The Executive Yuan is to require government agencies to respond to false news reports with concise and illustrated social media posts governed by the so-called “two-two-two principle,” a source said.
The Cabinet’s guidelines for remedial posts to counter misinformation call for a headline of fewer than 20 characters, body text of fewer than 200 characters and two pictures, the source said on condition of anonymity.
Such responses should be issued within an hour of the original post, while the National Police Agency is to require subordinate units to respond within 30 minutes, the source said, adding that brevity is particularly important.
Last month, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka told the media that officials were working on improving the conciseness and readability of the government’s posts on social media as part of its efforts to combat misinformation.
Following a powerful earthquake on April 18, a story circulated online claiming that deep cracks had developed on Songren Road in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義). Firefighters were dispatched to the area, only to find that the purported cracks were potholes that had been filled with a darker material.
The creator of the story has been identified by police.
A Taipei City Government employee said on condition of anonymity that government officials are not used to reacting to misinformation, adding that even when corrections are issued, they usually come days later and are unhelpfully verbose.
The Executive Yuan’s new guidelines would be a step in the right direction for clear communication, the city worker said.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai