Little Red Book frequently collects user information with 17,000 visits in 3 days.

Recently, users of the Chinese social platform Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) have discovered that their privacy information is being frequently accessed, including location, photos, videos, clipboard data, and more. Some users reported being accessed 17,000 times within 3 days, and 92,000 times within 30 days, with location data being the most frequently accessed.

According to reports from mainland Chinese media, multiple Xiaohongshu users have expressed concerns about the platform continuously accessing their location information at high frequencies. Some users reported being accessed 17,000 times within 3 days, with information including location, photos, videos, device status, calendar, clipboard data, even during the early hours when the app is not in use, raising worries about privacy and security.

User Xiao V (alias) told mainland media reporters that she stumbled upon a message indicating high access from the Xiaohongshu backend. Out of curiosity, she checked her Android phone’s privacy settings and found that Xiaohongshu had accessed her app a staggering 92,000 times in the past 30 days, with the address being accessed a remarkable 71,000 times, including 2,148 times just on March 25th alone.

User Xinger (alias) also shared with mainland media that her app records showed nearly 50,000 access instances by Xiaohongshu in the last 30 days, with location access accounting for 46,000 instances. In one minute on March 25th at 18:19, Xiaohongshu accessed her device status 15 times, audio files 7 times, video files 7 times, photo files 7 times, and clipboard data once.

Xinger mentioned that when using Xiaohongshu to post notes, she often received prompts to “include location in the post,” which she usually declined. However, the backend continued to access her location data persistently.

Jinan resident Ms. Zhang discovered that she too had fallen victim to Xiaohongshu’s data collection. In just three days, Xiaohongshu accessed her location information 15,081 times. An examination of high-frequency access records within 24 hours revealed 328 location data accesses per hour.

“Is Xiaohongshu going crazy?” Ms. Zhang exclaimed, feeling deeply unsettled by the constant intrusion, comparing it to someone constantly peeking through a keyhole, providing an eerie sense of non-stop surveillance.

On March 26, a Jiupai Finance journalist inquired with Xiaohongshu’s official customer service about the matter. The customer service representative stated that such situations arise when users grant Xiaohongshu related permissions, assuring that the platform does not leak user privacy information. Specific issues require relevant screen recordings and screenshots to be sent to a designated email address for verification.

However, according to a report by “Daily Economic News” on March 27, a search on Xiaohongshu revealed that as early as July 2024, criticisms about Xiaohongshu continuously accessing location data had surfaced on social media, with over 70,000 notes on the topic. Some iOS users found that even if the software was not in use, as long as the background remained active, a blue location icon in the notch area would stay illuminated.

The frequent data collection by Xiaohongshu has sparked concerns among the public regarding privacy and security.

Internet technology blogger and Weibo influencer, “Awake in the Early Hours,” attached screenshots, stating, “In the past month, Xiaohongshu has accessed my location over 100,000 times, with over 2,000 accesses every day. What’s going on?”

Netizens commented, expressing worries about personal data exposure, lack of security, the flourishing black economy of big data, the necessity to protect user privacy, the importance of citizen information security, possible access by multiple applications on mobile phones, and the need for platform supervision.