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Taiwan on Thursday introduced a direct one-year ban on the Chinese language social media community Xiaohongshu, saying the app posed a threat of fraud.
Taiwan’s inside ministry mentioned in a press release that it’ll block entry to Xiaohongshu, additionally recognized in English as Rednote, calling it a possible “high-risk space for on-line purchasing fraud.”
Authorities linked the platform to about 1,700 fraud circumstances that brought on monetary losses of over 247.7 million New Taiwan {dollars} ($7.9 million) since 2024, the ministry mentioned. The app has over 3 million customers on the island, the ministry mentioned.
Officers additionally mentioned that Taiwanese legislation enforcement companies face “important difficulties” acquiring mandatory info as a result of Taiwan lacks jurisdiction over the corporate.
The inside ministry mentioned the app failed all 15 indicators in cybersecurity assessments performed by the Nationwide Safety Bureau.
Taiwan’s web service suppliers have been instructed to dam entry to the app, Deputy Minister of the Inside Ma Shih-yuan mentioned in a press convention Thursday.
The ministry additionally urged worldwide platforms akin to Google to “fully stop publishing Xiaohongshu commercials.”
Authorities reminded the general public to not obtain the app or cease utilizing it if already put in.
In a Fb put up, Cheng Li-wun, chairwoman of the opposition Kuomintang get together, mentioned the transfer “considerably [restricts] Web freedom,” and described the ban on Xiaohongshu as “a starting-point for constructing the Nice Wall of the Web,” by the ruling Democratic Progressive Social gathering.
Xiaohongshu, Apple and Google didn’t instantly reply to CNBC’s request for feedback.
In 2022, Taiwan banned Xiaohongshu from authorities units, calling it a “united entrance” for Chinese language propaganda.
Earlier this 12 months, Taiwan despatched a letter to Xiaohongshu’s guardian firm, Xingyin Data Know-how (Shanghai), searching for “concrete enchancment measures,” however the firm didn’t reply.
Xiaohongshu is broadly used in China and noticed renewed curiosity within the U.S. earlier this 12 months after a proposed ban on its competitor TikTok. That prompted TikTok customers to flock to Xiaohongshu, including roughly 700,000 new customers to the platform, in keeping with Reuters.
— CNBC’s Anniek Bao contributed to this report.
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