The US government will officially ban TikTok on Sunday, January 19, unless the US Supreme Court decides to do something to stop it in a last minute rule. The looming ban has caused many TikTokers to switch to a new Chinese video-sharing app called Xiaohongshu—Red Note or Red Book, in English—as a general fuck-you of the American ruling class. And with RedNote maintaining the number one spot on the Apple App Store in the US for the second day, it’s an interesting thing to watch.

It is unclear whether Americans will really stick with RedNote in the long term, especially if TikTok is saved by a successful sale to an American company or if President-elect Donald Trump somehow intervenes. A report by Bloomberg that Elon Musk may try to buy TikTok was quickly beaten by TikTok on Monday night. But it’s really interesting to see American and Chinese users talk about the RedNote migration in techno-utopian terms.

Internet users in the US and China have been separated by a huge digital moat for so long that RedNote users, old and new, are talking about what it finally feels like an opportunity for real exchange. of culture between the average citizens of the two countries. Because back in the 1990s, the idea of ​​a “global village,” where everyone is free to communicate peacefully around the world, was a big part of humanity’s technological dream for the future. But things like China’s Great Firewall and the US surveillance apparatus put a damper on that vision.

“Seeing refugees on TikTok pouring red notes was really interesting to me,” a RedNote user called Zoey said in a video. “It reminds me of the early 2000s when the internet first made a global village possible.”

Zoey compares it to what people often experienced in the 20th century pen palsa common way to communicate with people you don’t know on the other side of the world. Physical letters are exchanged through the postal service, often coordinated through schools, so that children can practice their language and writing skills while learning about different cultures. Zoey said that her exercise at school was to pretend that she and her fellow students were actually writing to a pen pal, but the idea was the same.

“I remember that. In China, when I was little, when I started learning English, we practiced writing by pretending to have a pen pal from the United States or the UK,” Zoey said. “And we wrote it in English. That feels very much like what’s going on with Red Note right now. “

Zoey admits it’s “a bit messy” but says that in general people are very curious about each other.

“It’s almost surprising that the will to connect and gather can still transcend so many boundaries, especially in an age where the internet is so fragmented and algorithms are building strong echo chambers that stifle the people who understand each other,” Zoey said. to call it so magical.

Zoey doesn’t have to pretend she’s writing to a pen pal. At least not for now. But Zoey knew it could only be an illusion, and this brief moment would soon be gone.

“I might be over-romanticizing it, but I haven’t felt this in a long time. Like, people can connect and people are genuinely interested and curious about each other,” Zoey said. “I don’t know. how long this moment lasts. I’m not an optimistic person, but I hope it lasts longer.”

Some English-speaking users based in China spoke of their mixed feelings at seeing an American surge in the app. One creator said he is a TikTok Live host and goes to RedNote (or Red Book, as he calls it) to complain about Americans he meets on TikTok.

“The Red Book is also the place where I can talk about my American customers behind their backs. That’s why I’m thinking about where I’ll post things now,” joked the user.

The user also encouraged Americans to start learning Mandarin, a common sentiment that came up frequently for US-based users who tried the site.

But it’s not all serious talk, of course. There are countless RedNote jokes about the surge in American interest. Many users joked are spies on TikTok and want to continue their surveillance as more US users move to Red Note. That kind of banter has also been common among Americans on TikTok in recent days and weeks.

Some longtime RedNote users who talk to Americans welcome new users but offer tips on everything from ignoring trolls to engaging in Mandarin when you can.

“At the end of the day, we’re no different,” one RedNote user said said in English about the cultural divide between American and Chinese users. But the same user also spoke in tongues about the “rules” of RedNote.

“Yes, there are rules here,” the user said. “The place is pretty cool, but not without rules. To be honest, I don’t know much about it, because I really don’t need to, if you know what I mean.

The user went on to say that “the things you have to say” in the United States, “you probably wouldn’t say here either.” The user continued, “You see what I’m trying to say here?” while urging Americans to “just use common sense.”

The Red Note is not a utopia from the perspective of any American who cares about the values ​​of liberal democracy and free speech. The app plays by the Chinese government’s rules, which means you won’t see any criticism of the Communist Party. And China is not a utopia for LGBT people. Recent years have seen a destroying of LGBT advocacy groups in Beijing.

The only place where Americans see more freedom is in subjects like Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old man accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson last December. Social media sites like TikTok are playing whack-a-mole to restrict content celebration of Mangione but there seem to be no such restrictions on the Red Note.

One of the funniest realizations for Americans on TikTok in recent days is that some English-speaking creators they can enjoy around the world don’t necessarily have to be removed from the platform. As a US user called Mystery of Kyle joked about British users staying on the platform, States“We can’t make fun of each other anymore. What would you do without us?”

“It could literally be a British app now. And not many of you,” he continued. “They’re all inside a restricted area with terrible cuisine. What are you going to do? Talk about tinned fish? There’s a guy called tinned fish reviews.He’ll probably be the number one creator of this app when we’re gone.

The utopian ideals of a global village online have always been a romantic one. The US intelligence community literally helped build the internet from its earliest days in the 1960s and 70swith the NSA and CIA spying on it ever since. The internet is a creation of the Cold War, and the borders of the web are set along the same Cold Warrior battle lines. The first internet node outside the US, after all, was set up in Norway to monitor Soviet nuclear tests.

China, although late to the internet party, has had a government that has been spying on the internet for almost as long as the Americans, corralling and censoring its population by blocking access to American websites to those decade. And now it’s the turn of Americans to learn about the serious forms of censorship in the ban on TikTok.

If there is a critical mass of Americans on RedNote weeks from now, the US government may very well take steps to ban that app under “national security” concerns. But with Trump taking office on Monday, it’s unlikely that a new ban for a Chinese-owned app will be news ahead. With everything Trump promised to do on the first day—from mass deportations to a severe crackdown on political opponents—another app was banned any Monday in America.