As entertaining as this xhs situation had been, I saw an argument saying that this will most likely end up being a net negative. The culture clash plus heavy moderation after the honeymoon period might end up being more of a negative overall? What does everyone else think? I think that it’s highly dependent on whether or not tiktok gets banned. If it survives, most people will probably just return with a small percentage staying as it can be fun and novel so any conflict will be quite minimal. But to me it seems like there’s quite a high chance of massive conflict between the two user bases if they stay given their differences. I think it’s good that to give Chinese people exposure to how actual Americans talk and think vs how libs romanticize them so hopefully the situation doesn’t sour too much. I remember Chinese games like Genshin constantly had controversy with the non-Chinese audience but they pushed through it every time as far as I can tell so it would be nice if it happens again even though situation is different.
To summarize the thoughts of two of my friends, there is a certain appeal to the censorship on these Chinese platforms at the moment.
Right now, western social media seems to be inundated with extremist viewpoints, ie. You talk about being 600 genders or you are a homophobe. If you don’t want to lynch immigrants, you are a libtard. You support BLM, otherwise you are a racist N-word user. If you support common sense gun control, you are a flag-burner. Etc. While Chinese censorship may be too heavy handed, at the same time, any middle ground in the western political climate has eroded.