{"id":2095,"date":"2025-01-25T23:00:31","date_gmt":"2025-01-25T23:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet\/"},"modified":"2025-01-25T23:00:31","modified_gmt":"2025-01-25T23:00:31","slug":"tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet\/","title":{"rendered":"TikTok, RedNote and the Crushed Promise of the Chinese Internet"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Chinese social media app <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/video\/world\/asia\/100000009926430\/tik-tok-red-note.html\" title=\"\">RedNote<\/a> is full of cute, heartwarming moments after about 500,000 American users fled to it last week to protest the looming U.S. government ban on <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/17\/technology\/tiktok-ban-sale-supreme-court.html\" title=\"\">TikTok<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Calling themselves \u201c<a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/14\/business\/tiktok-rednote-xiaohongshu-app.html\" title=\"\">TikTok refugees<\/a>,\u201d these users paid the \u201ccat tax\u201d to join RedNote by posting cat photos and videos. They answered so many questions from their new Chinese friends: Is it true that in rural America every family has a large farm, a huge house, at least three children and several big dogs? That Americans have to work two jobs to support themselves? That Americans are terrible at geography and many believe that Africa is a country? That most Americans have two days off every week?<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Americans also posed questions to their new friends. \u201cI heard that every Chinese has a giant panda,\u201d an American RedNote user wrote. \u201cCan you tell me how can I get it?\u201d An answer came from someone in the eastern province of Jiangsu: \u201cBelieve me, it\u2019s true,\u201d the person deadpanned, posting a photo of a panda doing the laundry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">I spent hours scrolling those so-called cat tax photos and chuckled at the cute and earnest responses. This is what the internet is supposed to do: connect people. More important, RedNote demonstrated how competitive a random Chinese social media app can be from a purely product point of view.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">With access to an online population of <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cac.gov.cn\/2024-03\/25\/c_1713038218396702.htm\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">one billion<\/a> and an army of hard-working, resourceful engineers, China\u2019s internet platforms are world-class in their design, functionality and user experience \u2014 as is demonstrated by TikTok and now by RedNote, or Xiaohongshu in Chinese.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But why aren\u2019t more people outside China using Chinese apps?<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For a while, the Chinese internet giants seemed to be poised to take over the world. Remember the excitement when <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.nytimes.com\/dealbook.nytimes.com\/2014\/09\/19\/a-soaring-debut-for-alibaba\/\" title=\"\">Alibaba<\/a> listed its initial public offering in New York in 2014, when <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/08\/02\/business\/dealbook\/china-uber-didi-chuxing.html?\" title=\"\">Didi<\/a> took over Uber in China in 2016, when Facebook was imitating WeChat, and when a partner from the Silicon Valley firm Andreessen Horowitz <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/a16z.com\/when-one-app-rules-them-all-the-case-of-wechat-and-mobile-in-china\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">preached<\/a> the power of WeChat? At one point, five of the world\u2019s 10 largest internet companies measured by market capitalization were Chinese. Now Tencent, the WeChat creator and game company, is the only one left in those ranks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The biggest Chinese internet companies still make products that can compete with any in the world. Their employees work harder than their Silicon Valley counterparts. (Many work a \u201c996\u201d schedule \u2014 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days a week.) In the face of U.S. semiconductor bans, they have managed to make impressive developments in artificial intelligence. But the world seems to have forgotten China\u2019s internet leaders, except for seeing them as part of a technological and geopolitical threat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The industry didn\u2019t live up to its promises. Why? What happened?<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In 2017, I wrote a column at another publication with the headline, \u201c<a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/behind-the-great-firewall-the-chinese-internet-is-booming-1496914383\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Behind the Great Firewall, the Chinese internet is booming<\/a>.\u201d I told English-speaking readers to think beyond China\u2019s urge to censor and copy Western businesses because China was being digitized on a scale and at a speed that was mind-boggling.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That year, Tencent\u2019s revenue grew 56 percent, while revenue at Alibaba, the e-commerce giant, surged 60 percent. Didi <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/12\/21\/business\/dealbook\/didi-chuxing-softbank-uber.html?smid=url-share\" title=\"\">raised<\/a> nearly $10 billion in funding, mostly from international investors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">All of these feel like a lifetime ago. It\u2019s a lot more difficult for Chinese internet companies to thrive now.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The country is mired in the worst economic downturn since the Mao era. Few people believe the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/16\/business\/china-economy-2024-gdp.html\" title=\"\">5 percent<\/a> growth rate the government announced for 2024. Consumer confidence is low \u2014 both Uniqlo and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/12\/19\/business\/starbucks-china.html\" title=\"\">Starbucks<\/a>, two consumer brands that had thrived in China for years, are losing customers to cheaper brands.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When the country\u2019s economy suffers, it\u2019s hard for one of its pillar industries to do well. The tech companies\u2019 earnings have reflected that.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As China\u2019s <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/16\/business\/china-population-births-deaths.html\" title=\"\">population<\/a> continues a steady decline \u2014 it fell a third consecutive year \u2014 the big tech platforms are running out of new users. WeChat has about 1.4 billion accounts, bigger than the Chinese population. Even a second-tier social media app like RedNote, which is popular among young, urban and affluent female users, amassed more than 300 million users. For such companies, international expansion is the natural next step.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/17\/technology\/tiktok-ban-bytedance.html\" title=\"\">ByteDance<\/a>, the parent company of TikTok, is the envy of the industry because of the success of its <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/10\/30\/business\/tiktok-bytedance-tokopedia-indonesia.html\" title=\"\">overseas businesses<\/a>, which have been growing at a much faster rate than its domestic operations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But the U.S. effort to ban TikTok highlights how hard it is for Chinese internet companies to expand overseas. As the Chinese Communist Party tightens its grip on the country\u2019s private sector, it\u2019s increasingly difficult for the world to entrust their citizens\u2019 personal data to Chinese companies, which ultimately <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/07\/19\/technology\/what-china-expects-from-businesses-total-surrender.html\" title=\"\">answer<\/a> to Beijing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">There are good reasons that the outside world, including the U.S. government, doesn\u2019t trust these companies. In a country where the government owns much of everything and wields power randomly and often ruthlessly, the private sector has been on its toes. The internet companies are heavily censored and must self censor to survive. All the big ones, with no exception, have had their apps removed from app stores or been fined or disciplined by regulators in recent years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It\u2019s well known that China\u2019s leader, Xi Jinping, is no fan of the digital sector, unless it is being used to advance his agenda of national rejuvenation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe real economy is the foundation of a nation\u2019s economy and the source of its wealth,\u201d he <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.cn\/xinwen\/2018-10\/25\/content_5334458.htm\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a> in 2018. \u201cEconomic development must never deviate from the real economy toward excessive reliance on the virtual economy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In that speech and on <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"http:\/\/www.xinhuanet.com\/politics\/xxjxs\/2019-09\/18\/c_1125007812.htm\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">other<\/a> occasions, Mr. Xi made it clear that he put a higher priority on advanced manufacturing than on the internet and liked the state-owned enterprises more than the private sector.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That set the tone for the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/01\/05\/technology\/china-tech-internet-crackdown-layoffs.html\" title=\"\">crackdown<\/a> on <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/04\/09\/technology\/china-alibaba-monopoly-fine.html\" title=\"\">Alibaba<\/a>, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/07\/07\/business\/alibaba-ant-group-fine.html\" title=\"\">Ant Group<\/a>, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/08\/27\/technology\/china-didi-crackdown.html\" title=\"\">Didi<\/a> and Tencent\u2019s <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/01\/23\/business\/china-online-video-games.html\" title=\"\">video game<\/a> business in 2020 and 2021. The harsh \u201czero Covid\u201d restrictions in 2022 that crippled the country\u2019s economy plunged some of the biggest internet companies into financial losses for the first time in years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Also around this time, the Chinese government\u2019s <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/07\/07\/magazine\/china-diplomacy-twitter-zhao-lijian.html\" title=\"\">wolf warrior<\/a> diplomacy and its <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/14\/world\/asia\/putin-china-xi.html\" title=\"\">alliance<\/a> with Russia forced many countries to rethink their views of China as an important part of the global economy. Some now see it as a threat to democratic systems and world peace. Perceptions of China deteriorated in many Western countries, and fewer people are interested in visiting China compared with a decade ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Chinese internet companies and investors are increasingly <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/20\/business\/china-companies-tiktok-overseas.html\" title=\"\">caught<\/a> between their authoritarian government at home and suspicion, even hostility, abroad.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Most Western investors now deem China\u2019s tech industry not worth investing in because of the geopolitical tension and the country\u2019s unpredictable policies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">U.S. university endowments and pension funds stopped giving venture capital firms money to invest in Chinese start-ups. A generation of Chinese investors who helped create some of the most successful tech companies have taken up golfing, marathoning and hiking.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Investors in global stock markets are equally uninterested in Chinese internet firms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">An investor who was not authorized to speak publicly told me recently that in 2017, when she joined a hedge fund that managed more than $100 billion, about 40 percent of the fund\u2019s emerging market holdings were Chinese tech stocks. Now they are less than 3 percent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The ecosystem that cultivated a vibrant tech sector is broken. Fewer investments mean fewer start-ups, far fewer overseas initial public offerings and much lower stock valuations than their American counterparts. RedNote, the social media app that American TikTok users have taken up, was founded in 2013 and has yet to go public.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">These companies remain competitive, the investor said. But in the eyes of the world, she added, they\u2019re no longer relevant.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/20\/business\/tiktok-red-note-china-internet.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Chinese social media app RedNote is full of cute, heartwarming moments after about 500,000 American users fled to it<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[420,421,319,349,123,422,101,118,418,240,111,423,419,405],"class_list":["post-2095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-alibaba-group-holding-ltd","tag-ant-financial-services-group","tag-beijing-bytedance-technology-co-ltd","tag-china","tag-computers-and-the-internet","tag-didi-chuxing","tag-law-and-legislation","tag-social-media","tag-supreme-court-us","tag-tiktok-bytedance","tag-united-states-politics-and-government","tag-wechat-mobile-app","tag-xi-jinping","tag-xiaohongshu-mobile-app"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>TikTok, RedNote and the Crushed Promise of the Chinese Internet - World News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TikTok, RedNote and the Crushed Promise of the Chinese Internet - World News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Chinese social media app RedNote is full of cute, heartwarming moments after about 500,000 American users fled to it\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-25T23:00:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"News\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#\/schema\/person\/1d8ae7348e048cb7984f26b4dd818ff2\"},\"headline\":\"TikTok, RedNote and the Crushed Promise of the Chinese Internet\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-25T23:00:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-25T23:00:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet\/\"},\"wordCount\":1307,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=1050&resize=1050,550&ssl=1\",\"keywords\":[\"Alibaba Group Holding Ltd\",\"Ant Financial Services Group\",\"Beijing Bytedance Technology Co Ltd\",\"China\",\"Computers and the Internet\",\"Didi Chuxing\",\"Law and Legislation\",\"Social Media\",\"Supreme Court (US)\",\"TikTok (ByteDance)\",\"United States Politics and Government\",\"WeChat (Mobile App)\",\"Xi Jinping\",\"Xiaohongshu (Mobile App)\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Technology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet\/\",\"name\":\"TikTok, RedNote and the Crushed Promise of the Chinese Internet - World News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=1050&resize=1050,550&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-25T23:00:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-25T23:00:31+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=1050&resize=1050,550&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=1050&resize=1050,550&ssl=1\",\"width\":1050,\"height\":550},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"TikTok, RedNote and the Crushed Promise of the Chinese Internet\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/\",\"name\":\"World News\",\"description\":\"World News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#organization\",\"name\":\"World News\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2025\/01\/cropped-download.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2025\/01\/cropped-download.png\",\"width\":581,\"height\":581,\"caption\":\"World News\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#\/schema\/person\/1d8ae7348e048cb7984f26b4dd818ff2\",\"name\":\"News\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"TikTok, RedNote and the Crushed Promise of the Chinese Internet - World News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"TikTok, RedNote and the Crushed Promise of the Chinese Internet - World News","og_description":"The Chinese social media app RedNote is full of cute, heartwarming moments after about 500,000 American users fled to it","og_url":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet\/","og_site_name":"World News","article_published_time":"2025-01-25T23:00:31+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"News","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet\/"},"author":{"name":"News","@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#\/schema\/person\/1d8ae7348e048cb7984f26b4dd818ff2"},"headline":"TikTok, RedNote and the Crushed Promise of the Chinese Internet","datePublished":"2025-01-25T23:00:31+00:00","dateModified":"2025-01-25T23:00:31+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet\/"},"wordCount":1307,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=1050&resize=1050,550&ssl=1","keywords":["Alibaba Group Holding Ltd","Ant Financial Services Group","Beijing Bytedance Technology Co Ltd","China","Computers and the Internet","Didi Chuxing","Law and Legislation","Social Media","Supreme Court (US)","TikTok (ByteDance)","United States Politics and Government","WeChat (Mobile App)","Xi Jinping","Xiaohongshu (Mobile App)"],"articleSection":["Technology"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet\/","url":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet\/","name":"TikTok, RedNote and the Crushed Promise of the Chinese Internet - World News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=1050&resize=1050,550&ssl=1","datePublished":"2025-01-25T23:00:31+00:00","dateModified":"2025-01-25T23:00:31+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=1050&resize=1050,550&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=1050&resize=1050,550&ssl=1","width":1050,"height":550},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/tiktok-rednote-and-the-crushed-promise-of-the-chinese-internet\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"TikTok, RedNote and the Crushed Promise of the Chinese Internet"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/","name":"World News","description":"World News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#organization","name":"World News","url":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2025\/01\/cropped-download.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2025\/01\/cropped-download.png","width":581,"height":581,"caption":"World News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/#\/schema\/person\/1d8ae7348e048cb7984f26b4dd818ff2","name":"News","url":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=150&resize=150,150&ssl=1","medium":"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=300&resize=300,300&ssl=1","medium_large":"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=768&resize=768,0&ssl=1","large":"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=1024&resize=1024,1024&ssl=1","1536x1536":"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=1536&resize=1536,1536&ssl=1","2048x2048":"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=2048&resize=2048,2048&ssl=1","colormag-highlighted-post":"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=392&resize=392,272&ssl=1","colormag-featured-post-medium":"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=390&resize=390,205&ssl=1","colormag-featured-post-small":"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=130&resize=130,90&ssl=1","colormag-featured-image":"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=800&resize=800,445&ssl=1","colormag-default-news":"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=150&resize=150,150&ssl=1","colormag-featured-image-large":"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=1400&resize=1400,600&ssl=1","colormag-elementor-block-extra-large-thumbnail":"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=1155&resize=1155,480&ssl=1","colormag-elementor-grid-large-thumbnail":"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=600&resize=600,417&ssl=1","colormag-elementor-grid-small-thumbnail":"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=285&resize=285,450&ssl=1","colormag-elementor-grid-medium-large-thumbnail":"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=575&resize=575,198&ssl=1"},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"News","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e85cf08852547781a5f631f3713dbb5197ed4b54e32ae19c7d5769b8c8504897?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":false,"magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"The Chinese social media app RedNote is full of cute, heartwarming moments after about 500,000 American users fled to it","magazineBlocksPostCategories":["Technology"],"magazineBlocksPostViewCount":61,"magazineBlocksPostReadTime":7,"magazine_blocks_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=1050&resize=1050,550&ssl=1",1050,550,false],"medium":["https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=300&resize=300,300&ssl=1",300,300,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/19\/business\/00nw-tiktok\/00nw-tiktok-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=150&resize=150,150&ssl=1",150,150,false]},"magazine_blocks_author":{"display_name":"News","author_link":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/author\/admin\/"},"magazine_blocks_comment":0,"magazine_blocks_author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e85cf08852547781a5f631f3713dbb5197ed4b54e32ae19c7d5769b8c8504897?s=96&d=mm&r=g","magazine_blocks_category":"<a href=\"#\" class=\"category-link category-link-39\">Technology<\/a>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}