The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said it would meet with representatives of Facebook, Line and other major online service providers next month to discuss possible ways to curb the spread of “fake news” over the Internet.
The circulation of fake news over the Internet and its potential to damage democracy was the focus of yesterday’s meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, at which commission Chairwoman Nicole Chan (詹婷怡) briefed lawmakers on the agency’s budget for fiscal year 2017.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) and Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書), as well as Independent Legislator Chao Cheng-yu (趙正宇), urged the commission to be more active in combating fake news.
Chao cited as an example an online report that said Chan’s annual salary is NT$590 million (US$19.24 million), which is the commission’s annual budget.
Lin quoted the commission as having told a Cabinet meeting that the most effective way to limit the damage caused by fake news was for each government agency to establish a section on its Web site to respond to what it regarded as false information on its policies and offer accurate information.
The agency also suggested that an independent third party should be entrusted with verifying the authenticity of information, he added.
What would there be left for the commission to do if it passes the buck to government agencies and a third party, Lin said.
The German government is considering mandating that social media networks establish an office tasked with handling fake news or hateful speech, with noncompliant firms facing 500,000 euro (US$535,893) fines for each fake news report shared on their Web sites, he said.
“Our government needs to be more active in addressing this matter,” Lin said.
Huang said that only 15 percent of government agencies have followed the commission’s advice and created a fact-checking section on their Web sites.
Such a section is nowhere to be found on the Web sites of the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration and the Ministry of Labor, even though the two agencies are dealing with hot-button issues related to a new five-day workweek policy and pension reform, he added.
Chan said that fake news created to damage national security mechanisms should be addressed by national security agencies.
“Government agencies are responsible for pointing out false information and informing the public about the truthful details of policies they are supposed to defend,” Chan said, adding that an independent third party should be invited to verify news reports.
The commission has scheduled a meeting with the representatives of a number of major online service providers next month, Chan said, adding that they would discuss if a mechanism to effectively block the dissemination of fake news could be implemented in Taiwan.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
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