As the TikTok ban looms in the United States, users have flocked to RedNote, also known as Xiaohongshu, a China-based app that looks similar to Instagram.
But in Australia, where there is no imminent TikTok ban, the app is also rocketing up the app download charts. And it doesn’t just tell us about TikTok – it also exposes issues with Australia’s forthcoming social media age ban.
RedNote has 300 million users mostly based in China, but has added about 700,000 new users in a matter of days as TikTok users look for an alternative.
Dr Alexia Maddox, director of digital education at La Trobe University, said three factors are probably driving Australians to download RedNote.
These include Australian users following American users, particularly as content creators shift, a strategic move to secure user names and establish a presence on an emerging app – and, possibly, the incoming social media ban for under-16s.
“While it’s speculative at this stage, the platform migration patterns we’re seeing align with what we know about how users respond to regulatory changes – both anticipated and actual,” she said.
ByteDance is facing a 19 January deadline to sell TikTok or face a ban in the US on national security grounds. TikTok is used by about 170 million Americans, roughly half of the country’s population, and is overwhelmingly popular with young people and the advertisers wanting to reach them.
But the ban is up in the air due to the pending decision of the US supreme court on whether to pause the TikTok ban, as well as the impending return of Donald Trump as US president next week.
There is no immediate sign Australia would follow the US in banning TikTok for everyone. There were loud calls for it among some in the Coalition in 2023 and 2024, but those have mostly died down in the months since – the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, for instance, has a TikTok account he is using in the lead-up to the federal election.
And while it fights for its life in the US, TikTok is still announcing new Australian-centred projects and is actively hiring in Australia.
But the emergence of a new social media platform – even one that may only have a fleeting popularity in the US or Australia – raises questions about what the government would do should a new app take off that is not covered by the under-16s ban.
Under the law passed by parliament, the communications minister will decide this year which platforms will be affected by the ban. It is expected it will at least include TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram.
Under proposed codes soon to be under consideration for adult websites, sites or apps that refuse to verify that users are 18 or over could be blocked in Australia.
A surge in popularity for RedNote among teens in Australia could see it added to the list, but unlike the others, the app has little presence in Australia. And while RedNote could face millions of dollars worth of fines for failing to comply, it’s not clear how it would be enforced.
If RedNote doesn’t comply, it’s unclear whether ordering Apple and Google to remove the app from their stores would be simple.
The situation highlights the game of whack-a-mole the government will probably have to play once the ban is in place, adding a new app to the list whenever it is deemed popular among teens and a cause for concern for parents. When one new app is banned for teens, they will find another one, or a platform not covered by the ban – for example, web forums.
The government’s justification is that doing something is better than nothing, and it is expected teens will move to other services or find ways around age assurance.
It all comes as the trial of age assurance technology is about to begin. According to a timeline published by ACCS, the provider selected for the trial, a full test of the four different ways ages will be checked must be completed in the next three months.
That includes hard verification using ID documents, testing a dataset of 4,000 legitimate, fake and altered ID documents like licences and passports. It will also look at age estimation technology, such as biometrics like scanning someone’s face, or testing their voice or hand gestures, according to the document.
The trial will also investigate age inference methods that look at a user’s browser behaviour or online activity or purchase history to determine age without violating “privacy policies and correctly anonymises data where required”.
All these tests will need to be completed by April, according to the project plan, with the report due to be given to the government in June. That will be after the next federal election, so it will fall to whoever is in the role of communications minister to decide how to respond.
