‘Best version of FAFO I’ve ever seen’: Outraged TikTokers take to RedNote in a giant middle finger to the U.S. government

A potential TikTok ban is just a week away, but avid s of the site aren’t going down without a fight. Generation Z is showing that they’re truly the FAFO generation, flashing the U.S. government a metaphorical middle finger ahead of the proposed ban, and snubbing American social media platforms like Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta and Elon Musk’s X.com in favor of another Chinese-operated app.

TikTokers began flocking to RedNote on Monday, a week before the proposed ban would take place, quickly making it the most ed free app in the App Store. RedNote is far from a clone of the controversial social media site, but the move to the new app is as much about delivering an F.U. to the government as it is about finding a new way to engage with an online community.

RedNote, or as it’s known in China, “Xiaohongshu,” the Mandarin term for “little red book,” has been inundated with new s, or “TikTok refugees,” as they’ve taken to calling themselves. New s have flocked to the site as the Supreme Court hears arguments, with the number growing as the ban seems more and more likely.

TikTokers are clearly over the conversation, and their exodus to RedNote is one way they are showing the government what they think of the controversial ban. “It backfired, we’re going directly to the country they were worried about,” one wrote, racking up some 65K likes. s were quick to share what drew them to the app, including mentions of Luigi Mangione, and Chinese s pretending to be spies.

Commenters are reveling in the collective decision to rebel against the government’s interference, helping each other set up profiles, and taunting social media moguls like Zuckerberg. “I connected through Facebook, so Mark Zuckerberg personally got the notification,” one cackled.

Creating an requires checking a box allowing the company to share s data, and TikTok refugees are more than happy to give approval. “The fact that we have to check a box to AGREE TO SHARE OUR DATA to Rednote… and we’re all… has me giggling,” one wrote, punctuating her post with vibrant green check marks.

RedNote natives, faced with an influx of foreign s, are seemingly torn between excitement and annoyance. Americans flooding the app provide ample opportunity to learn a new language — a favorite TikTok saying, “in the clurb we all fam,” has already found a foothold — but it also means their feeds are inundated with non-Chinese posts. So far the good outweighs the bad, and plenty of RedNoters are on board with the TikTok exodus.

“Well, excited, because I have never seen so many foreign people here,” one wrote, “And I wish you all have nice moments here!” The added bonus of infiltrating the Chinese app seems to be s insistence on learning Mandarin to fully access the app. Several TikTokers dropped Mandarin phrases as they gleefully told their fellows to them on the app.

Rednote isn’t an exact clone of TikTok; rather, it’s described as a combination of Instagram for its lifestyle content and use of pictures, a toned-down version of TikTok’s video sharing, and the community aspect of Tumblr. The heavily ed app isn’t owned by ByteDance, the controversial parent company of TikTok, so it will likely take years for the government to crack down on the new app.