TikTokers are learning Chinese to build followings on new app RedNote amid looming ban

We're just days away from a potentially historic US TikTok ban which could affect 170 million users, and now creators are scrambling to learn basic Chinese so that they can go and build their followings on an app predicted to be its replacement.

Unless ByteDance agrees to sell TikTok, the app will be wiped from app stores across the country.

Rumours of a ban began in April 2024 when Joe Biden gave ByteDance nine moths to give the app up, over security concerns, accusing them of being associated with the Chinese government - which they have denied.

So, where will everyone go now? Well, downloads for RedNote (also known as Xiaohongshu), are booming, and creators are already trying to establish themselves on the app, should TikTok get shut down.

RedNote currently has 300 million active users, and is a hybrid between Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest. It's not new either - it's been around in China since 2013 and is one of the most popular apps over there.

There are already 63,000 posts on the topic "TikTok refugee", where users old and new can connect and be shown how to use the app, as well as get to grips with the basic Mandarin they'll need to navigate it.

And now some of our favourite TikTok stars including former TV host, Michael Barrymore, and UK-based singer, Piri, are making videos showing off their Chinese language skills ahead of their audiences potentially moving onto the new app...

Luckily for Piri, she picked up Mandarin for extra credit while she was at university

While some are treating Rednote like the new Duolingo

If any RedNote users are reading this, "indoor chickens" is not a language slip-up - Jen Hamilton really has them

With only days to go, US TikTok users are picking up what they can to get by on the new app

It would seem that US users are already loving using RedNote too, with some gaining thousands of followers hours after joining.

"I am now able to see things I never would have seen," one user, Sarah Fotheringham, a 37-year-old school canteen worker in Utah told the BBC.

"Regular Chinese people, finding out about their culture, life, school, everything, it has been so much fun."

ByteDance has until 19 January to sell TikTok, unless the Supreme Court decides that their defence of maintaining free speech is a good enough reason to throw the ban out.

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