By Jia Feimao | 2025-12-17

Taiwan's government has imposed a one-year ban on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu, known in English as RedNote, citing fraud prevention and information security risks. The move has triggered debate at home and abroad over how to respond to China's growing digital influence.

The ban took effect December 4, according to Taiwan's Central News Agency.

Xiaohongshu, often described as the "Chinese version of Instagram," has some 3 million users in Taiwan, particularly among younger users. Taiwan's Criminal Investigation Bureau said that over the past two years it has investigated 1,706 fraud cases linked to the platform, with financial losses totaling about 247 million TWD ($7.9 million), and concluded that it has become a "high-risk area for online shopping fraud."

In 2022, Taiwan designated Xiaohongshu as a national security risk and banned it from government devices after the app failed 15 security benchmarks. The platform excessively collects sensitive and biometric data, transmitting it back to China where local laws may compel companies to surrender user information to state security organs, the Digital Affairs Ministry warned.

Xiaohongshu's disdain for authority

Officials had repeatedly contacted Xiaohongshu but were mostly "left on read" (meaning they could see that Xiaohongshu had read their messages but did not bother to reply), Taiwanese Interior Minister Liu Shyh-fang said.

She criticized the company for "never complying with Taiwan's rule of law and turning a blind eye to our anti-fraud regulations." Asking aloud whether "a platform like Xiaohongshu is worthy of our support," she said, "Of course not."

Xiaohongshu lacks a legal representative in Taiwan and has ignored official demands for remedial action sent via the Straits Exchange Foundation. The Interior Ministry stated that without access to platform data, investigators face "significant obstacles," creating a "de facto legal vacuum."

Denounced even inside China

Xiaohongshu has come under criticism inside China itself, where media reports describe it as rife with scams and deceptive marketing. Some users call it a "scammer's haven." Chinese regulators have fined the platform, according to official and state media reports.

Xiaohongshu's internal moderation manual includes hundreds of sensitive terms linked to President Xi Jinping, reported the China Digital Times, which tracks China's online censorship.

The Cyberspace Administration of China has demanded that the company submit the operating mechanism of its "personalization and recommendation algorithm." The requirement has fueled concern among Taiwanese internet users that the platform's algorithm can muffle social protests and negative news while amplifying "positive energy"and patriotic content.

Taiwanese officials are wary that Xiaohongshu may be folded into China's broader United Front strategy, a term used for Beijing's efforts to co-opt and influence groups at home and abroad.

Zhang Weiwei, director of Fudan University's China Institute and regarded as an ideological adviser to the Chinese Communist Party, has pointed to Xiaohongshu's popularity among Taiwanese youth. In a speech in May in Wuhan, China, he said that "after unification ... it would be easier to govern Taiwan than Hong Kong."

Taiwanese authorities have long held serious suspicions that Xiaohongshu may be serving the United Front, Chiu Chui-cheng, minister of the Mainland Affairs Council, Taiwan's top China policy-making body, stated in May.

Questions of fairness

In Taiwan, a major point of contention has been the singling out of Xiaohongshu. Critics question the fairness of the ban, especially since the Digital Affairs Ministry's own reporting platform indicates that Meta's Facebook and related services receive the majority of public reports concerning suspected scam messages. This finding has led some local officials and citizens to demand that the government apply consistent anti-fraud standards and measures across all digital platforms.

However, unlike Xiaohongshu, Facebook and LINE have local teams that work with police to block scams and provide data, Interior Minister Liu said.

Given Xiaohongshu's intransigence, the Interior Ministry imposed access restrictions on it under Article 42 of a recently enacted anti-fraud law. The one-year ban serves as a placeholder while the Legislative Yuan, the island's parliament, works on more-robust platform regulations, said Liu.

The ban is not intended to be a permanent restriction, she said.

"Taiwan is a place governed by the rule of law" and any company seeking to do business or establish a presence in Taiwan must obey the law, she said.