Taiwan banned the popular social media app Xiaohongshu (小紅書), or RedNote, for one year starting last Thursday in a move that has since drawn criticism for potential overreach as an outsized response. National Communications Committee (NCC) acting Chairman Chen Chung-shu (陳崇樹) said Monday, December 8th, that the reasoning behind the ban involves more than just ‘too many fraud cases.’ 

Last week, the Interior Ministry reported that RedNote had been involved in 1,700 fraud cases over two years, causing losses of as much as NT$247.7 million (US$7.9 million) for the public. Additionally, the app failed all 15 cybersecurity and national security testing indicators, resulting in a year-long ban in line with the Fraud Crime Hazard Prevention Act.

However, criticisms point out that many other large platforms, such as Line, Meta, and TikTok, have also been involved in numerous fraud cases in the past, without receiving such a strict response. Typically, the government simply removes or delists the accounts or communities of those involved. 

NCC acting Chairman Chen was questioned during a legislative session Monday, where he was asked whether this decision was a governmental overreaction. Chen noted that RedNote functions quite differently from the other platforms it is compared to, and unlike other major platforms, there is no local legal office or contact to take complaints to. He said that the reason for the ban can be better summarized as due to “unfair terms [of service]”.

Chen said, “RedNote faces issues because it is subject to the Chinese government’s draconian information-sharing laws – meaning operators must provide relevant information when asked by the government. This is the biggest ‘hidden cybersecurity' concern, and a key factor in what makes RedNote so controversial. If we set aside cybersecurity, the aspect of proportionality is crucial, but we cannot separate RedNote from its inherent significant  cybersecurity risks. From the current perspective of ‘cybersecurity is national security’, RedNote is completely unlike any other large platform’s app.”