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.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
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