International beauty and skincare players, including Neutrogena, Nivea and Dove are said to be among those caught up in the crackdown, according to local media reports, though Xiaohongshu declined to explicitly name the brands it has “banned” from its platform.

The ban appears to amount to a blocking of official brand accounts, searches for the brand names Neutrogena, Nivea and Dove in English and Chinese results in an error message that reads: “This brand is suspected of false marketing, and related content cannot be shown”. Brand flagship stores on the platform still appear to be up and running, however.

BoF reached out to Dove for comment but did not receive a reply prior to publication.

Nivea’s parent company Beiersdorf responded with a written statement that read in part: “Like a large number of other brands also have encountered since yesterday, Nivea was involved in a disagreement with Xiaohongshu ... All Nivea official sites and accounts in China use fact-based, verified and compliant claims only.”

A Neutrogena spokesperson told BoF that it was currently in talks with Xiaohongshu “to understand more details and [to try] to work together for a solution quickly and properly.”

No specifics were given by Xiaohongshu in terms of the nature of the content in question or how it contravened either platform rules or Chinese advertising laws. A statement from Xiaohongshu supplied to BoF said only that an investigation had found the 29 brands involved were using “external intermediaries” to pay a large number of users with products and cash to “spread false marketing content” on its platform.

“Xiaohongshu has been targeted by many brands because of its reputation as a trusted platform for recommendations and reviews,” the statement read in part. “By cracking down on the brands themselves, Xiaohongshu’s latest action contributes to tackling the root cause of this industry-wide problem of false marketing.”

When asked whether there was a path back onto the platform for “banned” brands, Xiaohongshu declined to answer.

The platform has become an increasingly vital avenue for fashion and beauty brands to reach China’s Millennial and Gen-Z population, young women in particular, who make up an estimated 70 percent of Xiaohongshu’s audience. They frequent the platform for advice, to discover new trends and products and for lifestyle inspiration across a multitude of categories.

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