Why TikTok, RedNote and Tencent are Dangerous

Crossroads with Joshua Philipp

TikTok may soon be banned in the United States due to its China ties, but some users are now migrating to a platform even more strongly linked to China’s communist regime. The case with TikTok is now in the hands of the Supreme Court, which is weighing the constitutionality of banning the video app unless its China-based owner, ByteDance, sells it off. It appears the ban is likely to be upheld, and some TikTok users have been jumping to another platform that’s even more Chinese—RedNote. Technically, the name is Xiaohongshu, which is Mandarin for “Little Red Book”—as in the teachings of former CCP leader Mao Zedong.

In other news, TikTok may be just the first of many such companies that could be forced to either sell or get banned in the United States. The U.S. Department of Defense recently listed Tencent as a Chinese military company, and this could also have broad implications for tech and entertainment. Tencent owns the messaging app WeChat and has also been buying up large swaths of companies in the video game market—including many of the most popular games currently available. With the new designation, and with the passage of some recent U.S. laws, Tencent could soon go the way of TikTok.