Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
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THE LAI ADMINISTRATION has taken the unusual step of banning Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote, for one year.
Xiaohongshu currently has three million users in Taiwan. The ban was implemented through the Lai administration instructing Taiwanese IP providers to block the app.
The Lai administration has framed the ban because of widespread fraud on the app. This has, unsurprisingly, led to criticisms from the KMT that the ban is politically motivated.
KMT chair Cheng Li-wun, known for hardline pro-China positions, lashed out. Cheng questioned the Lai administration as to why only Xiaohongshu was banned on the basis of fraud, in spite of the fact that fraud also occurs on Facebook, Google, Instagram, Line, TikTok, and Threads.
The Chinese government has hit out at the Lai administration as “undemocratic” over the ban. This led to an awkward moment in a press conference held by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, when a Taiwanese journalist from CNA questioned this framing, seeing as China itself bans X, Facebook, Instagram, and other Western social media outlets.
In response, the Lai administration has framed the matter as due to Xiaohongshu refusing to take action to comply with demands by the government to tighten security policy and prevent the transfer of data to China. Certainly, the Lai administration wishes to depict itself as best as possible as only taking action on the basis of security concerns. Interestingly, the ban on Xiaohongshu on this basis occurs at a time in which TikTok has tried to build its standing in Taiwan through engaging with civil society groups, with civil society groups generally declining to engage with it. Even so, few are likely to perceive the Lai administration’s moves are apolitical.
It has long been debated as to what course of action should be taken regarding Chinese apps widely used in Taiwan, such as TikTok or Xiaohongshu. In particular, concerns have been raised regarding the dangers of such apps as a vector for Chinese disinformation.
At the same time, the Lai administration’s actions against Xiaohongshu came with little preceding public discussion and little warning that this would occur. In this sense, the Lai administration has probably done a clumsy job when it comes to encouraging discussion of the dangers posed by Chinese apps, and building up a case against Xiaohongshu. Likewise, it may be the case that banning Xiaohongshu erodes distinctions between China and Taiwan when it comes to political limits on what apps are accessible.
In targeting Xiaohongshu, which is not as widely used as TikTok in Taiwan, the Lai administration may be testing the waters for what actions it can take against other apps. The Lai administration may be encouraged by the ban passed by the Trump administration against TikTok in January of this year, even though the ban remains de jure and has not been enforced, and Trump has waffled on the issue of banning TikTok more than once.
Similarly, when the preceding Tsai administration banned Chinese streaming providers from operating in Taiwan and Taiwanese companies from acting as their intermediaries, this was accepted by the broader public. Again, if Xiaohongshu has 3 million users in Taiwan, at the time of the ban, Chinese streaming provider iQiyi.com had six million subscribers in Taiwan, though other statistics reported that iQiyi had two million active users.
At present, there may still be 7 million OTT boxes that allow access to Chinese streaming providers in Taiwan. This goes to show how bans on Chinese services may not be, in fact, effective, but are easily worked around–one could, after all, simply use VPN to access Xiaohongshu. The Lai administration may, however, hope that the number of Xiaohongshu users in Taiwan does not increase.
Still, this may be another instance of clumsy moves by the Lai administration aimed at regulating or curbing Chinese influence–similar to how crackdowns by the Lai administration on Chinese pro-unification streamers targeted only women and occurred in such a manner as to raise concerns about curbs on civic freedoms in Taiwan.
Given that many Xiaohongshu users in Taiwan are young people, such moves may simply turn young people against the Lai administration at a time that many already are angry over the restoration of the military draft–and it is a question at all as to how significant Xiaohongshu has been in swaying the political leanings of Taiwanese young people. With little public discussion of the ban ahead of time, the Lai administration has executed the ban in about as clumsy a manner as can be.