Taiwan bans popular Chinese social media app amid growing number of fraud cases

By John Liu, CNN

(CNN) — Taiwan’s government has ordered a one-year block of a popular, Chinese-owned social media app following its failure to cooperate with authorities over fraud-related concerns.

Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote, has surged in popularity among young Taiwanese in recent years, amassing 3 million users in the self-ruled democracy of 23 million. But the Instagram-like platform has also stoked concerns among officials that it could be used in pro-Beijing propaganda or disinformation campaigns, which Taiwan says it has been battling for years.

China’s Communist Party claims Taiwan as part of its territory, despite having never controlled it, and has vowed to annex it by force if necessary.

Taiwan’s Ministry of the Interior on Thursday cited Xiaohongshu’s refusal to cooperate with authorities as the basis for the ban, claiming that the platform has been linked to more than 1,700 fraud-related cases that resulted in financial losses of 247.7 million Taiwanese dollars ($7.9 million).

“Due to the inability to obtain necessary data in accordance with the law, law enforcement authorities have encountered significant obstacles in investigations, creating a de facto legal vacuum,” the ministry said in a statement.

CNN has reached out to Xiaohongshu for comment. It is unclear when the ban will take effect. Users in Taiwan could still access the app on Friday afternoon.

The ban comes amid growing alarm among governments worldwide over cybersecurity vulnerabilities and disinformation campaigns associated with Chinese apps like Xiaohongshu and TikTok that have gained global popularity.

Chinese regulations require companies to store data domestically and allow the government access to that data. Beijing also actively surveils and censors content it deems unfavorable, a practice experts say can sway public opinion.

US Congress passed a law last year that forced TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance to sell the platform to an American owner or face a ban, which caused the app to go dark for several hours earlier this year. President Donald Trump later sought to salvage the platform and negotiated a deal with China, though a final agreement has yet to be inked.

India blocked TikTok and dozens of other Chinese apps over similar concerns in 2020.

Several Western countries, including the US, the United Kingdom, and European Union nations, have banned TikTok on government devices on national security grounds since 2023. The US state of Texas has also added Xiaohongshu to its ban, pertaining to government-issued devices.

As early as 2019, Taiwan banned Xiaohongshu, TikTok, and its sister app in China Douyin from official devices.

Earlier this week, Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs flagged five apps as posing “significant cybersecurity risks,” including Xiaohongshu, TikTok, X-like Weibo, and China’s everything app WeChat. These apps could collect sensitive data and share with third parties without consent, it said. A cybersecurity assessment conducted by the National Security Bureau also found that Xiaohongshu failed all of its evaluations.

However, the ban has already sparked some backlash from users and opposition parties, who described it as an infringement on freedom of speech.

“We once mocked people in China for needing VPNs to access information,” Lai Shyh-bao, a legislator of the main opposition party Kuomintang, which favors closer ties with China, said on Facebook. “Internet freedom in Taiwan is heading toward a day when people will need VPNs.”

Major international platforms such as Facebook, Google, LINE, and TikTok have all appointed legal representatives in Taiwan, complied with local regulations, and fulfilled their legal obligations, the Ministry of the Interior said.

Taiwan authorities have requested that Shanghai-based Xiaohongshu submit concrete remedial plans, but the company has yet to respond, the ministry added.

“This is not a problem unique to Taiwan. It exists around the world, and even within China itself this platform has repeatedly violated regulations…From our perspective, it is a malicious platform — one that is beyond legal oversight and operates with unclear intentions,” said Ma Shih-yuan, deputy minister of the interior, at a Thursday presser.

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