Taiwan blocks RedNote despite Facebook leading scams

TAIPEI (TVBS News) — The Ministry of the Interior (MOI, 內政部), blocked Chinese app RedNote (小紅書) for one year Thursday (Dec. 4). The ban follows 1,706 fraud cases resulting in over NT$200 million (around US$6.39 million) in losses. 

Authorities claimed that banning RedNote aims to curb financial losses by issuing an internet resolution and access restriction order. Several individuals raised concerns that the government's measure reflects political intentions rather than fraud prevention.

However, the Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA, 數發部), Taiwan's digital ministry, reports Facebook remains the top platform for scam messages as of 11 p.m. Thursday (Dec. 4). MODA reported that Facebook has 52,128 scam reports, leading all social media platforms in fraud complaints across Taiwan.

The ministry's system logged 78,638 suspected scam messages across Taiwan in the past 30 days, confirming 28,595 as fraudulent activity. This represents 36.36% of the total reported messages on the platform. TVBS News encountered repeated 'Error Page' messages when attempting to access the latest fraud statistics from the system.

Other platforms like Threads, Instagram, Meta Audience Network, Meta Msg, Line, Google, and TikTok also rank high in scam message reports. RedNote does not appear in the top eight platforms for fraud complaints, raising questions about the targeting of the Chinese app. ◼ (At time of reporting, US$1 equals approximately NT$31.3)