The recent “get on the bus” dance challenge went viral across Taiwan within days. Last month, an artificial intelligence (AI) face-swap tool swept social media. Short-form videos are already traveling further and faster than any other medium, rapidly becoming today’s most potent vehicle of infiltration.
Short-form video content, or “reels,” has transformed daily life. Increasingly, people no longer reach for a book before bed, but instead scroll through endless clips — perhaps intending to wind down, but often losing an hour in the blink of an eye. Algorithms trap users in loops, serving up the same kind of content repeatedly.
What makes reels so powerful? The answer is simple. On the other side of the screen are not just streamers and editors, but a myriad of psychological studies and professional teams that know how to manipulate. Reels are geared to target innate psychological weaknesses. Instant gratification with each and every swipe; easy-to-copy trend formats that anyone can jump in on; repeated pop-ups that create the illusion of popularity. This is not just entertainment, it is a curated form of control.
According to a Graphika report last year, more than 15,000 fake accounts linked to China were identified on Taiwanese social media platforms. These accounts are not just posting casually. They generate and repost material at a high frequency and flood comment sections in such a way that makes their ideas appear mainstream, even unquestionable. They manufacture an illusion of consensus and employ appeal-to-fear tactics to wear down the resolve of those who disagree. When these messages are packaged as trending reels, they begin to erode people’s will to resist.
Currently, Taiwan’s response only goes as far as taking down the accounts in question, which is like trying to contain a sandstorm with a broom. In comparison, the EU’s Digital Services Act requires platforms to publicize their algorithms’ general parameters and undergo external auditing of black-box recommendation mechanisms, for transparency.
Taiwan lacks such a system. Today, our phones are a battlefield, and the reactive whack-a-mole approach for disinformation simply cannot keep up.
Media literacy among the public, of course, is important. Thinking for a few seconds and checking the sources behind clickbait titles before reposting is the first line of defense. However, the issue is ultimately systemic. If this state of affairs continues, then no matter how cautious people might be, it would always be the fingers behind the algorithm pulling the strings.
The real concern is not how many people joined the latest dance challenge, but that the government is too consumed by dealing with the chaos in the legislature to act.
Reels have transformed how people receive information day-to-day. The deeper crisis is that Taiwan remains empty-handed in its defenses.
Chang Shang-yang is a farmer.
Translated by Gilda Knox Streader
Taiwanese pragmatism has long been praised when it comes to addressing Chinese attempts to erase Taiwan from the international stage. “Taipei” and the even more inaccurate and degrading “Chinese Taipei,” imposed titles required to participate in international events, are loathed by Taiwanese. That is why there was huge applause in Taiwan when Japanese public broadcaster NHK referred to the Taiwanese Olympic team as “Taiwan,” instead of “Chinese Taipei” during the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics. What is standard protocol for most nations — calling a national team by the name their country is commonly known by — is impossible for
India is not China, and many of its residents fear it never will be. It is hard to imagine a future in which the subcontinent’s manufacturing dominates the world, its foreign investment shapes nations’ destinies, and the challenge of its economic system forces the West to reshape its own policies and principles. However, that is, apparently, what the US administration fears. Speaking in New Delhi last week, US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau warned that “we will not make the same mistakes with India that we did with China 20 years ago.” Although he claimed the recently agreed framework
The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) on Wednesday last week announced it is launching investigations into 16 US trading partners, including Taiwan, under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to determine whether they have engaged in unfair trade practices, such as overproduction. A day later, the agency announced a separate Section 301 investigation into 60 economies based on the implementation of measures to prohibit the importation of goods produced with forced labor. Several of Taiwan’s main trading rivals — including China, Japan, South Korea and the EU — also made the US’ investigation list. The announcements come
Taiwan is not invited to the table. It never has been, but this year, with the Philippines holding the ASEAN chair, the question that matters is no longer who gets formally named, it is who becomes structurally indispensable. The “one China” formula continues to do its job. It sets the outer boundary of official diplomatic speech, and no one in the region has a serious interest in openly challenging it. However, beneath the surface, something is thickening. Trade corridors, digital infrastructure, artificial intelligence (AI) cooperation, supply chains, cross-border investment: The connective tissue between Taiwan and ASEAN is quietly and methodically growing
RSS