As the U.S. government on tiktok Americans have been flocking to another social media platform since Sunday, but it's another Chinese app that experts say could pose the same problems, if not more. The Chinese-owned app Xiaohongshu, known to many users as "RedNote," has seen a surge in downloads in the United States.

A U.S. official told CBS News on Thursday that RedNote, like TikTok, could face an ultimatum of divesting or being banned.

"This appears to be an app to which the regulation applies and which, if not divested, could face the same restrictions as TikTok," a U.S. official told CBS News.

CBS News has reached out to Xiaohongshu for comment, asking if the company agrees with this assessment.

What is red note?

Xiaohongshu has been the most downloaded free app in the U.S. Apple App Store since Tuesday. Analysis by market intelligence firm Sensor Tower shows that downloads of the platform in the United States are up 200% year-on-year and 194% since last week.

Searches for Xiaohongshu on Google in the United States increased 4,900% on Monday alone, according to QR Code Generator, which provides statistics on online trends.

Founded in 2013, Xiaohongshu is a lifestyle platform with "more than 300 million users sharing their life experiences every month," according to a description on the Apple App Store.

The Chinese photo and video sharing platform is often compared to Instagram. It operates as an e-commerce platform, a handbook of travel and food tips, and a tool for users to share content about their daily lives.

Xiaohongshu literally means "Little Red Book" and is most likely a reference to the famous Little Red Book of quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong, the founder of the Communist Party. China.

The mention didn't stop many US users from turning to the app to share their experiences as so-called "TikTok refugees" ahead of the US ban. This week, a video on RedNote using the term “TikTok refugees” has racked up millions of views and impressions.

“This is to my fellow TikTok refugees and Americans, behave on this app! You better behave because everyone in China has been so nice to us since we colonized their adorable Dudu app program, just because our government sucks," a U.S. user account using the name "Savannah" posted on Wednesday. As of Thursday, the post had received nearly 128,000 views.

Tik Tok, The international version of Little Red Book is not available for users in mainland China, meaning Americans turning to Little Red Book brings Americans closer than ever to Chinese users. This led to some interesting cultural exchanges.

An American "TikTok refugee" with the username "anieladiaz" posted a video asking Chinese users if they had any questions. A Chinese user commented under the post, attaching a screenshot of what appeared to be their English homework. Anieladiaz is happy to provide answers to the test questions, which they share in their own screenshots. Other Chinese users also posted videos teaching Americans how to use Mandarin slang.

Is RedNote safe?

The rapid growth in U.S. downloads may raise concerns among U.S. lawmakers over a TikTok ban. One cybersecurity expert told CBS News that RedNote may actually represent a greater threat.

"RedNote has never been targeted at markets other than the Chinese market. All the data sharing and all the servers that share the data are in China," Nord VPN cybersecurity expert Adrianus Warmenhoven told CBS News on Wednesday. "That means they are not protected from all of this. Data protection and is outside the scope of the U.S. government.”

Wallmenhoven said TikTok and its parent company ByteDance at least store the data on servers in the United States, giving the U.S. government "some degree of moderation or restriction on what data can be sent to China and how much and how it can be sent." .

He also said the lack of transparency around RedNote's terms and conditions poses significant cybersecurity risks to Americans.

"Its terms and conditions are in Mandarin, making it unclear to non-Chinese-speaking users what data is collected and how it is used," Wormmenhoven said. "I'm pretty sure those millions of people who moved over didn't use Google Translate to read (Terms and Conditions), so they don’t know what they’re agreeing to.”

specific US legislation The Protecting Americans from Apps Controlled by Foreign Adversaries Act, signed into law by President Biden last April, gives the federal government broad scope to crack down on foreign social media platforms.

Under the law, Congress can force platforms to divest their U.S. operations from foreign ownership or shut down the platform if it poses a threat. The law applies to any company that allows users to share content with each other, has more than 1 million monthly active users, is owned by a country controlled by a foreign adversary, and has been determined by the president to present a significant national security threat.

The bill is currently subject to a legal challenge by ByteDance, which contends the bill is unconstitutional and violates the First Amendment, which protects free speech. The ruling comes from The Supreme Court is hearing in this case.

CBS News has asked President-elect Donald Trump's transition team whether the incoming administration will consider RedNote a national security threat and worthy of legal action. As of the time of publication, the transition team had not responded.

Trump recently spoke out against the TikTok ban. Last month, he said TikTok “has a warm place in my heart” — a reversal of his stance the last time he was in the Oval Office.

The Federal Trade Commission, which is responsible for enforcing the ban and ensuring that U.S. internet service providers and app store companies like Apple and Google comply with the law, declined to comment.

RedNote comes under heavy scrutiny

There seems to be too much content on RedNote strict review More posts than on TikTok. A CBS News analysis found that a RedNote search for "Xi Jinping," China's authoritarian president, yielded no results.

The term "Free Hong Kong" also brought no results. A search for "Taiwan" will turn up several memes welcoming Americans to the platform, but it's important to note that users must recognize the narrative imposed by Beijing that the democratically governed island off the coast of China is one the United States is legally obligated to help Defending it from invasion is an integral part of China.

A similar search for these terms on TikTok reveals users offering a wide range of political views, including posts harshly criticizing China's censorship.

RedNote even appears to be scaling up its operations to monitor content, given the large number of Americans logged into the app. CBS News found that the company posted local job ads online in mainland China, requiring review of English content and promising monthly salaries between $950 and $1,200.

"Users are not going to a freer place. RedNote is moderated differently and the algorithm is different than TikTok," Wormmenhoven told CBS News. "You won't get attention and you won't spread politically sensitive issues, or socially sensitive issues - especially socially sensitive issues in China."