People In China Are Welcoming American "TikTok Refugees" To RedNote With Some Incredible Memes
Here are some of the best memes that have come out of this chaotic saga.

People in China are welcoming American "TikTok Refugees" to RedNote, and here are some of the best memes that have come out of this chaotic saga.
It all began in January 2025. As a possible TikTok ban loomed in the US, many Americans began looking for alternatives to TikTok.
In protest, they decided to turn to their "Chinese spy friend", social media app Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote.
This "reverse Great Firewall" movement vaulted RedNote, the Chinese version of Instagram, to #1 on the US App Store, with more than three million downloads in the US alone.
Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote, has hit #1 on the US App Store following news of a possible TikTok ban on January 19th. pic.twitter.com/CwIXgtPEfO
— Pop Base (@PopBase) January 13, 2025
As Americans flocked to the app, Chinese people started joking that RedNote had become "morning C, evening A", as C – Chinese – users dominate in the morning and A – American – users take over at night.

This joke is based on a common Chinese phrase recommending people use products containing Vitamin C in the morning and Vitamin A at night, or as another user put it, "Coffee in the morning, and Alcohol at night."

Chinese users began asking Americans for help on their English homework, while Americans asked Chinese people to help them solve their math problems.

Meanwhile, many newly arrived American users discovered the secret to gaining popularity on the app — by posting pictures of their cats in what became a trend called "paying cat tax."

Both sides also experienced culture shock, with Americans teaching their new Chinese friends that they could form a union or even protest in the streets if they weren't happy with their work conditions.
Meanwhile, Chinese users reminded Americans just how high medical costs and taxes are in the US.
However, the TikTok refugees who were unhappy with the US government's restrictions on freedom of speech soon realized they were facing “real censorship” from China, with people having their accounts reportedly banned after posting content about Winnie the Pooh or Tiananmen Square.
On Sunday, Jan. 19, after the Supreme Court ruled the ban was constitutional, TikTok was removed from US app stores and stopped working for American users.
However, it returned just 14 hours later, after newly inaugurated US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 20 to delay the ban, providing TikTok’s parent company, Bytedance, with a 75-day extension to find a US buyer.
The brief ban sparked more jokes and memes in the West, including people around the world joking about how quiet TikTok became without American users.
TikTok ban so short there’s at least one person out there who slept through the whole thing
— irene anna (@enerianna) January 19, 2025
I’m cryin😭😭 pic.twitter.com/kB1TzG6v9l
— هاي©️ (@Haeldian) January 19, 2025
And comparing it to Jesus’ resurrection.
even jesus waited three days to be resurrected https://t.co/QJlXgvM1EZ
— anamta ⋆.˚𖦹⋆✮⋆.˚ (@triedtruebIue) January 19, 2025
And Selena Gomez’s brief social media breaks.
TikTok was banned for only 14 and a half hours, lasting longer than Selena Gomez’s Instagram breaks. pic.twitter.com/8UQHpiub0k
— Drop Pop (@DropPopNet) January 19, 2025
However, people also noted the language differences in the messages notifying users the app had been banned and unbanned, with many calling it a political stunt by Trump, who led the effort to ban TikTok in the first place in 2020.
this is literally a stunt all planned by trump. look at how the message changed within 20 mins…. trump is gonna come in office and play savior by unbanning the app to get more sympathy and likes from the public. do not fall for this bs. #tiktokban pic.twitter.com/EAoPGYF6M4
— amaya ❦ (@amxya17__) January 19, 2025
TikTok users in the US are now seeing this message, in which the social media platform gives the man who started the effort to ban the app in the first place credit for 'saving it' pic.twitter.com/96KK3waBGc
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) January 19, 2025
Since then, TikTok users have also reportedly found that they have come back to face stricter restrictions, as searching the word "fascism" no longer works on the app.
And people searching for topics such as Palestine, the LA wildfires and the Holocaust are seeing a message warning them to look out for "misinformation".
You cannot even search the word “fascism” on TikTok anymore. People are searching for info on Palestine, the L.A. wildfires, and even the Holocaust and being told to look out for “misinformation.”
— Gabrielle A. Perry, MPH (@GeauxGabrielle) January 20, 2025
We’re watching censorship and propaganda in real time. pic.twitter.com/XFOhd9z7vy
Some people have also reported instances of TikTok taking down the phrase "Free Palestine" as hate speech.
TikTok is dead. "Free Palestine" is now considered a symbol of hate speech. pic.twitter.com/QOPQVqsoEZ
— naivety (@AlexNaivety) January 21, 2025
Meanwhile, back in China, RedNote users are thanking the TikTok refugees because the app has since introduced a translate feature, as well as maps in English.
What do you think of the whole situation?
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