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There’s Another Alternative to TikTok That Parents Should Be Concerned About

Madeline Leesman
Madeline Leesman  |  February 04, 2025 10:00 AM

Last month, the world watched in shock as TikTok, the social media platform, went dark in the United States because it got banned. TikTok has alarming ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Last year, former President Joe Biden signed a law requiring TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell its U.S. assets by Jan. 19 or face a ban.

TikTok was back up and running in the states the following day with a message stating that it would work with President Donald Trump to ensure it does not get banned again. 

During TikTok’s brief hiatus, users flocked to other apps like RedNote to post content. As The Washington Examiner reported, this app also has ties to China. Its Chinese name “Xiaohongshu” translates to “Little Red Book” in English, a phrase which refers to a collection of sayings by Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong.

However, RedNote isn’t the only one. 

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According to the American Parents Coalition (APC), another app, Lemon8, is a social media platform that is very similar to TikTok. Turns out, Lemon8 is owned by the same company as TikTok. Lemon8’s popularity has grown “exponentially” due to threats of a TikTok ban (via APC):

Lemon8, which has the same data, privacy and content concerns as TikTok, is seeing a surge in popularity, with many TikTok creators being paid to promote the platform and share how to seamlessly create a Lemon8 account through a current TikTok account.

In December 2024, 70 percent of Lemon8’s downloads were U.S. users. Lemon8 brags that their algorithm is similar to TikTok’s, which poses a risk to minors for promoting videos that glamorize self-harm, eating disorders and other inappropriate content. Parents should be wary of allowing their children to create accounts on Lemon8.

Lemon8 was recently at the center of a parental lookout notification from APC.

“As President Trump and the new administration deliberate on TikTok's future, other Chinese owned apps like Lemon8 and RedNote have risen in popularity as alternatives despite their harmful and sometimes deadly effects. Parents should be extremely wary of these apps as they share poisonous similarities to TikTok including an addictive algorithm that glamorizes self-harm, eating disorders, and other inappropriate content," Alleigh Marré, the executive director of American Parents Coalition, told Townhall.

"Given how deeply social media is integrated into our children’s lives—with reports stating American children who have TikTok spend an average of 2 hours a day on it alone—the threats and ramifications of these apps constantly surround us. American Parents Coalition is arming parents with the knowledge and tools they need to keep their kids safe from apps controlled by foreign adversaries," she added.


This week, Texas became the first state to ban the Chinese artificial intelligence app DeepSeek, as well as RedNote and Lemon8.