Congressional leaders seem flummoxed by the growing popularity of Chinese-owned apps Xiaohongshu and Lemon8, an unintended consequence of the TikTok ban
The Chinese apps RedNote and Lemon8 have exploded in popularity as TikTok faces an imminent ban and the Supreme Court upheld the law forcing its sale. Bluesky: @harrymccracken.com , @pharmesq , @romitmehta.com , @drdoofenschmirtz , @drdoofenschmirtz , @mikemillennial , @ricyrick87 , and @masterplan15 Mastodon: @harrymccracken@mastodon … and @pixel@oldbytes.space X: @milkkarten and @dtrinh See also Mediagazer Bluesky: Harry McCracken / @harrymccracken.com : Maybe it's time to consider banning ALL apps? https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/ 18/tiktok-ban-china-rivals-congress- 00199083 Farm Dee / @pharmesq : Gee I wonder why tiktokers don't want to go to Meta/Xitter/Google platforms that already existed when they first made their choice, and have gotten objectively much more hostile since then. Such an unforeseen event. Pass the pepper. Romit Mehta / @romitmehta.com : Capitalism in practice. Free market and all. [embedded post] @drdoofenschmirtz : The average age of congressmen and senators plays into this way more than is being talked about. It's a discussion we need to have as a nation @drdoofenschmirtz : This is a great issue to run on against incumbents that voted for it. @mikemillennial : Ironically this is capitalism right? @ricyrick87 : I don't think they even understood what tiktok was (let alone how the internet works), or the breath of content it housed 😅 the fact that we have people who “represent” us but have no clue how the world works for “normies” is terrifying @masterplan15 : Congress is always flummoxed by what the US population does and thinks Mastodon: Harry McCracken / @harrymccracken@mastodon.social : Maybe it's time to consider banning ALL apps? https://www.politico.com/... Eric Vitiello / @pixel@oldbytes.space : @Techmeme of course it was unintended but surely it had to have been anticipated X: Rachel Karten / @milkkarten : the tiktok ban will be bad for the entire social media ecosystem, even the platforms we think will “benefit” from its disappearance. its discovery-focused algorithm acts as a feeder of followers, creators, and culture. other social media platforms rely on it more than we think. [image] Danny Trinh / @dtrinh : Most folks discussing the Tiktok ban aren't talking about CapCut going down. A ton of original short form video production on all platforms comes from CapCut — massive opportunity for so many in this space (like the gang at @getcaptionsapp!) See also Mediagazer Expand More For Next Unexpand More For Next
Context & Ripple Effects
The TikTok fight has long centered on whether foreign ownership creates national-security and content-governance risks, from concerns about how TikTok could shape perceptions of real-world events to calls for a technology-neutral regulatory model.
As a ban neared, users had already begun moving to Xiaohongshu/RedNote and Lemon8 in a migration to Chinese-owned alternatives. The Supreme Court-backed sale-or-ban framework now exposes a mismatch between targeting one service and addressing the broader category of apps lawmakers say concerns them.
First-order effects
- Xiaohongshu/RedNote and Lemon8 receive an immediate influx of U.S. user attention as TikTok’s availability becomes uncertain.
- Congress faces pressure to explain why a TikTok-specific remedy leaves similarly Chinese-owned social apps positioned to absorb displaced users.
Second-order effects
- TikTok’s potential loss of users and creators does not automatically shift that audience to U.S.-owned platforms; Chinese-owned substitutes can capture part of the same demand.
- The episode strengthens the case that any enforcement approach must account for app-store distribution and substitute services, not only TikTok’s ownership outcome.
Third-order effects
- If policymakers continue to regulate platform risk app by app, users may repeatedly route around restrictions through close substitutes, making single-company bans less durable.
- The broader policy debate may move toward ownership- and data-governance rules that apply across social platforms, echoing earlier calls for a more general model for regulating big tech.
The trend: National-security scrutiny of consumer apps is shifting from a TikTok-specific dispute toward the harder problem of regulating an ecosystem of substitutable foreign-owned platforms.