The TikTok boomerang

Jakarta—Few predicted that TikTok users in the United States would flock to the Chinese app RedNote (Xiaohongshu) in defiance of a US government ban. And yet in just two days this week, RedNote became the most downloaded app in the US, gaining 700,000 users, most of them American TikTok refugees.

Since US data security was the rationale for the TikTok ban, American users’ migration to other Chinese apps only amplifies this concern. Unlike TikTok, a platform that does not operate in China and is not subject to Chinese law, RedNote is a domestic Chinese app bound by strict Chinese regulations. Moreover, while TikTok says that it stores US user data exclusively within the US, with oversight by a US-led security team, RedNote stores its data entirely in China.

In recent years, China has introduced a series of data protection laws ostensibly aimed at safeguarding user information. But these regulations primarily target businesses, imposing far fewer constraints on government access to personal data. Chinese public authorities thus have wide discretion in requesting and accessing user data.

Beyond the issue of data privacy, US authorities also worry that TikTok might be used to influence public opinion in the US. But TikTok’s algorithms are closely monitored by Oracle as part of a deal to address security concerns. In contrast, RedNote’s algorithms operate under the close scrutiny of the Chinese government, with the app subject to China’s stringent content-moderation requirements.

Given the rationale for the law banning TikTok, it is hard to imagine RedNote escaping similar scrutiny. Now that the US Supreme Court has upheld the TikTok law, the President will have the authority to designate RedNote as a national security threat, too. But this process may quickly descend into a game of “Whack-a-Mole.” As US users migrate from one Chinese platform to another, regulators will find themselves locked in an endless cycle of banning Chinese apps.

As the list of banned apps grows, the US risks constructing its own “Great Firewall,” a mirror to the censorship strategy long employed by China. Even if Chinese apps are removed from US app stores, tech-savvy users can easily bypass such restrictions with VPNs, just as Chinese users do to access foreign platforms. That means the US government will soon confront the limits of its ability to ban Chinese apps.

Moreover, each new restriction risks fueling defiance, driving even more users toward Chinese-controlled platforms. Instead of mitigating national security concerns, this strategy may inadvertently exacerbate them, introducing the kinds of vulnerabilities that the original ban was supposed to address.

The TikTok ban thus puts the US government in a near untenable position, which may explain why Trump is reportedly weighing options to spare TikTok (despite having initiated the ban during his first term).

Yet reversing the ban carries its own risks. As legislation passed by Congress, it cannot be repealed by executive order. An alternative to banning TikTok is a forced divestiture of the app’s US operations, but that solution hinges on one critical factor: China’s approval. In 2020, China implemented restrictions on the export of technologies like recommendation algorithms, the core of TikTok’s operations, effectively giving the Chinese government veto power over any potential deal.

Thus, the TikTok dilemma now serves as a powerful bargaining chip for China’s leaders, granting them significant leverage in their dealings with Trump, who vowed to impose higher import tariffs on Chinese goods.

At the same time, the TikTok saga has handed China another strategic gift. Friendly interaction between TikTok refugees and Chinese netizens on RedNote has created an unprecedented opportunity for cultural exchange, something China’s rulers have long aspired for, but struggled to achieve. This, despite ads in Times Square and establishing Confucius Institutes on American university campuses. Remarkably, what RedNote has achieved in just a few days seems to have eclipsed the cumulative impact of all these prior initiatives.

As I explored in my recent book, “High Wire,” centralized decision-making frequently results in fragile, rather than resilient, regulatory outcomes. The TikTok saga offers a stark reminder that an overconcentration of presidential power in shaping US foreign policy, particularly toward China, can lead to similar outcomes.

With Trump expected to consolidate executive power, surround himself with loyalists, and operate with fewer institutional constraints during his second term, this trend seems likely to intensify, generating vast unintended consequences. The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network

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Angela Huyue Zhang is a professor of law at the University of Southern California, the United States.

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The Philippine Daily Inquirer is a member of the Asia News Network, an alliance of 22 media titles in the region.