Taiwan’s government announced plans this week to suspend access to the Chinese social media platform Rednote for a year, citing security risks and a rising number of fraud cases linked to the app. The move has drawn sharp criticism from the island’s main opposition party, which framed the action as an erosion of internet freedom.

The Interior Ministry revealed that Rednote—known as Xiaohongshu in Chinese—had been implicated in more than 1,700 fraud cases since 2024. The ministry said it had reached out to the company, which has roughly three million users in Taiwan, seeking concrete measures to protect user data, but had not received a response.

Karen Kuo, spokesperson for Taiwan’s Presidential Office, defended the plan, stating that the Interior Ministry had provided “a prompt explanation about the fraud and security risks” and that the administration “respects the ministry’s decision and expresses our support.”

Despite these reassurances, the announcement has ignited concerns over internet freedom. Cheng Li-wun, chairwoman of the Kuomintang (KMT)—Taiwan’s largest opposition party—described the ban on Facebook as a “major restriction of internet freedom” and likened it to circumventing China’s strict online censorship using virtual private networks (VPNs).

“Many people online are already asking ‘how to climb over the firewall to access Xiaohongshu,’” Cheng wrote on her Facebook page, adding that the move “laments the restriction and strangling of Taiwan’s long-prized internet freedom and freedom of speech in the name of national security” under the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.

The Rednote platform has previously gained international attention. Earlier this year, it experienced a surge in U.S. users amid concerns that TikTok—a similar Chinese-owned app—might face a ban, a scenario eventually averted through divestment measures.

Taiwan has traditionally maintained an open digital environment, in contrast with mainland China’s extensive censorship of Western social media platforms such as Facebook, X, YouTube, and Google. Nevertheless, authorities have repeatedly warned citizens about potential risks from Chinese apps, including disinformation campaigns and threats to privacy.

Chinese authorities have, in turn, sought to influence Taiwan through social media. In October, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office created a Facebook page in traditional Chinese characters—the version used in Taiwan—but it was quickly inundated by Taiwanese users posting national flags and mocking Beijing’s censorship policies.

While Beijing claims Taiwan as part of its territory, the Taiwanese government insists that only the island’s people can determine their future. Neither side officially recognizes the other, leaving tensions high in both political and digital spheres.