TAIPEI, November 15, 2026 — Taiwan’s Ministry of the Interior plans to extend restrictions on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu for another year, citing unresolved security concerns and persistent scam risks.
Unresolved Security and Scam Risks
The shift is toward a continued digital wall for Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote. The ministry, which initially blocked the platform in December 2025 by restricting its domain name system resolution, will extend the measure starting December 3. The move comes after the parent company, Xingyin Information Technology, failed to reply to a formal notice requiring improvements to combat scams on the platform.
What’s changing is the security landscape. The National Security Bureau reported that Xiaohongshu failed all 15 of its security indicators, raising serious concerns over the platform’s excessive collection of personal data and potential abuse of user permissions. This data-driven risk is a primary driver behind the government’s decision to maintain the block.
Scam Decline Despite Workarounds
The trend underneath the policy is a clear, if partial, success in curbing fraud. While using or downloading Xiaohongshu remains legal and users can bypass the block with virtual private networks or alternative DNS settings, the crackdown has had a significant impact. According to Criminal Investigation Bureau data, Xiaohongshu-related fraud cases dropped 77.2 percent to 182 between December 2025 and last month, down from 799 in the same period the previous year.
Financial losses followed a similar downward trajectory, falling 71.5 percent from more than NT$125.09 million to more than NT$35.68 million over the same period. The figures suggest the restrictions, even when circumvented, have made the platform a less effective tool for scammers.
Broader Police Crackdown
Watch this space, as this enforcement is part of a much wider police crackdown on fraud across all major platforms. Last month, the Criminal Investigation Bureau worked with platform operators to remove nearly 300,000 accounts suspected of fraud, marking the largest such operation on record. More than 260,000 of the removed accounts were on the messaging app Line.
This targeted approach has yielded results across the digital ecosystem. Between December 2025 and last month, fraud cases on Line fell 16.9 percent, while financial losses dropped 32.9 percent. On Facebook, cases fell 16.7 percent and losses declined 31.6 percent. Instagram saw a near 50 percent drop in fraud cases, with financial losses plunging 74.3 percent. Even on Threads, cases fell 32 percent and losses declined 31.9 percent. The CIB attributes these drops to the joint removal of fraudulent accounts and increased public awareness.
The restrictions on Xiaohongshu are set to remain in place until at least December 3, 2027.
Sources
Photo: 內政部 (Attribution)
