In 2020, then-US president Donald Trump said that, for national security reasons, the TikTok social media platform must be shut down or sold by its Chinese parent company, ByteDance. Some members of the US Congress proposed a complete ban on TikTok in the US.
In the same year, India completely banned TikTok, citing risks to national security and privacy.
Immediately after the presidential and legislative elections in Taiwan on Jan. 13, rumors about vote rigging started spreading on TikTok. Anyone who believed such rubbish clearly does not realize that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party run some regions. Why would the election commissions in such municipalities or counties — or even administrative regions within them — rig the vote in favor of the Democratic Progressive Party?
As the saying goes, “rumors stop at the ears of the wise,” but because there are so few wise people, “a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) infiltration and theft of secrets in Taiwan are no less than in the US. Just look at how many spies have stolen military secrets for the CCP. The US and other democratic countries are already well aware that TikTok is corroding their citizens’ spirits and democratic values, especially the souls of young people.
The “clear and present danger” standard for censorship of free speech, as established by then-US Supreme Court associate justice Oliver Holmes in 1919, faces new challenges. There were no televisions or mobile phones in 1919, let alone the brainwashing, pollution and penetration of TikTok. Moreover, there are exceptions to freedom of speech, such as incitement, false statements, obscenity, child pornography and intimidation.
The US was slow to discover the harm that TikTok posed to its data security and national security, despite it having been a clear and present danger for a long time.
China is a potential and existing enemy of Taiwan. TikTok’s role in spreading disinformation and rumors is an open secret. The damage it does to Taiwan’s democratic values and the risk it poses of leaking personal information have long been a clear and present danger.
Furthermore, TikTok could be restricted just on the grounds of making false statements.
As TikTok does not have a branch company in Taiwan, the authorities here cannot directly control and restrict it, but it cannot be allowed to spread rumors at will and behave as a legal spy.
Apart from banning the use of TikTok in the public sector, the government should follow the precedent of other countries and completely ban the app.
This is no longer an issue of freedom of speech, but one that affects personal information, the public interest, democratic values and national security.
Provisions of Article 23 of the Constitution say that such issues are subject to legal redress. The only problem is that there are many CCP fellow travelers and spies across Taiwan, including in the Legislative Yuan.
Legislative or policy restrictions on the use of TikTok would lure the snake out of its hole so that the public can see the true faces of these people and parties.
If no action is taken, the situation will be “if TikTok is not shut down, Taiwan will be shut down by TikTok.”
Chuang Sheng-rong is a lawyer.
Translated by Julian Clegg
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