The Ministry of the Interior on Thursday last week said it ordered Internet service providers to block access to Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu (小紅書, also known as RedNote in English) for a year, citing security risks and more than 1,700 alleged fraud cases on the platform since last year.
The order took effect immediately, abruptly affecting more than 3 million users in Taiwan, and sparked discussions among politicians, online influencers and the public.
The platform is often described as China’s version of Instagram or Pinterest, combining visual social media with e-commerce, and its users are predominantly young urban women, who say they see the app as their daily go-to for browsing makeup tutorials, outfits, product reviews, home decor, travel recommendations, dating and other lifestyle content.
Many users said they only use the app for “non-political” lifestyle content and felt it was a “female-friendly” social platform, free of harassment and political squabble, so they are frustrated by its suspension. Some have even started looking for VPN services to bypass the access block.
Online surveys from Web portals or news Web sites showed that a high percentage of respondents disagreed or questioned the ban, while some online influencers and politicians wondered if the government was trying to control information.
The National Police Agency said the order was imposed because the app was linked to more than 1,700 fraud cases, resulting in losses of more than NT$247.68 million (US$7.92 million) since last year, adding that the app’s lack of compliance with the law has hampered fraud investigations, creating a substantive legal vacuum.
Authorities reached out to RedNote’s Shanghai-based operator in October, requesting that it apply improved measures within 20 days, but it failed to respond, so the block was imposed in accordance with fraud crime prevention law, the agency said.
A day before the interior ministry’s order, the Ministry of Digital Affairs warned about security risks posed by five Chinese apps.
It said RedNote failed all 15 indicators in a cybersecurity assessment, adding that it collects a wide range of sensitive information from users and quietly sends that data even when the app is not running.
The digital affairs ministry warned that Chinese law allows its authorities to compel companies to provide user data, creating security risks for Taiwanese users.
However, people who disagree with the ban said RedNote was not the biggest source of fraud cases, citing digital affairs ministry data as showing that the social media platforms with the most reported cases of fraud were Facebook, Threads and Instagram — all owned by Meta — leading them to question if the app was banned because it was from China.
The policy agency said that other major platforms, such as Meta, Google, Line and TikTok, have legal representatives in Taiwan and are willing to comply with the law, removing suspicious accounts or providing information when requested, but RedNote refused to even respond.
Opposition parties were quick to jump on the boat and try to steer it in their favor, with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) framing it as “censorship” and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) “ideological hostility” against anything China-related, seemingly attempting to direct user discontent toward the government.
KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) called it a “political ban” and “digital martial law,” while TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) questioned why other platforms with more fraud cases were not blocked. Other politicians also hinted there were “political intentions” behind the decision.
Government officials and the DPP said the ban was due to RedNote’s failure to comply with the law.
However, simple labels such as “censorship” or “China-targeted” are easier to accept for frustrated users, especially those who are apathetic to politics, unfamiliar with current events and unaware that the “non-political” content they browse daily on the app are carefully curated content under Beijing’s constant censorship — filtered by a sophisticated algorithm and reviewers to only display social values accepted by the Chinese government.
The backlash from users is a pressing reminder to the government that it must address this issue carefully, and patiently communicate its policies and enforcement with messages that are more convincing and easily understood by the general public. Misunderstandings should be clarified promptly, or else people might fall victim to deliberate distortion by political opponents or even disinformation from foreign forces, risking harm to public trust in the government.
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