Billionaire businessman Frank McCourt, Jr. discusses the future of TikTok in the United States with ‘Claman Countdown.’
Many social media apps have seen highs in the app store’s chart rankings as a potential US ban hangs over the heads of TikTok and its American users.
Apps like Xiaohongshu, Lemon8, Clapper and Flip held the top five spots in Apple and Google’s app store rankings for “Top Free” apps in the US on Thursday morning.
Two apps – Xiaohongshu and Lemon8 – were particularly exposed.
Lemon8 allows users to “discover and share useful content related to beauty, fashion, travel, and more” through photos and videos, according to a recent TikTok report.
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It is owned by the Chinese tech company behind TikTok, ByteDance. Some of Lemon8’s social media seems to have similarities to Instagram and Pinterest.
The Lemon8 app on a smartphone in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on Friday, March 31, 2023. (Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Shanghai-based Xiaohongshu has been around since 2013. The app’s founders, nicknamed RedNote, are Charlwin Mao and Miranda Qu, according to their website.
“Xiaohongshu is a lifestyle platform that encourages people to discover and connect with a variety of different lifestyles, where more than 300 million users every month share what’s happening in their lives,” said its description on the Apple App Store.
Xiaohongshu logo seen on Apple Inc. iPhone in Shanghai on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (Raul Ariano/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)
Its US ranking in the Apple and Google app stores on Thursday morning was No. 1 for free apps.
US-based social media app Clapper is “focused on providing local and global videos to everyone,” according to its website. It has video, live streaming and radio capabilities.
It said in a blog post that its features made it “an ideal candidate to replace TikTok” if the ban were to happen.
Flip also appeared in the US app store rankings for top free apps.
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It’s a “social shopping app for finding and buying” with videos, Flip says on its website. The app is currently only live in the US
The app’s top ranking in the app store charts comes amid TikTok users wondering about a possible ban on the ByteDance-owned app in the US and what other apps they use.
Instagram, YouTube and other popular social media apps also offer short video capabilities that could attract TikTok users considering new platforms in the event of a US shutdown.
A graphic illustration of US online social media and social networking services. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images/Getty Images)
The threat to ban TikTok stems from a law signed last year by President Biden that wants to shut down the platform in the US on Sunday if ByteDance doesn’t make a difference.
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Attorneys for the government and TikTok presented oral arguments in a case focused on a possible Supreme Court ban late last week — and the country’s highest court has been mulling how to rule on it.
The law that seeks to ban TikTok in the US if there is no classification focuses on applications and websites “used, directly or indirectly” by ByteDance, TikTok and their subsidiaries.
A US appeals court on Friday upheld a law requiring China’s ByteDance to abandon its popular short video app TikTok in the United States or face a ban. (Reuters/Dado Ruvic/File Photo/Reuters)
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More than 170 million people in the US use TikTok. The app, led by CEO Shou Chew, was launched in America in 2018.
ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, Lemon8 and other apps like CapCut and Lark, was founded in 2012.