TikTok refugees flock to RedNote as ban looms



The company behind TikTok is trying to reassure its US staff that they will still be paid next week even if the Supreme Court in Washington upholds a new Biden administration law which says that the app's American business must be sold off or closed down by Sunday. The Supreme Court is expected to make its ruling later on Wednesday. Asia Business reporter Mariko Oy has more.



We keep talking about TikTok users in America, some 170 million of them. But ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, it also employs some 7,000 staff in the United States. And there were reports about how they have been voicing concerns about job security.



And in an internal memo that has been reviewed by Reuters, it said that the company said told those employees that their jobs are safe regardless of what the Supreme Court decides and that their office will remain open.



As we've been reporting about it, a new legislation put a deadline on 19 January, which is this coming Sunday, to either sell the app or face a ban in the United States.



Now it is important to emphasize that Even if the Supreme Court does not block the bill, new TikTok downloads won't be allowed, but existing users can continue using it for some time, though eventually the services would degrade, and therefore the users may decide to leave anyway.



Now, as I said, there are more than 170 million users of TikTok in the United States.

And interestingly, some of them have actually been moving to other Chinese apps like RedNote, which is apparently a combination of TikTok and Instagram. And they're calling themselves TikTok refugees.



And even though there are some security concerns, some American users are still choosing to accept the terms and conditions of using RedNote, which are written in Chinese. So even if TikTok manages to dodge that ban, it may actually prove helpless against users moving to other platforms.



词汇表

reassure [ˌriːəˈʃʊə(r)] 使安心，使消除疑虑，再保证

Supreme Court [suːˌpriːm ˈkɔːt]（美国）最高法院

uphold [ʌpˈhəʊld] 支持，维持，批准

administration [ədˌmɪnɪˈstreɪʃ(ə)n]（某一任期的）政府，政府人员

make a ruling [ˈruːlɪŋ] 作出判决

parent company 总公司，母公司

voice concerns [kənˈsɜː(r)n] 表示担忧；表达关切

internal memo [ɪnˈtɜː(r)n(ə)l] [ˈmeməʊ] 内部备忘录（公司内部沟通和记录重要信息的文件）

legislation [ˌledʒɪˈsleɪʃ(ə)n] 立法，法律，法规

block the bill 阻止法案通过

degrade [dɪ'ɡreɪd] 降级，退化

refugee [ˌrefjʊˈdʒiː] 难民，避难者，逃亡者

terms and conditions 条款和条件（对商品或服务使用的限制规定）

dodge [dɒdʒ] 避开，躲开，逃避



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