Ahead of the possible TikTok ban, "TikTok refugees" are flocking to the Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu, or Red Note, with strange and fascinating consequences.

Xiaohongshu’s biggest shareholders are in talks to sell shares in the Chinese Instagram-like service at a valuation of at least $20 billion, drawing interest from Tencent Holdings Ltd. and other big names as a potential TikTok US ban approaches.

Chinese-owned TikTok is set to be banned in the United States on Jan. 19, 2025, and another Chinese-owned app is welcoming American "TikTok refugees."

The US Supreme Court is due to rule on Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act that stipulates TikTok must be divested from its Chinese parent company ByteDance by Sunday or face a ban in the US on the pretext of "national security" concerns.

“The ones benefiting from traffic from the TikTok ban are still Chinese apps,” GSR Ventures managing director Allen Zhu wrote on WeChat, posting a screenshot of the US App Store download chart. A stream of new English-language content and users showed up on Xiaohongshu this week, and the #tiktokrefugee hashtag garnered more than 25 million views.

BEIJING - Share prices related to Xiaohongshu surged in the morning session on Wednesday after the Chinese Instagram-style app reached the top of the Apple App Store chart in the United States.

The shares of a group of companies associated with Xiaohongshu continued their upward momentum on Wednesday, buoyed by the Instagram-style Chinese app's ascent to the top of the download charts in the United States.

Xiaohongshu, which has become the top downloaded free app on Apple’s App Store in the U.S., means “Little Red Book” in English. It combines e-commerce, short video and posting functions.

RedNote is a TikTok alternative offering video sharing, product reviews, and e-commerce, but faces privacy concerns.

RedNote, also known as Xiaohongshu or “Little Red Book” in English, is a Chinese social app that combines e-commerce, short videos, and social media posting functions. The app has become a trending alternative for Americans amid the looming TikTok ban in the United States.

The court's decision Friday means new users won't be able to download the app and updates won't be available, but it won't disappear from users' phones.