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.

  • inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world
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    33 minutes ago

    No shit but Americans are god damn stupid and petulant morons that don’t think anything but being angry that one of their circus sideshow was being taken away from them.

  • Filthmontane@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    If all my data is for sale and China can just buy all my data from Meta, Amazon, Google, etc. Then why not just skip the middleman? At least if I give my data directly to the CCP, Zuckerberg won’t have access to it.

    • NastyNative@mander.xyz
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      2 hours ago

      I think we need legislation to give us privacy in the world wide web and in that aspect you are correct. Where I disagree is that information is harmless and you dont care if the CCP has it or the US has it. In the USA we have freedoms that chinese dont have, also hundreds of thousands chinese nationals are coming through the mexican border. Why are they coming to the US by the hundreds of thousands if China is good and the US is bad. Joining another chinese app is insane and if they reach huge #s they will ban those apps as well.

      • andallthat@lemmy.world
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        1 hour ago

        I agree with you on the web privacy legislation, but the point u/Filthmontane was making is that the CCP could have our data anyway, by buying it from Meta or Google, so at least giving it directly to China is better (in that at least Meta and Google don’t have it). I think that argument is only half-serious, but after the whole Cambridge Analytica debacle still more serious than it should be…

        • NastyNative@mander.xyz
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          1 hour ago

          When you sell data you choose what to sale. When you are the one collecting all that information you dont have a limit on what you can collect. Selling them data is safer than letting them collect from the source. I dont think we should be selling peoples information and a hell no to us letting china collect it.

    • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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      3 hours ago

      FBI: “Be careful what Apps you use because they are all collecting data on you” “Cover your Webcam, it is probably hacked” “Turn off location on your phone, because that’s being hacked” “All of our phones are being spied on by China from a back door via the telco infrastructure that the Government refuses to correct, because they want to spy to”

      Congress: “Tiktok is the biggest problem”

  • IceFoxX@lemm.ee
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    5 hours ago

    I think the Chinese hackers inside american isp’s hardware etc are a way bigger risk…

  • Anarki_@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1 day ago

    ⢀⣠⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠀⠀⠀⠀⣠⣤⣶⣶ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠀⠀⠀⢰⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⣀⣀⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡏⠉⠛⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠀⠀⠀⠈⠛⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠿⠛⠉⠁⠀⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠙⠿⠿⠿⠻⠿⠿⠟⠿⠛⠉⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣸⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣄⠀⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣴⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠏⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠠⣴⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⠀⠀⢰⣹⡆⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣭⣷⠀⠀⠀⠸⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠃⠀⠀⠈⠉⠀⠀⠤⠄⠀⠀⠀⠉⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⢿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢾⣿⣷⠀⠀⠀⠀⡠⠤⢄⠀⠀⠀⠠⣿⣿⣷⠀⢸⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡀⠉⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢄⠀⢀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠉⠁⠀⠀⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢹⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠃⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⣿⣿

  • TheFogan@programming.dev
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    2 days ago

    I thought that was kind of the point… people started using red note because it was openly what the government fears Tictoc could be as a form of protest.

    What’s next a news story that says people printing out their browser history and dropping it off at the chinese embassies, might be giving their private data to china?

  • Refurbished Refurbisher@lemmy.sdf.org
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    2 days ago

    Yeah, obviously, but the US isn’t going to implement privacy laws because that would impact American tech corporations as well, who also do mass data collection.

    • nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 days ago

      Which means they’ve legislated themselves into a game of whack a mole. Without true regulations all they can do is wait for the next mole to pop up.

      • Saleh@feddit.org
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        2 days ago

        Incoming: all apps offered on the appstore must be whitelisted and approved by the DOGE. If a social media apps is not approved they can sell themselves within 24h to Musk in order to get apprlval.

  • Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 days ago

    Boo hoo! The US can’t spy on it’s people anymore because everyone got wise and switched to foriegn apps.

    This has nothing to do with the security or privacy of the people. They’re pissed because they’re losing power over them.

    On a side note, everyone that has joined REDnote is waking up to the lifetime of propaganda the american government has been feeding them. This past week has been wild.

    • Filthmontane@lemmy.world
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      5 hours ago

      I just learned from red note that Chinese people don’t pay property taxes. Once they pay off their mortgage, they just own their home. I’m definitely the one living in a third world country.

    • spujb@lemmy.cafe
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      2 days ago

      there’s genuinely been some class consciousness getting into play

      i saw some users from both countries compare prices of eggs and vegetables, and they even did the necessary math of accounting for average wage and cost of living. the chinese users are not allowed to talk about their politics (sadly; this is a bad thing) but they are allowed to talk about foreign politics and they are probably bigger fans of Luigi Mangione even than i have seen in English speaking social media. there are candid discussions of queerphobia as well in its different social (and for the US, political too) manifestations between countries.

      • SoftTeeth@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        The funny thing is at any point the US government can ban the collection of personal user data. It could just be illegal for any company to do this in the US.

        But like you said, it’s just about the US wanting to spy on its own citizens but not wanting other countries to.

        • RyeBread@feddit.org
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          1 day ago

          Look at the companies with the highest market cap in the US and just start counting how many make money from selling personal data. The US will never implement wide sweeping privacy laws. To the detriment of everyone.

        • spujb@lemmy.cafe
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          2 days ago

          “it’s okay when we do it” —the US on literally everything it criticizes in other nations

      • WanderingVentra@lemm.ee
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        1 hour ago

        The Chinese aren’t the ones firing people for posting pro Palestinian things on social media or attacking protestors on college campuses or protecting white supremacists in Oregon or Washington. That’s our agencies, our cops.

  • ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml
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    2 days ago

    Security risks, like interacting with Chinese people and undoing decades of our propaganda

  • FrankLaskey@lemmy.ml
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    2 days ago

    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’.

    • dx1@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      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”.

    • Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      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.

      • Saleh@feddit.org
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        2 days ago

        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)

      • Iapar@feddit.org
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        2 days ago

        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.

        • notgold
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          6 hours ago

          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.

      • BothsidesistFraud@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        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.

      • Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2 days ago

        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.

        • CeeBee_Eh@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          How good their infrastructure is.

          and benefiting from their government instead of being repressed

          Had my there for a second. I thought you were being serious.

            • notgold
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              6 hours ago

              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.

              • Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                3 hours ago

                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.

              • WanderingVentra@lemm.ee
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                1 hour ago

                You might as well be. You’re probably in one of our vassal countries if you’re still falling for US propaganda.

        • jumjummy@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          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.

    • BothsidesistFraud@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      have spent some time on RedNote (Xiaohongshu) and all I have seen is friendly cross-cultural exchange and discussion between these supposed ‘adversaries’.

      Nobody is saying the Chinese people and American people are enemies or adversaries.

    • CeeBee_Eh@lemmy.world
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      I have spent some time on RedNote (Xiaohongshu) and all I have seen is friendly cross-cultural exchange and discussion between these supposed ‘adversaries’.

      Do you really not understand the difference between “Chinese people” and “Chinese government”?

    • Bone@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Someone did. You can write words on them. They come in a pad. Sometimes sticky!

      • gidostro@lemmy.cafe
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        1 day ago

        But they don’t have directions on how to 3d print a gun, and absolutely no references to Tiananmen Square!!

  • spujb@lemmy.cafe
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    2 days ago

    excellent to know so we are going to make and enforce privacy regulations so this pattern doesn’t keep repeating itself

    … right?

    • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
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      2 days ago

      I doubt it. These things are controlled by the CCP and the CCP is loving the way Israel just keeps exposing Western hypocrisy.