Chinese app RedNote gained millions of US users this week as ‘TikTok refugees’ joined ahead of ban | U.S. & World [Video]

By Katie Paul

NEW YORK – Chinese social media app RedNote, known in China as Xiaohongshu, gained nearly 3 million U.S. users in one day earlier this week as a flood of self-proclaimed “TikTok Refugees” joined, according to new data from analytics firm Similarweb.

The Chinese-language app had about 3.4 million daily active users across both iOS and Android devices in the United States as of Monday, up from fewer than 700,000 the day prior, and around 300,000 the week prior, according to the Similarweb estimate.

The influx of users has been driven by a looming U.S. ban on TikTok, used by 170 million Americans, on national security concerns.

The data suggests an even larger shift to RedNote by U.S. users this week than was previously known, explaining its dramatic rise to the top of U.S. app store download rankings. Reuters reported on Tuesday that more than 700,000 new users had joined the …