VICTORIA, Seychelles — Some Seychellois TikTok users have begun switching to the Chinese-owned app REDNote after the United States government enforced a ban on TikTok over the weekend, citing national security and data privacy concerns.
The US Supreme Court on Friday upheld a ban passed with broad bipartisan support in Congress and signed into law in April 2024. The law prevents American companies from hosting or serving content for the platform unless it is sold to a buyer from the US or one of its allies. ByteDance, TikTok’s owner, has so far shown no interest in selling the app.
Locally, 17-year-old Emma Athanase said she switched to REDNote last week. “I prefer REDNote as there are no adverts that keep popping up while you are watching the videos. You can also see the cultural difference in terms of content and people are nicer,” she said. Darian Nassib, another local user, said TikTok had been a place where he had learned about cooking and skin care, and that losing it would be a blow to creators. REDNote is now the top downloaded app in the United States.
