Taiwan to extend Rednote restrictions again: sources

ISSUE PERSISTS: The number of fraud cases has dropped 77.2%, but as using Xiaohongshu is not illegal, people still fall victim to scams on the platform, the bureau said

• By Cheng Ching-yi and Fion Khan / Staff reporter, with staff writer

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The Ministry of the Interior is expected to extend restrictions on Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu (小紅書, also known as RedNote) for another year from Dec. 3, sources said on Saturday.

The ministry said it has sent a formal notice to Xiaohongshu’s parent company, Xingyin Information Technology, requiring that improvements be made to combat scams on the platform, but it has not received a reply.

The ministry on Dec. 4 last year blocked access to Xiaohongshu by restricting domain name system (DNS) resolution for the platform.

The Xiaohongshu app on a smartphone is pictured in Shanghai, China, on Sept. 15 last year.

Photo: Bloomberg

The number of Xiaohongshu-related fraud cases between December last year and last month dropped to 182, a 77.2 percent decline from 799 during the January-to-November period last year, Criminal Investigation Bureau data (CIB) showed.

Financial losses related to the platform for the same periods fell 71.5 percent from more than NT$125.09 million (US$3.81 million) to more than NT$35.68 million, the data showed.

It is not illegal to use or download Xiaohongshu, and people could bypass the block by using virtual private networks or altering their mobile DNS settings, so some people continued to fall victim to scams on the platform despite restriction, the bureau said.

The National Security Bureau said Xiaohongshu failed all 15 security indicators, raising serious concerns over excessive collection of personal data and abuse of user permissions.

Meanwhile, police have stepped up efforts over the past year to combat fraud on social media platforms, messaging apps and online marketplaces, resulting in a decline in the number of reported scams and financial losses across several major platforms.

Last month, the bureau worked with platform operators to remove nearly 300,000 accounts suspected of involvement in fraud, the largest such operation on record, the CIB said, adding that more than 260,000 of the accounts were on Line.

Between December last year and last month, the number of reported cases involving Line fell 16.9 percent from 9,598 to 7,978, while financial losses dropped 32.9 percent from NT$5.756 billion to NT$3.862 billion, CIB data showed.

The number of fraud cases involving Facebook fell 16.7 percent from 4,174 to 3,479, while financial losses declined 31.6 percent from NT$2.048 billion to NT$1.4 billion, it showed.

Fraud cases involving Instagram were nearly halved, falling 49.6 percent from 1,241 to 626, while financial losses plunged 74.3 percent from NT$622 million to NT$160 million.

On Threads, the number of fraud cases fell 32 percent from 3,148 to 2,141, while financial losses declined 31.9 percent from NT$495 million to NT$337 million, the data showed.