Taiwan blocks popular Chinese lifestyle app RedNote after fraud allegations

Taiwan has temporarily banned the Chinese app RedNote, which is very popular in the country, for one year. Authorities accuse the operators of the lifestyle app of not doing enough to prevent fraud attempts, after 1706 fraud cases in Taiwan have been counted since the beginning of last year that can be attributed to RedNote. Furthermore, the Chinese RedNote operators have not responded to any inquiries and have not implemented any of the requested measures for user data protection and fraud prevention.

The app RedNote is actually called Xiaohongshu, which literally translates to "little red book." This is likely a reference to the Mao Bible – a little red book that was distributed during the Cultural Revolution and also in Germany in the 1968s. After it was unclear for a long time whether TikTok would be banned in the US, many TikTok creators said goodbye at the beginning of 2025 and switched to RedNote. This is because this app also offers short videos, images, and text posts (Notes). RedNote focuses on lifestyle, fashion, travel, food, and beauty tips – including shopping recommendations.

This makes RedNote a popular online platform in Taiwan as well. Xiaohongshu has around 3 million users in the country. With a total population of 23.3 million, this is a significant share of almost 13 percent of all people living in Taiwan. However, TikTok, or its Chinese version Douyin, is even more popular. According to a study by the Taiwanese Ministry of Digital Affairs, more than a fifth of Taiwanese adults used this platform in 2024, writes Taiwanpolitics.org. However, government officials are not allowed to install TikTok and Douyin on their work smartphones.

Fraud cases with damages in the millions

At the end of last week, the Taiwanese criminal police stated that RedNote was involved in 950 fraud cases in Taiwan last year, resulting in Taiwanese users losing a total of 132.9 million Taiwan dollars (equivalent to around 3.65 million euros), according to Taiwan News. From January to November of this year, authorities have counted 756 fraud cases on RedNote, causing damages of 114.77 million Taiwan dollars (3.15 million euros). This would indicate an unbroken trend for this app.

Since RedNote has no foreign representation and the operator (Xingin Information Technology Co, Ltd.) is exclusively based in China, those affected would have no way to obtain compensation. In October, Taiwanese authorities asked the RedNote operators to adapt the app to Taiwanese law, reports Bloomberg. However, they received no response. The company has also not responded to inquiries from media outlets like the BBC so far.

Therefore, the Taiwanese Ministry of the Interior has instructed TWNIC (Taiwan Network Information Center) to block hundreds of IP addresses attributed to RedNote. Users would either have to endure long waiting times or receive an error message that the content cannot be loaded. However, Xiaohongshu is still accessible in Taiwan presently, as a self-test showed. Apparently, the ban is less strict than assumed, or not all users are affected yet.

Opposition criticism rejected

Taiwan's opposition party, the more China-friendly KMT, criticized the RedNote ban and asked the government why only Xiaohongshu is impacted and not other platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or Threads. After all, fraud cases occur there repeatedly as well. The Taiwanese criminal police stated, according to Focus Taiwan over the weekend, that all platforms are treated equally. For example, Meta Platforms has been fined three times this year alone, for example, for undisclosed advertising and failures in removing scam attempts. The total fines amounted to 18.5 million Taiwan dollars (just under 508,000 euros).

Furthermore, the other social media platforms also comply with Taiwanese laws and, unlike Xiaohongshu, have a legal representative in Taiwan. Therefore, they can handle disputes and implement fraud prevention measures, such as mandatory identity verification. This makes the platforms fully accountable. RedNote, on the other hand, is elusive. In addition, Xiaohongshu failed a security check of five Chinese apps conducted by the national security bureau in July. RedNote would therefore excessively collect personal data and misuse user-granted permissions. This also raises security concerns, according to Taiwanese authorities.

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