Amidst uncertainty surrounding the potential US ban on TikTok, users are turning to RedNote, a Chinese app offering similar short-form video and photo-sharing features.
However, experts and government officials warn that RedNote may pose an even greater threat to security and privacy than TikTok, ironically the very concern driving the proposed ban.
TikTok faces ban over national security concerns
TikTok is facing a ban over these national security concerns unless its Chinese owners divest. ByteDance and TikTok deny it poses any such threat or that it is under CCP influence, and warn the popular app will disappear for its 170 million users in America.
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But there is a familiar potential problem with RedNote: It is also owned by a Chinese technology company, raising the same kind of national security questions for the U.S. as TikTok has.
What do experts say?
“I’m concerned that Americans are flocking to a number of adversary-owned social media platforms,” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., posted Tuesday on social media platform Bluesky. “We still need a comprehensive and risk-based approach to assessing and mitigating the risks of foreign-owned apps.”
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Meanwhile, as Americans settle into using RedNote, with some saying they’re attempting to learn Mandarin to speak with Chinese locals, experts say the app poses risks. Cooper Quintin, senior staff technologist at the nonprofit digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the organisation “strongly recommends” against using RedNote for people whose privacy is a matter of personal safety. Quintin is conducting a study of the app’s security risks.
According to Angela Zhang, a law professor at the University of Southern California specialising in Chinese tech regulation, RedNote is more susceptible to Chinese government data collection than TikTok, making it a potentially greater concern.
“User data collected by RedNote will be stored in China, whereas TikTok’s user data is stored outside of China. RedNote must comply with Chinese laws, including the Personal Information Protection Law, the Data Security Law, and cross-border data transfer rules,” said Zhang, who explained that the enforcement of rules about government data access is often opaque.
(With inputs from agencies)