Despite the threat of a U.S. ban, China's RedNote becomes the top app on Apple's app store.

• The popularity of Chinese social media app RedNote on Apple's app store highlights fears that TikTok may soon be banned in the U.S.
• TikTok creators are seeking alternatives to continue posting videos while awaiting the app's outcome.
• After a July funding round, RedNote was valued at $17 billion, with investors like Boyu Capital and HongShan Capital Group, who were previously Sequoia Capital's Chinese investment arm.

The surge of Chinese social media app RedNote to the top of the app store has raised concerns about the potential ban of TikTok in the U.S.

As of Monday, the top three free apps on the app store are RedNote, Lemon8, and ChatGPT.

TikTok creators are scrambling to find alternative platforms to continue posting videos as the app faces a potential ban in the U.S. on January 19th. The Supreme Court held oral arguments last week regarding the April law that could lead to a ban, and appeared to lean towards the U.S. government's argument that ByteDance's ownership of TikTok poses a national security risk.

TikTok and its creators' attorneys contended that the law infringes on the free-speech rights of millions of its U.S. users.

If the Supreme Court upholds the law, third-party service providers like ByteDance and Musical.ly will be penalized for supporting TikTok, effectively banning the app in the U.S. It's uncertain whether President-elect Donald Trump, who assumes office on January 20, will enforce the law.

Some TikTok creators are enacting contingency plans by migrating to RedNote.

On Monday, allieusyaps, a content creator, stated that although the ban of TikTok in the U.S. is acceptable, he and other TikTok creators will not return to Instagram and Facebook as they have joined RedNote.

Although I may not have a job in the next week, we are about to learn Mandarin!

Krystan Walmsley, another TikTok creator, posted a video demonstrating how to set up and decorate RedNote accounts.

"This app is adorable and extremely enjoyable to use," Walmsley remarked.

RedNote, a Shanghai-based company founded in 2013, has been challenging Douyin, ByteDance's version of TikTok in China, in e-commerce and social media. As of July 2024, RedNote had about 300 million monthly active users, according to a report by the South China Morning Post.

RedNote, a company that raised funding in July from investors like Boyu Capital and HongShan Capital Group, formerly Sequoia Capital's Chinese investment arm, was valued at $17 billion, according to PitchBook. The company has raised over $900 million in total funding and has more than 2,000 employees, PitchBook said.

TikTok viewed as a "Chinese spy agency in the West."