Taiwan will temporarily block access to the popular Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu after detecting hundreds of online shopping fraud cases, the democratic island’s Criminal Investigation Bureau said on Thursday.
The Instagram-like platform, known as RedNote in English, was launched in Shanghai in 2013 and has hundreds of millions of monthly active users.
More than three million users in Taiwan will lose access to the app after authorities found 1,706 cases of fraud since 2024, with financial losses exceeding NT$247 million (US$7.9 million), the bureau said in a statement.
“An order will be issued to suspend and restrict internet access to the Xiaohongshu app for a period of one year,” it added, noting the potential for it to become a “high-risk area for online shopping fraud”.
The statement did not say when the order would come into effect, but an official suggested it could happen within days.
“Further actions will be considered based on whether the company responds in good faith, actively cooperates with relevant laws and regulations, and ensures the safety of Taiwanese users”, the statement said.
Xiaohongshu has also fallen foul of Chinese regulators.
The Cyberspace Administration of China said in September it had ordered “warnings and strict punishment” to bosses at Xiaohongshu over its online content, slamming “trivial” and “negative” posts.
Taiwan’s digital affairs ministry warned on Wednesday that five Chinese apps, including Xiaohongshu and micro-blogging platform Weibo, posed a cybersecurity risk to users.
An analysis found the apps were “collecting sensitive information” and “accessing biometric features” as well as “extracting system information”, according to the ministry.
There are growing concerns in Taiwan that Beijing is using social media to persuade Taiwanese to have more favourable views about China, as well as to spread disinformation.
China claims Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to annex it.
