The video app that once styled itself a joyful politics-free zone is now bracing for a nationwide ban and pinning its hopes on President-elect Donald Trump.

Americans have shown that they won’t take national security threats at face value. They want the details. Lawmakers reportedly gathered for a top-secret briefing on the risks posed by TikTok before voting in favor of the bill back in March. At the time, the protestors outside Capitol Hill who opposed the ban were not made privy to its findings.

While the U.S. ban has been debated for months, India acted swiftly in June 2020 to block TikTok and nearly 60 other Chinese apps over national security concerns, stripping many creators of their main source of income and shattering a digital community.

This looming TikTok ban has over 170 million US TikTok users (who have named themselves "TikTok Refugees") scrambling for a replacement app. And that's what these users have seemingly found in Xiaohongshu or RedNote — a Chinese-owned social media app that has already risen to #1 on the US App Store.

The influx of more than 700,000 new users has been driven by a looming U.S. ban on TikTok, used by 170 million Americans, on national security concerns.