Summary
Many Americans are migrating to RedNote, a Chinese-owned app based in China, raising significant privacy and security concerns.
Experts warn that RedNote, based in China, is subject to Chinese laws, including the Personal Information Protection Law and Data Security Law, which grant the government rights to request data and cooperation with intelligence operations.
Enforcement of these laws is often opaque. Analysts highlight risks of data collection, algorithm manipulation, and censorship on RedNote.
Critics argue the U.S. lacks comprehensive privacy laws, driving users to platforms like RedNote that may pose even greater risks than TikTok.
The US government’s position on this can be summed up as “massive unaccountable US tech firms having all of your data and manipulating public opinion via their black box algorithms is okay, but Chinese companies doing that is a national security concern”. I call BS. The degree to which China is actually a US adversary is being massively overstated by the US government as they see this as a threat to US geopolitical hegemony and America’s ability to propagandize its own citizens. I have spent some time on RedNote (Xiaohongshu) and all I have seen is friendly cross-cultural exchange and discussion between these supposed ‘adversaries’.
Remember that time that China bombed a US ship in the Mediterranean though, to try to trick us into a war with Egypt?
Wait, that was “Israel”.
I want to take it even further down, what effect does China harvesting my data have? I’m a poor white man working in a school in the Midwest with extreme left beliefs. I’m not privy to government Intel, I don’t when go to school board meetings. All I watch is redstone tutorials and goblin-core videos. I’m not saying I’m a default demographic, but if you take the entire digital footprint of everyone I know, you’re getting terrabytes of wasted space. You can’t even use it to radicalize us because we use it for escapism, not news. Not that that’s an option, I’d happy sell out this shithole for a stable job and dental, but I don’t see China sending me any pizza parties.
US propaganda has been focused on telling people nonstpp how Muslims and Chinese are all just busy hating the US because of their “muuh freedom” and their greatest whishes is to take that “freedom” away. Also they are all underdeveloped peasants according to the propaganda.
The greatest danger to that propaganda model is normal people talking with each other and realizing people are just people with people problems. Doesn’t matter where in the world you are. The average person will worry about paying their bills, their work, the health of their family and how their kids do in school.
People in warzones care about staying alive and overcoming their attackers, but even then most people who have been at the end of American barrels or barrels allied to the US just want to be left the fuck alone in their own countries. Very few actually want to destroy the US, despite having their family members murdered by the US or its Allies. (Same goes for people dealing with Russian, French or other foreign military attacks)
Everyone of us can be manipulated. If someone has your data, which gives indicators on how you think and act, that someone can manipulate you.
And manipulating citizens is a good strategy for foreign countries.
I think they said all the needed was pizza + dental and they’d sell out. No need to manipulate a hungry man, just tell him what to do to get some food.
Very simple, they can track a lot of your online activity (as well as of course what you watch on TikTok) and any of this could be used for future blackmail.
Or I’ll spell it out. 15 years from now you are at middle management position in a defense contractor and some stranger reaches out to you and says they’ll dump a bunch of insanely embarrassing shit from your 20s - think evidence of infidelity, porn playlists, etc - unless you do this simple thing, send them some plans now and then or pass along a password. Nobody will ever know.
No not you specifically, you’re boring. Whoever is in positions they find interesting.
The US government doesn’t want us to see how well people are living in China off a mid income. How good their infrastructure is. How everyone is healthy and benefitting from their government instead of being repressed and used as a resource.
Had my there for a second. I thought you were being serious.
Keep believing what your owners want you to believe.
I’ve been to China a few times and while some of their infrastructure is amazing a lot isn’t good or safe. Don’t get me wrong though, each time I go to China the improvements to amenities and quality of life for locals always seems to be improving. Locals have to work hard to get what they get in life versus me in my western job doing 8-4 each day.
The fact that it’s improving at all makes it a better place than the US. At this rate the america is going to look like mad max in a few years while the chinese chill under their vast solar arrays.
I’m not American
You might as well be. You’re probably in one of our vassal countries if you’re still falling for US propaganda.
I’m not falling for any US propaganda. Americans seem to think people outside the US see American news as trustworthy. When the reality is that we generally see it as biased at best and ludicrous the rest of the time.
Stop spewing more Chinese propoganda. “Benefitting from their government instead of being repressed and used as a resource”. You’re talking about China here? A totalitarian government with absolute control over everything.
Benefitting so much that they can’t even talk about politics or their own country’s dark history without being re-educated.
“Stop spewing more Chinese propaganda.”
Proceeds to spew US propaganda lol.
Nobody is saying the Chinese people and American people are enemies or adversaries.
Do you really not understand the difference between “Chinese people” and “Chinese government”?