Rednote Is Even More Popular Amid Tiktok’s Ban, but Its Terms and Conditons Are Tricky

On Jan. 17, 2025, the Supreme Court voted to uphold a new law that could ban TikTok in the U.S. The court’s ruling came two days before the company’s proposed ban from app stores on Jan. 19, 2025.

Days before the Supreme Court’s ruling, many of the app’s users, nicknamed TikTok refugees, scoured the internet hoping to find the “next big thing,” aka the following form of escapism.

So far, one top alternative to TikTok has been RedNote or Xiaohongshu. Rednote is a China-based app reminiscent of Instagram. It features topics like fashion, voiceover videos, and all of the travel content we know and love RedNote for.

And while the app gained over 700,000 U.S. subscribers during the week before the date of the possible ban, many understandably want to read the fine print before they join.

Unfortunately, RedNote hasn’t made its terms and conditions easily accessible. Thankfully, Google Translate came through, and we’ve seen the gist of what the app requires.

RedNote’s terms and conditions didn’t sit well with social media users who wanted to know what they signed up for. The agreement is in Mandarin, making reading difficult for many U.S. subscribers. Thankfully, the terms and conditions can be translated, and several guidelines are much nicer than those used by U.S. social media users.

Some guidelines state that users may not disclose false information, such as gossip about a celebrity or another creator. Users may also not violate the “basic principles” established by the Chinese Constitution and may not “slander” China’s cultural tradition, inciting “ethnic hatred and ethnic discrimination.”

Like other apps, anyone violating RedNote’s terms and conditions could have their account suspended or deleted. As TikTok user @fearlessfreedomlifestyle put it, the app wants U.S. users to “come in and take their shoes off at the door” and be civilized on social media for once.

While RedNote seemingly wants to create a safe space for its users, the app’s privacy policies and rollout for its terms and conditions still raise questions about whether it's safe or could be considered more of a threat to the same U.S. lawmakers who want TikTok banned.

“RedNote was never meant for outside of the China market,” Adrianus Warmenhoven, a cybersecurity expert at Nord VPN, explained to CBS News. “All of the data sharing and all the servers to which the data is being shared is in China.”

Warmenhoven noted that TikTok at least stored data on U.S.-based servers, giving the U.S. government some control. However, with that gone on RedNote, plus the app’s “lack of transparency” in having its terms and conditions in Mandarin, he predicted the U.S. government would be even more skeptical about citizens using the app.

RedNote was created in June 2013 and has been called “China’s answer to Instagram” and possibly TikTok. In addition to the influx of attention, the app has over 300 million subscribers in China.