The ‘My Chinese spy’ meme showed Americans were not sold on the TikTok Ban
How Do Chinese Users Accrete the Anti-Democracy Policy on TikTok? Comment on the App Store Exodus
Over and over again, the US government has said that the main goal of banning TikTok was to protect American users from Chinese propaganda.
TikTok alternatives such as Clapper, Flip and Lemon8 are currently at the top of the app store charts. Xiaohongshu made the biggest impression on hundreds of thousands of new users.
The effort to protect Americans from a dangerous app has taken more than five years, and the exodus shows how pointless it has been. In fact, the effort has seemingly made things worse for those in power.
Many Americans are giving advice on how to better integrate with the Chinese user base. One TikTok user posted a video this week asking new American users to “stop saying democracy” on the app. “If you’re Taiwanese,” she said, “and you’re on Xiaohongshu, you are now Chinese. Sorry.” I didn’t see a single critique in her comment section. In fact, many users were thanking her for the tips.
If anything, the attempt to ban TikTok has inspired more interest in China among Americans than anything else. A lot of TikTok users are learning mandarin by chatting with Chinese Xiaohongshu users, and they are able to download language learning apps.
“Started learning in Duolingo and from creators on Red Note [or Xiaohongshu],” one TikTok user wrote to me. “Even added the Chinese keyboard option on my phone.”
Why is Xi Jinping the President of the United States Good for Lisandra Vazquez or TikToker Gabriella Rose?
In one clip on the video-sharing site, comedian Lisandra Vazquez says she just wants to thank the people that she had good times with. It was you who sent the tarot readers to tell me that he wasn’t good for me. In a different video, TikToker Gabriella Rose lugs a suitcase down a snowy sidewalk, back to the camera. The text says that I would rather move to China than stay on social media.
TikTok user aalamode has handwritten on an envelope addressed to the president of China. The video says that the US government never has taken better care of you than the one they have with Xi Jinping. The camera cuts to a young woman swabbing the inside of her cheek and ripping out a few strands of dark hair before it pans to a shot of her personal effects: passport with social security card tucked inside, a list of medications, a handwritten note reading “My Passwords (For Xi’s eyes only),” baby photos.
