U.S. TikTok users, who have been collectively thumbing their noses at the U.S. government's decision to ban TikTok, maliciously joined in on another Chinese social media app, Red Notes (aka Little Red Book), pushing it to the top of the U.S. app store on Monday . Unfortunately, many people who have made the transition are facing account suspensions and bans for various reasons.

Initially, RedNote appears to be a promising alternative to ByteDance's TikTok in terms of the app's functionality, given its focus on short-form video feeds and creator content. However, the app is not a one-to-one replacement for TikTok, as it is also designed as an alternative to Yelp or Google in Chinese, offering local recommendations and nearby connections in addition to the video feed.

Meanwhile, some users who joined RedNote — including popular TikToker, entrepreneur and former Bravo star Bethenny Frankel — found themselves penalized or kicked out entirely after their first post on the Chinese app. According to various reports from TikTok users, these bans are due to a variety of reasons.

They said some people were penalized for having their videos with TikTok watermarks, which apparently could be an issue on RedNote.

Others talked about or shared screenshots of their account suspension notifications, which said they were banned for violating Xiaohongshu Community Guidelines. User reports indicate that some of these incidents involve validation issues. When new users try to verify their account using a US phone number (an option available on the app), they don't receive a verification code, so they try multiple times. This activity may result in account suspension due to suspicious bot activity.

However, some pauses have no clear explanation.

For example, one TikTok user claimed that their account was frozen after posting the first picture of a cinnamon roll. Another joked that they must have been banned for "liking too many thirst traps." While TechCrunch has not independently confirmed or verified the reasons behind each reported ban, enough complaints from TikTok users suggest that this is a real issue people are facing.

Part of the problem is that users are joining the app but unable to read the community guide, which is written in Mandarin. (While there is a way in RedNote's app to switch the language to English, as an English speaker it's difficult to know how to find that option since it requires navigating the app's settings).

Several TikTok creators said they are trying to appeal the ban, but it's unclear what the results of those efforts will be.

Meanwhile, all other apps competing with TikTok are working to benefit their users, although given the need to monetize their followers at scale, creators will likely return to Meta and Google-run apps.