Lemon8, a photo-sharing app from Bytedance, and RedNote, a Shanghai-based content sharing platform, have seen a surge in popularity in the United States as “TikTok refugees” migrate to alternative platforms in anticipation of a possible ban.
Now, a law that could shut down TikTok in the United States threatens to ensnare these Chinese social media apps, as well as others that are gaining ground as alternatives to TikTok, legal experts say.
As of Wednesday, RedNote – known as Xiaohongshu in China — was the top free app on the US iOS store, with Lemon8 taking second place.
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on the constitutionality of the law. Protecting Americans from Apps Controlled by Foreign Adversaries Actor PAFACA, which would result in the TikTok app being banned in the United States if its Beijing-based owner, ByteDance, does not divest it by January 19.
Although the legislation explicitly names TikTok and ByteDance, experts say its scope is broad and could open the door for Washington to target other Chinese apps.
“Chinese social media apps, including Lemon8 and RedNote, could also be banned under this law,” Tobin Marcus, head of U.S. policy at New York-based research firm Wolfe Research, told CNBC.
If the TikTok ban stands, the law is unlikely to allow potential replacements from China without some form of divestment, experts told CNBC.
PAFACA automatically applies to Lemon8 because it is a subsidiary of ByteDance, while RedNote could fall under the law if its average monthly user base in the United States continues to grow, Marcus said.
The legislation prohibits the distribution, maintenance, or provision of Internet hosting services to any “application controlled by a foreign adversary.”
These apps include those linked to ByteDance or TikTok or a social media company controlled by a “foreign adversary” and that has been determined to pose a significant threat to national security.
The legislation’s language is “pretty broad” and would give incoming President Donald Trump the ability to decide which entities pose a significant threat to national security, said Carl Tobias, Williams Professor of Law at the University of Richmond .
Xiaomeng Lu, director of geotechnology at political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, told CNBC that the law would likely prevail, even if its implementation and enforcement were delayed. Regardless, she expects Chinese apps in the United States to continue to face increased regulatory action in the future.
“The TikTok case set a new precedent in allowing Chinese apps to be targeted and potentially shut down,” Lu said.
She added that other Chinese apps that could be hit by increased scrutiny this year include popular Chinese e-commerce platforms Temu and Shein. US officials have accused the apps of presenting data risksallegations similar to those imposed against TikTok.
The fate of TikTok rests in the hands of the Supreme Court after the platform and its parent company filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government, claiming that invoking PAFACA violated constitutional protections of free speech.
TikTok’s argument is that the law is unconstitutional as it applies specifically to them, not that it is unconstitutional per se, said Gautam Hans, a law professor at Cornell. “So whether TikTok wins or loses, the law could still apply to other companies,” he said.
The scope defined by the law is broad enough that it can be applied to a variety of Chinese apps considered a threat to national security, beyond traditional social media apps in the mold of TikTok, Hans said.
Trump, for his part, urged the U.S. Supreme Court to delay the implementation of PAFACA so that he can pursue a “political resolution” after he takes office. Democratic lawmakers also urged Congress and President Joe Biden to extend January 19 deadline.
