The tables have turned, and now China is worried about the US corrupting their youth via social media.

Chinese-owned video sharing app RedNote is reportedly considering quarantining American users over concerns they are a poor influence on their own young people.

Ahead of TikTok being banned and “going dark” on Sunday – which eventually only lasted 14 hours after new President Donald Trump intervened – millions of Americans downloaded the alternative Chinese-owned video sharing platform, sending it to the number one spot on the US App Store.

Three million Americans joined RedNote in just a single day last week, some calling themselves “TikTok refugees” – and instantly caused a culture clash. 

Americans descended on Chinese influencers’ comments sections with sexualized messages. 

“How do you say mommy in Chinese? Like in a horny way,” one American user commented on a Chinese female fitness influencer’s video. Another Chinese woman received a comment reading, “I’ll teach you English fine sh-t,” from an American user.

Meanwhile, Chinese users have been drooling over provocative videos of attractive American RedNoters, like one commenter who originally wrote in Mandarin, “After seeing foreign girls, I’m no longer interested in domestic ones.”

“American women on RedNote [are] already triggering a gender war in China,” one X user responded.

Americans are also helping Chinese teens cheat on their English homework by commenting the answers in their posts.

Such cross-cultural interactions don’t happen on TikTok, because the company which owns it, ByteDance – who are strongly linked to the Communist Party – runs an entirely separate app, Douyin, for Chinese users. 

Douyin adheres to the Chinese communist government’s strict rules and censorship banning political criticism, sexualized content and many other things it deems bad for its citizens. 

RedNote, called Xiaohongshu in Chinese – which literally translates as Little Red Book, an apparent reference to former dictator Chairman Mao – is also required to follow the Chinese Communist Party’s regulations, but has yet to bring its moderation of English language content to meet these standards. 

According to reports, the app is now under pressure to move all non-Chinese users into a separate, quarantined server to mitigate contact and stop poisoning the young, mostly female user base. The app already rolled out a brand new feature for Chinese users that allows them to filter out content from all foreign users.

RedNote is also “urgently recruiting English content moderators” in response to the influx of foreign users — even though, ironically, the app previously attempted to recruit American influencers to promote it ahead of the TikTok ban.

In the meantime, American political issues are trickling into the Chinese social consciousness via RedNote.

Luigi Mangione is a viral topic on the app. Chinese users are posting memes and drawings of the accused murderer, currently awaiting trial for allegedly gunning down United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. One RedNoter even dressed up in the style of Mangione, donning the same maroon sweater and slacks he wore to a court appearance.

But not all political interactions are going smoothly. An LGBT American user who posted a video about queer issues on the platform was told by Chinese users “don’t promote LGBT in the platform,” “[we] don’t like it,” and “just don’t talk about this to everyone.”

One American user was permanently banned for posting a photo of Winnie The Pooh, the children’s cartoon character that President Xi Jinping famously detests being told he looks like. RedNote cited the cause of his ban as “harming national interests.”

Americans are even censoring one another, out of fear of a crackdown. 

“Do NOT bring that foolishness over here [please] act right. [They’re going to] kick us out or something,” one American user responded to another’s sexual comment.

For years, Americans have panicked about China’s insidious influence over American young people via TikTok, from stealing user data to promoting dangerous challenges to pushing divisive political messaging and encouraging tween and teen girls to post videos of them dancing provocatively.

Senior leaders have accused the Chinese government of pushing smut on our youth via TikTok, while presenting their own children with a totally different version of the app filled with positive messages, educational videos, and pro-government propaganda.

Now that President Trump has reportedly helped restore TikTok, the RedNote migration might prove short-lived. 

But, after years of suffering subtle psychological warfare waged against our youth in the form of TikTok, it’s satisfying to see the Chinese get a taste of their own medicine.