To combat an increase in the occurrence of “fake news,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) has proposed a fine of NT$30,000 for people who spread fabricated stories.
As social media and instant messaging applications have become a hotbed for uncorroborated rumors, the Executive Yuan on May 10 launched a “news clarification bulletin” on its Web site, which aims to instantly counter rumors by publishing accurate information.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) allegedly fell victim to fake news after the content of an interview that she did last month with a local television channel was reportedly falsified by the Chinese-language China Times on April 10.
The report said that Tsai told the interviewer that “[US President Donald] Trump is also one of our pawns,” which political commentator Jack Yu (游梓翔) then posted on Facebook, saying that Tsai should have tweeted the statement to let Trump know how powerful Taiwan is.
However, a statement issued by the Presidential Office later that day said that Tsai had never made such a statement.
Yu later apologized and removed the post as requested by the office.
Director of Shih Hsin University’s Department of Communications Management, Yu was spokesperson for former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱).
To discourage the spread of fake news and to prevent the social disorder that it can cause, Chiu has proposed a draft amendment to Article 63 of the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法).
The proposed amendment says that people who have spread rumors and in turn caused social disorder should be detained for up to three days or face a maximum fine of NT$30,000.
Fake news is a type of rumor and people who spread it should receive a legal penalty, Chiu said in his motion for the draft.
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