As TikTok prepares for a ban in the United States, many Canadian users are turning to its Chinese rival, Xiaohongshu (RedNote). This shift is driven by security concerns about TikTok's parent company ByteDance and the potential for sharing user data with the Chinese government.
With the imminent ban of TikTok in the United States looming over its future, many Canadian users are turning to a rival Chinese social media app, Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote, propelling it to the top of download charts in Canada . This shift is driven primarily by security concerns surrounding TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance Ltd. Chinese national security laws mandate organizations within the country to cooperate with government intelligence gathering. On Friday, the U.S.
Supreme Court unanimously upheld a federal law that will ban TikTok starting Sunday unless ByteDance agrees to sell it. The court's decision emphasizes that the national security threat posed by TikTok's ties to China outweighs concerns about limiting the speech of the app or its 170 million users in the U.S.The impending ban has triggered a surge in both the U.S. and Canada as users flock to Xiaohongshu, better known as RedNote, a platform directly based in China and designed primarily for Mandarin speakers. Stephanie Carvin, an associate professor of international affairs at Carleton University, points out that TikTok, at least, had some theoretical safeguards, such as assurances that its data would be kept within the United States and not shared with China. 'None of those even rudimentary protections exist with RedNote,' Carvin stated. In 2023, TikTok executives appeared before a Parliamentary committee and assured Canadian MPs that the app is not controlled by the Chinese government and Canadian data is stored on servers located in the United States, Malaysia, and Singapore.When questioned about the increasing use of RedNote by Canadians, Audrey Champoux, a spokesperson for Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne, issued a statement urging Canadians to 'make informed decisions about their personal data and consider carefully how it is being used.' A spokesperson for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) did not directly address RedNote but emphasized that its specific concerns with TikTok stem from its links to China and the resulting national security concerns associated with the application. The CSIS statement highlighted China's continued expansion of domestic powers and capabilities of its security services in 2023. In November, Champagne announced that the government was ordering the dissolution of TikTok's Canadian business following a national security review. While the app will remain accessible in Canada and the company is challenging the shutdown order in court, security concerns haven't deterred users who have made RedNote the most downloaded app in Google's Canadian app store. RedNote also topped Apple's Canadian download charts on Apple's website as of Thursday. On Thursday, the Chinese embassy in Canada shared an online post from China's Xinhua News Agency featuring a video of U.S. and Chinese users interacting on RedNote, many of them sharing pictures of their cats. Former TikTok users have taken to both platforms, posting messages that mock national security concerns about TikTok, with jokes like having to say goodbye to 'my Chinese spy.' However, the exodus to RedNote is also driven, as Carvin suggests, by a understandable lack of trust in the practices and data protections employed by major Western social media companies. Carvin notes that some users argue that much of their data has already been compromised or exploited by algorithms they don't fully comprehend, and they don't trust Chinese companies any less than North American companies.She cautions, however, that using RedNote remains risky. CNN reported on Thursday that the platform is hiring English-language content moderators, and new users are encountering Chinese-style censorship. Carvin also points out that Ottawa has yet to provide a clear explanation for its decision to order the wind-down of TikTok's Canadian operations. 'If these apps are a problem, be open and transparent with Canadians about what those problems are,' she said. 'Ultimately, the reason we're in this position is a true failure of government policy from particularly Western states with regards to data privacy, with regards to enforcing data protection, and their own failures with regards to being transparent around some of the security issues about these apps.' The future of TikTok in the U.S. remains uncertain. Outgoing U.S. president-elect Donald Trump had urged the court to maintain the ban until after he assumes office on Monday. The Republican has stated his intention to 'save' TikTok, but his specific plans remain unclear.
TECHNOLOGY SOCIAL MEDIA SECURITY CONCERNS DATA PRIVACY CHINA CANADA UNITED STATES TIKTOK XIAOHONGSHU REDNOTE
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