramatic flourish, U.S. TikTok services were shut down on January 19, at around 10:35 pm EST with the message, “A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok right now.”
Days before the ban, however, the Biden Administration issued a statement saying, “the enforcement of the ban will now fall to the incoming Trump administration.” On the day of his inauguration, President Trump instructed the Attorney General to not enforce the ban, making the entire shutdown likely engineered to motivate the public to believe that the President alone can fix their problems.
The panic the shutdown caused has real consequences. There are currently over 150 million American users of TikTok, and the fear of its potential banning has led to a search for an alternative. Nearly 3 million TikTok users joined RedNote, the Chinese version of TikTok.
The desperation to find an alternative for TikTok is about more than just entertainment. There are about 7000 Americans who are directly employed by TikTok and about 2 million American influencers who rely on TikTok as their main source of income demonstrating a significant economic impact. Some credit TikTok and social media with shaping elections and general perceptions within the United States, leading to the ban.
The Ban
Mainland China has banned TikTok to prevent the influence of external content. In 2024, Congress first enacted the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. The U.S. government and Congress are particularly worried about China obtaining information from TikTok through the app’s parent company ByteDance Ltd. The Chinese Government requires ByteDance Ltd. to “assist or cooperate” with the government.
The U.S. Government is also worried that any information provided by American users on TikTok will be relinquished to China because of Chinese law’s requirement to surrender data to the government. The Supreme Court decided that national security issues are so that there is no violation of the First Amendment protections. All apps developed by ByteDance Ltd., most notably TikTok, Capcut, and Lemon8, have been removed from the App Store in compliance with the Act, yet to return at this point.
President Donald Trump originally had plans to ban TikTok during his first term as President as he believed the app was a threat to U.S. national security. In 2025, Trump changed his stance as he issued an executive order during his second term which delayed the TikTok ban for seventy-five days in an attempt to, “make a deal to protect our national security.”
A Recent History of Chinese Hacks
China has consistently sought to collect American data through hacks and maintaining persistence on U.S. networks. The most recent and perhaps most devastating was Salt Typhoon, a concentrated group of hacks done since 2020 that have specifically targeted major American telecommunications companies. These companies include but aren’t limited to, Verizon, T-Mobile, Spectrum, and AT&T, exposing everything ranging from phone calls to voicemails.
Further examples of breaches include Chinese-linked attacks against Marriott Hotels and later United Airlines. These hacks exposed critical information, such as passports and flight information.
On March 20, 2014, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) discovered that the Chinese government breached highly sensitive personal data including background information on security clearances.
Sadly, more than 1.8 million American users joining and staying with RedNote is perhaps a greater security threat than all these past exploits combined due to the ability of China to leverage new personal information and launch targeted information operations against vulnerable Americans.
Joining the Chinese Digital Ecosystem
RedNote, also known as Xiaohongshu or Little Red Book, has seemingly unlimited access to a significant amount of user data. This information includes location, browsing activity, device details, and potentially sensitive information depending on posted content. Despite TikTok also farming this information, RedNote adheres strictly to Chinese information-sharing laws.
Because of Chinese laws regarding data access for social media platforms; there is not much transparency regarding this data usage, raising major concerns. Along with this, RedNote is subject to the Chinese Constitution, meaning the app must comply with content censorship laws including banning mentions of sexuality, Taiwan, and other taboo topics in China.
RedNote symbolizes the very fear that politicians face regarding TikTok with one key difference: participants in the app willingly and knowingly gave up their information to RedNote and the Chinese government. Unlike TikTok, which has suspected risks of Chinese influence, RedNote is known as being subject to Chinese laws. While dancing videos may not indicate much about the individual, what China does know is that these people are willing to take risks, and they are bitter about the government removing TikTok.
Unintended Consequences
The corresponding knock-on effects of banning TikTok will dramatically affect the relationship between the United States and China for years to come. China has limitations in soft power, the influence established by cultural attraction. Chinese movies, music, and authentic Chinese food are not popular in the West. Korean and Japanese cultures dominate, but China has an opening to influence the world through the power of TikTok and RedNote. By banning TikTok, the United States created a massive goal pushing millions of Americans directly to the Chinese platform.
Forcing TikTok to find an American buyer might ensure the platform remains open and free but forcing a move leads to possible unintended consequences. The best solution is to support and leverage American-owned and developed platforms that are open, honest, and seek to promote free expression.
The problems with RedNote are clear, it is a platform built on censorship. This demonstrates the limitation of Chinese soft power and the advantage the West holds over China. In censoring and shutting down TikTok, the United States falls into a trap where the government is limiting free expression. By instead exploring the possibilities of positive influence operations the West can seek to leverage social media to promote liberal values and social norms.
Avoiding unforced errors is the key to maintaining influence, by banning TikTok the U.S. government achieved the direct opposite of the intent of lawmakers adding a disastrous chapter in U.S.-Chinese relations.
Neve Walker is an undergraduate at Seton Hall University studying Diplomacy, Philosophy, and Arabic. She is an intern at AFS Youth Assembly as well as Chapter Vice President of the United Nations Association of Seton Hall.
Sofia A. Diaz is an undergraduate student at Seton Hall University’s School of Diplomacy and International Relations while studying a minor in Italian and writes for The Diplomatic Envoy, the international affairs newspaper on campus.
Brandon Valeriano is an Assistant Professor at Seton Hall University focusing on cyber security and hybrid warfare. He directs the DiploLab, the School of Diplomacy’s undergraduate research arm.
Image Credit: Shutterstock.