Taiwan says it’ll block entry to well-liked Chinese social media app RedNote or Xiaohongshu for one yr following considerations over on-line buying scams.
The island’s Criminal Investigation Bureau stated Thursday has detected greater than 1,700 fraud instances on since final yr with complete losses value greater than NT$247m (£5.9m; $7.9m), native media report.
The transfer will lower entry for some three million customers in Taiwan to the app – an Instagram and TikTok-like platform with built-in buying options. However, it isn’t clear when the order will come into impact.
The BBC has contacted Xiaohongshu and the Taiwanese bureau for remark.
Taiwan information retailers stated that the app is being banned over a spate of fraud instances and after failing to fulfill information safety requirements, placing customers in danger.
The app’s operators don’t have a neighborhood workplace and has not responded to regulators’ request to submit a plan to enhance its cyber-security measures, Taipei Times quoted Taiwan’s inside minister as saying.
Xiaohongshu, which launched in 2013, has lots of of hundreds of thousands of customers worldwide, and is particularly well-liked in Asia. The app’s user-base grew this yr as customers in America sought alternate options to TikTok after the federal government threatened to ban the Chinese platform within the US.
Taiwan’s momentary ban comes as considerations develop over Beijing’s use of social media to domesticate extra beneficial views of China and to unfold disinformation.
Beijing views Taiwan as a breakaway province that may ultimately be returned to Chinese management. China has not dominated out the usage of power to attain this objective.
Xiaohongshu has additionally confronted stress from Chinese regulators, which stated in September that it has referred to as for “strict punishment” on the agency’s bosses over “negative” posts on its platform.
Separately, Russian authorities banned social media platform Snapchat over considerations that it was used to conduct terrorist actions and to commit fraud, native media reported on Thursday.
The state web regulator Roskomnadzor additionally set restrictions on Apple’s video name service, FaceTime.
The BBC has contacted Snap and Apple for remark.
Earlier within the week, the company banned well-liked multiplayer gaming platform Roblox over considerations about security and extremism.
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