YouTube has emerged as a new battleground for opposing political camps to spread disinformation in the run-up to Jan. 11’s presidential election, said Wang Tai-li (王泰俐), a professor in National Taiwan University’s Graduate Institute of Journalism.
In a letter to the editor published yesterday in the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper), Wang wrote that while Facebook and Twitter have closed accounts created to spread false information, YouTube has become the new battleground to disseminate false opinions and information.
The host of YouTube channel “Under the Foot of Yushan” (玉山腳下) was determined to be a China National Radio journalist by the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau, Wang wrote.
Photo: Reuters
The host, “Sida,” spoke Mandarin with a Taiwanese accent, while his gestures and humorous take on politics made him appear to be much like other Taiwanese Internet celebrities, she said.
Even though the identity of the channel’s host was exposed on Oct. 22 and no new content has been uploaded to the channel since then, YouTube has not removed the false content, which means people can still access it, Wang said.
The channel is not an isolated case, as her research shows that more than 10 YouTube channels were created from August to last month that focused on attacking the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), she said.
Some of the channels, which have more than 10,000 subscribers, are actually content farms run by Chinese nationals and have simplified Chinese subtitles available, she said.
To make videos, the creators simply use photographs collected from news media and turn them into groundless accusations targeting specific politicians, Wang said.
People are more susceptible to information that is presented in audiovisual form, she said, adding that the popularity of such channels surged because they focus on major reports in the news.
“They combine false information and plausible images, repackage them and turning them into video clips. They take advantage of the myth that ‘to see is to believe’ by massively disseminating false information in the run-up to the election,” Wang said.
Even though international news media have extensively covered Beijing’s attempts to influence politics in Taiwan through false reports, most Taiwanese are unaware that it is happening here, she said.
Survey results show that many Taiwanese do not believe or are indifferent to the infiltration of false reports from sources outside the country, Wang said, adding that they think “fake news” is a tactic employed by politicians to hurt their opponents.
People’s indifference to the gravity of the issue has made YouTube a hotbed for rumors and a new battleground for false information about Jan. 11’s election, she said.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
RSS