Political disinformation is expected to increase significantly seven to three days before the Jan. 13 elections, so monitoring and investigations would be conducted 24 hours a day, prosecutors said yesterday.
The monitoring and investigations would be conducted by the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau and the National Police Agency’s Criminal Investigation Bureau, they said, adding that those involved in election interference would be promptly dealt with according to the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法).
Prosecutors said political disinformation can easily mislead people, and if false information is being spread ahead of the vote, it would seriously affect the fairness of the elections.
Photo: Reuters
Some of the disinformation spreading at the moment was circulating a few years ago, but has been re-edited and shared again on social media, prosecutors said, adding that it could have been posted by hostile foreign forces to “test the waters” and see how law enforcement authorities react.
To prevent hostile foreign forces from spreading disinformation that would interfere in the elections, the Investigation Bureau and the Criminal Investigation Bureau plan to launch an around-the-clock monitoring mechanism to detect election-related disinformation online in the last few days before the elections, they said.
If election-related disinformation is detected, it would immediately be investigated and reported to the prosecutors’ office. Cases related to the legislative elections would be handled by local prosecutors’ offices, while those related to the presidential election would be handled by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office, they said.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office is investigating two cases at the moment: one involves a list of names posted on social media claiming that thousands of Taiwanese have been wiretapped by intelligence agencies.
The other case involves an audio file that claimed to be a recording of Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) revealing secrets about Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Vice President William Lai’s (賴清德) last visit to the US, prosecutors said.
The two cases used different methods to present the false information, but are both aimed at creating confusion by passing off the false information as genuine, they said.
Regarding the wiretapping claim, a prosecutor said their investigation suggests it came from a foreign source using a virtual private network to hide their location.
The Investigation Bureau’s Anti-Money Laundering Division and the Criminal Investigation Bureau’s Technological Crime Prevention Center are looking into cryptocurrency and other suspicious money flows to clarify whether there are local collaborators assisting those involved, they added.
As for the “Ko” case, some local media outlets on Aug. 16 received an e-mail with an audio file, claiming to be from an internal meeting. In the recording a man who sounded like Ko said that people were offered NT$800 (US$25.50) to attend events during Lai’s visit to the US, as well as other false information.
Ko’s campaign office reported it to the Investigation Bureau’s Taipei City Field Office.
The office used Reality Defender’s platform to examine the audio file and found that it was generated using artificial intelligence (AI), the prosecutor said.
The source is still being tracked, and the possibility of it being from an “external force” has not been ruled out, they said.
Taipei District Chief Prosecutor Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) said that the elections are facing serious challenges due to rapidly spreading disinformation and foreign interference, and as identifying disinformation is becoming more difficult due to AI, people should not casually share controversial messages.
The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office urged people to report suspected election interference, adding that the highest reward can be up to NT$20 million.
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS