Taiwan Warns Public: Popular Chinese Apps (TikTok, WeChat, Rednote) Pose National Security Risk Via Data Transfer to China

In a sweeping national security review, Taiwan’s National Security Bureau (NSB) has issued a warning to the public over the use of several popular China-developed mobile applications, citing rampant privacy violations, excessive data collection, and potential national security threats.

Following cybersecurity alerts from international watchdogs and in accordance with the National Intelligence Work Act, the NSB conducted joint inspections with the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) and the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB). The focus was on five widely used Chinese apps in Taiwan—rednote, Weibo, TikTok, WeChat, and Baidu Cloud.

“The results indicate the existence of security issues, including excessive data collection and privacy infringement,” the NSB stated, advising the public to “exercise caution when choosing mobile apps.”

Using the Basic Information Security Testing Standard for Mobile Applications v4.0, authorities evaluated each app against 15 critical indicators across five major violation categories:

• Personal Data Collection
• Excessive Permission Usage
• Data Transmission and Sharing
• System Information Extraction
• Biometric Data Access

The inspection revealed:

App	Total Violations
rednote	15
Weibo	13
TikTok	13
WeChat	10
Baidu Cloud	9

Rednote topped the chart with violations in all 15 indicators, including the collection of location data, contact lists, screenshots, clipboard contents, and facial recognition data.

“All 5 China-made apps are found to have security issues of excessively collecting personal data and abusing system permissions,” the NSB emphasized.

One of the gravest findings involved covert data transmission. All five apps were found to transmit user data—including facial recognition and system metadata—to servers located in China.

“This type of transmission has raised serious concerns over the potential misuse of personal data by third parties,” the report noted.

Given the stipulations under China’s Cybersecurity Law and National Intelligence Law, such data can legally be accessed by Chinese state authorities. This implies a high risk of surveillance or misuse.

The United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, India, and the European Union have either issued public warnings, launched investigations, or imposed outright bans on several Chinese apps for similar privacy infringements.

“Substantial amount of fines are imposed in those cases,” the NSB report highlighted, referencing GDPR violations and national bans.

As part of its national cybersecurity posture, the Taiwanese government has already banned all China-developed software and hardware in official institutions. This includes communication tools and embedded systems.

“The NSB strongly advises the public to remain vigilant… and avoid downloading China-made apps that pose cybersecurity risks,” concluding that such actions are essential to “protect personal data privacy and corporate business secrets.”

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