Update: TikTok is set to restore service.

I opened Twitter today and saw posts about Americans migrating to 小红书 (Little Red Book) for their daily dose of short-form videos.

What struck me most were the comments I kept seeing. People write things like, "Now that TikTok is gone, I have nowhere to watch funny things," or "I don't have any other place to laugh." At first, I wondered if these were ironic posts, but the sheer volume and consistency of such sentiments made me realize – people are dead serious.

This reminds me of when India banned TikTok a few years ago. The massive user base eventually adapted, moving to Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. But what I'm seeing with American users is different.

I can't help but question the logic behind this migration to Little Red Book. Is this really an organic user behavior? Or are we witnessing a clever marketing strategy? If history is any indicator, the Chinese government will likely step in to segregate international and Chinese users - it's just how things typically work.

There's something darkly humorous about people's logic: "Oh, TikTok got banned because it's controlled by China? Let me just hop onto this other Chinese app real quick." The cognitive dissonance is almost beautiful in its absurdity. I'm curious to see how this plays out.