A knowledge management perspective on the influx of “TikTok refugees” into the RedNote app

User migration has become an important phenomenon in the evolution of the social media ecosystem against the backdrop of increasingly fierce competition among digital platforms. Since 13 January, a wave of users calling themselves “TikTok refugees” has flooded the Chinese social media app RedNote, temporarily dominating its homepage with an influx of American users. This phenomenon primarily arises from the legal regulations¹ passed by the US Congress in 2024 requiring TikTok to separate from its parent company, ByteDance, by 19 January 2025, or face a complete ban. As a result, to express their dissatisfaction with the government’s policy, TikTok users in the US began looking for alternative platforms, and RedNote became their first choice due to its rich content and active community atmosphere. Within just two days, over 700,000² new US users had joined the platform.

The migration of “TikTok refugees” is not only the result of platform competition and user choice in a political context, but also involves the transfer, sharing and creation of personal knowledge, as well as the platform’s knowledge management process. Therefore, approaching from the perspective of knowledge management can help us to think more deeply about the nature of this migration process, its impact and the reshaping of the platform.

Knowledge transfer and sharing across the “firewall”

The migration of “TikTok refugees” is essentially a large-scale knowledge transfer process. This migration has broken through the long-standing “firewall” restrictions in China’s Internet ecosystem, enabling unprecedented direct communication and interaction between Chinese and US users. Singley and Anderson define knowledge transfer³ as the application of knowledge gained in one situation to another situation. Through the platform RedNote, content creators and users who were originally limited to TikTok have brought their knowledge, experience, and culture to a new community, thus achieving a cross-regional and cross-cultural flow of knowledge and opening up new possibilities for knowledge sharing between Chinese and US users. For individuals who have migrated, it is also a realization of dynamic knowledge management that combines their original knowledge and experience with the knowledge of the new platform, and constantly internalizes and adapts to the new platform.

Censorship: the main challenge in knowledge transfer

Some “TikTok refugees” said that after using RedNote to create content, they discovered that the platform’s censorship was much stricter than they had originally expected. In addition to violence, pornography and hate speech, some politically charged and sensitive content is also banned on this platform. For example⁴, a user who identified as “non-binary” had their post censored and deleted shortly after posting related content. This not only involves the direct applicability of explicit knowledge in the knowledge transfer process, but also affects the practice of tacit knowledge, causing TikTok users need to relearn the boundaries and expressions of content creation on RedNote.

Explicit knowledge generally refers to knowledge that can be clearly expressed, recorded, and transferred, such as videos, texts, images, and scripts posted by users. Throughout the knowledge transfer process, the result is the transfer of explicit knowledge from TikTok to RedNote.

Tacit knowledge refers to knowledge that is difficult to express clearly in words or text and is difficult to pass on directly. It is usually acquired through experience, practice and interaction. In addition to the rules and regulations that have been clearly stipulated on the platform, politically sensitive content is usually not recorded, which requires users to not only have a general understanding of Chinese policies, but also a general idea of the boundaries of the platform’s censorship system. This tacit knowledge, which can only be acquired on past experience and through further practice, also became a major challenge in the knowledge transfer process for the “TikTok refugees”. Therefore, the direct transfer of explicit knowledge across platforms is bound to be hindered by the lack of tacit knowledge.

Introducing AI translation: A more effective knowledge sharing strategy

RedNote has also not stood idly by in the face of the obstacles encountered by “TikTok refugees” during the migration process. In order to solve the language problems in communication between platform users, RedNote updated its translation function on 19 January. Communication plays a vital role in knowledge management⁵, promoting knowledge transfer and creating new value for the organization. At the same time, “reducing knowledge barriers” is also one of the goals of knowledge management. After the translation function is introduced, content that was previously limited to the Chinese-speaking community can be disseminated to a wider international user base, while the experiences, insights and knowledge of international users are also more easily accessible to Chinese users. This prevents the loss of information due to language barriers and also improves the possibility of knowledge reuse. This cross-language knowledge sharing also helps to form a richer knowledge network within the platform.

In recent years, the discussion of AI (artificial intelligence) in the field of knowledge management has also been deepening. AI model’s role in this translation function has also won the praise of users. For abbreviations that are popular on the Chinese Internet but difficult for ordinary software to translate correctly, such as cpdd (Looking for a partner) and dddd (If you know, you know), RedNote’s translation function can accurately express them. Therefore, the addition of AI technology has also greatly increased the accuracy of knowledge sharing and promoted a more efficient mutual transformation between tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge.

Conclusion

From the perspective of knowledge management, the influx of “TikTok refugees” into RedNote is not only an individual migration of users, but also a cross-cultural flow of knowledge. Users experienced explicit knowledge migration and tacit knowledge adaptation in this process. However, due to the differences in content censorship and cultural backgrounds of different platforms, the transfer of knowledge faces challenges, especially in the process of adapting to tacit knowledge, where users need to go through the process of re-learning and trial and error. Meanwhile, RedNote is also actively addressing the challenges arising from the influx of new users. As part of its strategy, RedNote’s further introduction of an AI translation feature helps reduce language barriers, facilitating more effective knowledge sharing across its diverse user base.

The SECI model⁶ proposed by Nonaka and Takeuchi provides a framework for RedNote to help “TikTok Refugees” effectively transform and create knowledge on the platform.

In the socialization stage, RedNote can encourage local users to interact with migrating users, enhancing their direct experiences and facilitating the acquisition of tacit knowledge. In the combination stage, RedNote can leverage advanced technologies to improve the efficiency of knowledge organization and dissemination. Finally, in the internalization stage, users integrate knowledge deeply through continuous learning and practice. During this process, the platform can also codify tacit knowledge, such as content moderation rules that are not clearly listed, into guidelines that are easy to understand, fostering smoother knowledge sharing and creation.

In general, as our lecturer Rajesh Dhillon aptly notes, the migration of “TikTok refugees” to RedNote is not merely a platform shift, but a real-time case of knowledge transfer and digital governance. He highlights how explicit and tacit knowledge migration, censorship barriers, and AI-enabled translation collectively reshape RedNote into a space for intercultural exchange and informal language learning. Crucially, he points out that while AI translation reduces language barriers, platforms must also make tacit knowledge—such as unwritten moderation rules—explicit to ensure smooth user adaptation. In fragmented, geopolitically influenced digital spaces, robust knowledge management frameworks are vital to sustaining user engagement and fostering meaningful knowledge exchange.

Article source: Adapted from A Knowledge Management Perspective on the Influx of “TikTok Refugees” into the RedNote App, prepared as part of the requirements for completion of course KM6304 Knowledge Management Strategies and Policies in the Nanyang Technological University Singapore Master of Science in Knowledge Management (KM).

Header image source: Screenshot of TikTok and RedNote apps by Hanying Lu.

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