Rednote, the Chinese social media app that surged in global popularity in early 2025 during a brief US TikTok ban, is taking concrete steps to separate its Chinese and international operations, according to a WIRED investigation published in April 2026.
The company’s Chinese parent organization, Xiaohongshu, registered a new entity called Rednote Technology PTE LTD in Singapore in mid-2025. Rednote has also launched a dedicated international web domain, Rednote.com, redirecting some users there from its original Chinese domain, Xiaohongshu.com. The company says it uses Singapore-based servers to store international user data, though its privacy policy notes that data may still be transferred to and processed in China.
In December 2025, Rednote published two distinct terms-of-service documents — one for domestic Chinese users and one for international users — with the most recent updates made to each in late March 2026. The documents are broadly similar but differ in key areas. The international version sets the minimum user age at 13, reflecting US regulations, while the Chinese version asks users under 18 not to use the platform. Content moderation guidelines also diverge: the Chinese terms include rules around political content, while the international terms prohibit discrimination based on race, religion, age, gender, disability, or sexuality.
The terms do not clearly specify how Rednote determines which policy applies to a given user. An earlier version from December 2025 stated that anyone who registered before December 8, 2025 would be classified as a Chinese user, with those registering afterward using a non-Chinese phone number treated as international. That language was removed from the March 2026 update.
Founded in 2013, Rednote has grown to approximately 300 million monthly active users, primarily young urban Chinese people sharing lifestyle and travel content. The company has been expanding its international footprint, including hiring corporate employees in the US to staff new regional offices, according to the tech publication Rest of World. Rednote did not respond to WIRED’s requests for comment.
The structural separation mirrors moves made by other Chinese tech companies operating globally. ByteDance runs TikTok as a separate ecosystem from its Chinese counterpart Douyin, and Tencent maintains different rules and censorship mechanisms for WeChat and its domestic version, Weixin. Both Beijing and Western governments are scrutinizing data security and content moderation practices by Chinese platforms, making some degree of operational separation a practical consideration for any Chinese social media company seeking a global audience.
So far, the content visible to domestic and international Rednote users appears to be the same. However, the growing structural divide between the two entities suggests the split could deepen over time.
Source: Business Latest