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OLDNEWS: TikTok is officially shutting down. What to do and why avoid RedNote | MKTRSU #24

TikTok is officially shutting down in United States on January 19, 2025What is happening with the US TikTok users, how should advertisers act, what is RedNote, the newest hottest trend and should you and your brand be on it?

Author

Mark Valasik
January 17, 2025

TikTok is officially shutting down in United States on January 19, 2025

What is happening with the US TikTok users, how should advertisers act, what is RedNote, the newest hottest trend and should you and your brand be on it?

I’m Mark, welcome to Marketing Right Side Up #24, let’s talk about it.

BREAKING: TikTok is officially shutting down. What to do and why avoid RedNote

On January 17, 2025 the U.S. Supreme Court released their official ruling on TikTok’s January 10 hearing. The ruling confiirms the law and therefore forces TikTok to get divested or banned by January 19, 2025. Since it’s impossible to sell the giga-platform in 2 days, as ByteDance previously confirmed, TikTok will be shutting down in United States on January 19.

Donald Trump, who will step into the Presidency office just ONE DAY after - on January 20, said he might reverse the ban and postpone it 60-90 days. However, that remains to be seen, if it actually happens.

Meanwhile, TikTok users are flocking to the worst possible alternative…

RedNote: The Little Red Book of Social Media

Meet RedNote (aka Xiaohongshu), the Chinese app and a surprising hit among US TikTok refugees (their words, not mine) that currently hits #1 spot in US and Canadian app stores.

It’s part Instagram, part Amazon, but a full-blown Chinese propaganda.

The content wants to be alll about lifestyle—beauty tips, travel inspo, and endless product reviews. But there’s a twist: its Terms of Service (fully in Mandarin Chinese btw.) ask users to embrace "core socialist values" and avoid anything politically sensitive or anything not from the “right history”. Yep, creativity meets censorship. But don’t worry, there’s a reason why this is happening and a larger threat…

By the way, the name Xiaohongshu literally means "Little Red Book," nodding to Mao Zedong’s famous quotes collection from the Cultural Revolution. Not sure if smart branding or a history lesson for the west, but the symbolism ties the app to cultural pride and collective sharing—with a dash of socialism. Love it or leave it, RedNote is definitely stirring the social media pot.

‘But why??’ I hear you ask.

Well, two main reasons. As you know, or can read in my previous article TikTok is about to get banned on January 19, 2025, since the parent company ByteDance does not want to sell it off to U.S. buyers (although MrBeast might get a shot) and U.S. Congress still pressures the Supreme Court to take their side and ban it, citing ‘national security reasons’ and ‘data theft threats’.

Enter ‘TikTok Refugees’! A group of about 1+ MILLION users who try to send a message and take a stance against the TikTok ban. The idea is that they will install the most chinese-spyware-looking app as a replacement for TikTok, because they don’t care about their data being spied on or stolen.

Creative, petty, but dumb. Most of the loud users advocate this action and invite others to do so, claiming they don’t care that the Chinese government will get their messages or algorithm preferences…. Should we tell them?

The main issue is that the aforementioned data are much more than that. We know for a fact that Instagram, TikTok but even Uber misused the tracked data to track specific people in real life. We know for a fact, that Meta apps and TikTok track user behavior and inputs outside of the social media apps as well, like IP address, device type, search inputs, websites visited (due to ad tracking pixels) and more. 

Also one issue that stemmed from the recent Meta AI controversy was the ‘unsolicited’ use of ones likeness, face and voice for AI training and generative AI outputs without users asking for it or allowing it specifically.

With this in mind, combined with the RedNote ToS completely in Chinese, it’s really a bad idea to hop on RedNote without proper understanding of what’s at stake.

…

Oh and the second reason/group of users believe it might be “the new TikTok”. 

It’s not. Since it’s fully owned by a Chinese company, it fits the same divest-or-ban law as TikTok and its cousin, Lemon8.

Should your brand jump on RedNote?

ABSOLUTELY NOT!

However…it’s never a bad idea to create a profile (preferably on a company/blank device) and secure your brand’s profile and account name. But leave it at that and uninstall it afterwards.

What to do after the TikTok ban?

Keep using it as you would while you can. If you used to post brand related content, continue to do so, but keep in mind it might go away. Rather focus on other platforms (my personal favorite is Youtube Shorts, how the Youtube algorithm works I’ve hinted in one of my oldest articles) and just repurpose that content on TikTok.

If you’re just a user, consider creating a free Canadian Apple ID (for iPhone users) or switch your Android Play Store to Canada and install TikTok from these stores. Since TikTok is (for now) going nowhere in Canada, it’s the easiest way to keep the TikTok app updated and functioning.

If you’re a brand/user from outside the US, don’t worry, this ban does not affect you!

However brands, don’t forget to pause your ads if you run them in the U.S.!

What’s next for US TikTok advertisers and TikTok Shop affiliates?

Well, for now, nothing. TikTok promised it will keep the data for analytics even after the shutdown on January 19, 2025 for reporting purposes.

However, apart from Instagram or Youtube Shorts, there’s currently no real “next TikTok”.

Youtube previously claimed they want to incorporate commerce more into the Shorts ecosystem.

And Instagram shopping kinda still exists and IG might revive it and push it more after TikTok’s gone.

But whatever you do, please keep in mind that RedNote is not the solution.

What do you think? Is this just a hiccup and will Trump save TikTok? Or is this the beginning of the end of social media as we know them?

Take care!

Cheers,

Mark.

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