Taiwan says it will block access to popular Chinese social media app RedNote or Xiaohongshu for one year following concerns over online shopping scams.<\/p>\n
The island’s Criminal Investigation Bureau said Thursday it detected more than 1,700 fraud cases on the app since last year, with total losses worth more than NT$247m (\u00a35.9m; $7.9m), local media report.<\/p>\n
The app is a TikTok-like platform with built-in shopping features. Taiwan’s internet service providers have been ordered to block access to the app, affecting at least three million domestic users, according to local reports.<\/p>\n
The BBC has contacted Xiaohongshu and Taiwanese authorities for comment.<\/p>\n
BBC checks in Taiwan showed that the platform is no longer accessible to some users. Instead, the app displays a message stating it is unavailable due to “security restrictions.”<\/p>\n
Taiwan news outlets<\/a> said that the app is being banned over a spate of fraud cases and after failing to meet data security standards, putting users at risk.<\/p>\n The app’s operators do not have a local office and has not responded to regulators’ request to submit a plan to improve its cyber-security measures, Taipei Times quoted Taiwan’s interior minister as saying.<\/p>\n Xiaohongshu, which launched in 2013, has hundreds of millions of users worldwide, and is especially popular in Asia. The app’s user-base grew this year as users in America sought alternatives to TikTok<\/a> after the government threatened to ban the Chinese platform<\/a> in the US.<\/p>\n Taiwan’s temporary ban comes as concerns grow over Beijing’s use of social media to cultivate more favourable views of China and to spread disinformation.<\/p>\n