Taiwan spy agency warns against Chinese mobile apps including RedNote, TikTok

By Berk Kutay Gokmen

ISTANBUL (AA) – Taiwan's spy agency on Wednesday warned nationals against Chinese mobile applications including RedNote, TikTok; citing potential security breaches after inspecting said apps.

The National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a statement that it found serious violations of users' communication security across various indicators, after it inspected five Chinese social media platforms, which also include Weibo, WeChat, and Baidu Cloud.

The NSB said it investigated 15 indicators in five categories: personal data collection, data transmission and sharing, excess of usage permission, access to biometric data and system information extraction.

All of the five inspected apps showed violations of some of the indicators. RedNote failed to meet all 15 indicators while Weibo and TikTok violated 13 of them.

WeChat violated 10 indicators and Baidu Cloud violated nine of them.

"These findings suggest that the China-made apps present cybersecurity risks far beyond the reasonable expectations for data-collection requirements taken by ordinary apps," the security agency said.

It advised the public to "remain vigilant regarding mobile device security and avoid downloading China-made apps that pose cybersecurity risks, to protect personal data privacy and corporate business secrets."

Taiwan banned TikTok, Douyin, and RedNote on government devices in 2019 due to security concerns, but private use remains allowed.

China considers Taiwan as its breakaway province, whereas the island insists on its independence.