Lawmakers on Saturday urged the government to take fake news created by content farms seriously and called for countermeasures.
More fake news than financial fraud comes from Chinese content farms, which aim to harm Taiwan and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration through fabricated articles, DPP Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said.
The trend began with the DPP’s return to power in 2016, and the Nov. 24 local elections would be the time when those companies would “reap the harvest,” he said.
Fake news reports had been especially rampant when President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration was pushing for pension reform, which prompted the Presidential Office’s Pension Reform Committee to dedicate a page on its Web site to respond to false information.
Facebook Inc has shown a high level of cooperation in the US and has pledged to improve its ability to detect false content, establish a simple reporting mechanism, introduce external inspections, issue warnings about fake news and fraud, and work with US media partners to examine news quality on social media, Lin said.
However, Facebook often does not respond to the Taiwanese government’s requests for help, he said, adding that the company’s attitude has been extremely arrogant.
The problem is not just with Facebook, National Communications Commission Chairwoman Nicole Chan (詹婷怡) said.
The privacy policies of many large-scale social media platforms are unclear and do not reveal how they use the data that they collect, she said.
A draft digital communication act would require Internet service providers to establish and disclose their privacy policies, Chan said.
The commission should be more active and follow the EU’s example in imposing heavy penalties on fake news and the misuse of users’ personal information, Lin said, adding that people who violate the EU regulations could face fines of up to NT$800 million (US$27.47 million).
Only fines that are heavy enough to force a company to close down can prevent the spread of fake news, Lin said.
DPP Legislator Wang Ding-yu (王定宇) said he is saddened to see fake news pitting his friends against each other, which is why he provides corrections every time he sees false information.
The false information is often posted overseas, making it difficult for the government to handle the situation even with the strictest laws and regulations, Wang said, adding that people who share false information are often victims themselves.
The spread of false information on the Internet and social media could be curbed by using the platforms themselves, he said.
People need to learn how to differentiate between true and false information, be active in sharing correct information and have the courage to correct their friends’ mistakes, he said.
However, the spread of large amounts of false information from abroad in an organized manner, such as through computer algorithms, cannot be ignored and should be stopped by legislation, Wang added.
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