The looming TikTok ban has brought Chinese and American citizens together like never before, exchanging jokes and memes in what one user called a "historic moment."

It all unfolds on China's popular social media app RedNote, or Xiaohongshu (literally, Little Red Book), which doesn't have the usual internet firewall that separates China from the rest of the world.

I always claim to be painting “TikTok Refugees” in the United States Finding a new home on the internet — even as their own governments seek to ban TikTok over national security concerns.

Americans now find themselves in direct contact with the 300 million Mandarin speakers in China and elsewhere—and in the real world, Beijing is bracing for the turmoil of a Trump presidency that could strain its fragile relationship with Washington. Relations are tense.

At the heart of the U.S. ban is concerns that China is using TikTok to spy on Americans.

The app faces accusations that user data ended up in the hands of the Chinese government - as a result of a Beijing law requiring local companies to "support, assist and cooperate with national intelligence efforts". TikTok denies that this has ever happened or that it will happen.

But some US users don't seem worried about this possibility - 700,000 new users have logged into RedNote in the past two days, making it the most downloaded free app in the US app store.

“The reason our government is telling us they are banning TikTok is because they insist it is owned by you, the Chinese people, the government, etc.,” said Definitivenotchippy, a new RedNote user.

He went on to explain his reason for using RedNote: "A lot of us are smarter than that, so we decided to piss off our government and download a real Chinese app. We called it a spoof, so in a nutshell, We are here to spite our government, learn about China and hang out with you.”

Although TikTok is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, it is headquartered in Singapore and says it operates independently. In fact, the Chinese version of TikTok is another app called Douyin. RedNote, on the other hand, is a Chinese company based in Shanghai and is one of the few social media apps available in China and abroad.

Therefore, Washington's concerns about TikTok will also extend to RedNote.

That's why an American user on RedNote calls himself a "Chinese spy" - continuing a trend on TikTok where people have been saying goodbye to "Chinese private spies" who have allegedly been spying on them for years.

RedNote is now filled with posts from former TikTok users looking for replacements. One post read: "I'm looking for my Chinese spy. I miss you. Please help me find him."

And Chinese users responded: "I'm here!"

Those honest, interesting conversations on RedNote may not be what Chinese President Xi Jinping has in mind when he talks about “strengthening people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and the United States.”

But that's exactly what's happening, as excited Chinese users welcome curious Americans to the app.

"You don't even need to travel abroad to talk to foreigners here," one Chinese RedNote user said in a video that received more than 6,000 likes.

"But it's crazy, no one would have thought that one day we would see each other like this and communicate openly like this."

Food, streaming shows and jobs have been among the most popular topics: "Is life in America similar to life in (US TV show "Friends")?"

Other Chinese users called for a "tax" on use of the cat photo platform.

“California imposes cat tax,” one post read in response. "Here are my gifts - the shorthair is a boy named Bob and the calico is a girl named Marley."

Others are using the platform to ask Americans for help with their English homework.

One post read: "Dear TikTok Refugee, can you tell me the answer to question 53? Is the answer T (true) or F (false)?"

Help came quickly: about 500 people have already responded.

The influx of new users in the United States appears to have caught RedNote off guard - reports suggest the company is hiring English moderators.

Others are trying to cash in on RedNote's new stardom in the U.S.: Language-learning app Duolingo posted a chart showing its user base grew 216% compared with this time last year.

But RedNote's popularity isn't guaranteed to last.

There's no reason to think it won't face blowback for the same reason TikTok does: concerns that China might use it to spy on Americans.

It's unclear how long Beijing will be open to such unrestricted communication - controlling the internet is key to its repressive regime.

One Chinese user pointed out the irony of the situation, posting: "Don't we have a (Great Firewall) wall? Why can so many foreigners get in but I obviously can't leave?"

Typically, Chinese internet users cannot interact directly with foreigners. Global platforms such as Twitter and Instagram and search engines such as Google are blocked in China, although people use VPNs to circumvent these restrictions. Sensitive topics - from history to dissent - or any content seen as critical of the Chinese government and ruling Communist Party are quickly censored.

It's unclear how much censorship RedNote - which is used primarily by young and middle-aged women in China where they share images and videos - has come under. This differs from another Chinese app, Weibo, where discussions and expressions of dissatisfaction are much more common, resulting in posts being frequently deleted.

But some new RedNote users say they've received reports that their posts, including one asking if the app is "LGBT-friendly," violate the guidelines.

Another netizen said they had asked "What do Chinese people think about homosexuality?" and received a similar notice saying they had violated the "public moral order" code.

Chinese users continue to remind Americans on the app “not to mention sensitive topics such as politics, religion, and drugs.”

One Chinese user also suggested that they stick to the "one-China policy," the diplomatic pillar of U.S.-China relations - under which the U.S. recognizes China, but not Taiwan, and establishes formal relations with it. Taiwan is a self-governing island claimed by Beijing. its own.

So far, neither the U.S. government nor Beijing has commented on RedNote.

But Chinese state media seems to be optimistic about this, and the Global Times even interviewed an American user who said she was "happy to interact with Chinese users."

RedNote's fate in the United States is unknown, but for now, at least online, the U.S.-China rivalry is on hold. Thanks for the cat photo.