Americans scramble for TikTok alternatives

American TikTok users are busy seeking similar apps as they await the Supreme Court's decision on a challenge to a federal law that would ban the popular video-sharing platform.

Alex Zhee, 14, from New York says that he will likely use US sites owned by Facebook parent Meta if TikTok is banned. He said he enjoys the comical TikTok videos that his friends share with him.

"It just makes me happy," Zhee told China Daily. "It just reminds me of my friends. I will be sad if it goes. I will just try and use something else. I can use Instagram Reels."

Some 170 million people use TikTok in the United States. Many are bracing for the court's decision on a law that would force it to be sold by its Chinese parent company ByteDance by Jan 19, or face a ban in the US over purported national security concerns.

Some netizens already are looking to have another Chinese-owned video sharing site called Xiaohongshu, which means "little red book", in Mandarin, known as the Red Note app.

Similar to TikTok, the app features short videos, group chats and text-based posts on recipes, politics, censorship, fashion, travel, food and more.

Xiaohongshu, which is extremely popular in China, has more than 300 million users based in the country. Yet it was not widely known in the US until recently.

Up until December around 85 percent of its traffic was from China, according to Similarweb, a website tracker. But that could change.

As of Tuesday, Xiaohongshu was ranked No. 1 in the US Apple app store and is dominating downloads in the US. Many of the Americans who have joined Xiaohongshu quirkily dubbed themselves a "TikTokrefugee," via a hashtag on the app.

That hashtag had been viewed more than 100 million times and led to over 2.5 million discussion threads about the new international arrivals on Tuesday.

Another Chinese-owned app gaining popularity among the TikTok refugees is "Lemon8" also owned by ByteDance. It first launched in the US in 2023.

In the past month, the number of downloads of Lemon8 have increased rapidly, pushing it to the second spot in the US Apple app store as of Tuesday.

But Lemon8 could be affected by the same law that may ban TikTok, as it implies that any apps owned or operated by ByteDance, TikTok or their subsidiaries must be sold to an approved owner or cannot operate in the US.

TikTok, available for download in 150 countries, became a lightning rod for criticism from the US government and lawmakers as it gained in popularity, as they expressed fears that China could use it to access the data of users.

In March 2023, US lawmakers held a hearing with TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew, contending how the app could potentially harm children.

Both President Joe Biden signed the ban law in April, and President-elect Donald Trump previously tried to have ByteDance sell the app during his first term, but a US court ruled against the attempt in 2020.

Trump now is in favor of the app, as he said it played a part in getting him elected to a second term in November. He also met with TikTok's CEO at Mar-a-Lago last month.

During more than two hours of oral arguments on Friday, the majority of the Supreme Court justices appeared likely to uphold the ban approved by large majorities in both chambers of Congress in April.

David Urbinma, a 30-year-old linguistics teacher from Santiago, Chile, said that the US government should not determine whether people can or cannot use TikTok by banning the app.

"Personal freedom is the most important thing, and also for a person, so is human rights. They talk about freedom in America like it's valued only for this country, but they [could be] banning an app. It's just ridiculous," he told China Daily.

belindarobinson@chinadailyusa.com