The Executive Yuan yesterday proposed amendments to the Criminal Code that would toughen penalties for disseminating deepfakes and other types of defamation online.
The bill, which is headed to the legislature for deliberation, also includes provisions to increase the statutory limit for sexual abuse against children, counseling and other protective measures for incarcerated people, and legal changes concerning offenses against reputation.
The draft act would increase the penalty for defamation, or offenses against the reputation of another to NT$100,000, up from NT$15,000.
Photo: Reuters
Aggravated defamation would be expanded to include derogatory audio, video and other electronic materials, which would be punishable by a maximum fine of NT$200,000, up from NT$30,000.
The penalty for public defamation and public defamation with violence, which includes slapping, would increase to as much as NT$60,000 and NT$100,000 respectively, compared with NT$9,000 and NT$15,000.
A person who uses deepfakes or other online means to publicly insult someone would face up to two years in prison and a fine of up to NT$200,000, while a person who uses deepfakes or Internet-related means to disseminate a fact that would harm the reputation of another could be sentenced up to three years in prison or compulsory labor, and face a fine of NT$300,000.
In compliance with a 2024 Constitutional Court ruling, the crime of insulting a civil servant would be limited to making derogatory comments against government workers that effectively impede public power.
Such crimes must be committed against civil servants in the act of discharging their official duties, and the offense would be punishable by a sentence of no more than one year in prison or compulsory labor, and a fine of up to NT$100,000.
Under the bill, prosecutors may at their discretion mandate counseling and protective measures for incarcerated people with mental or physical impediments to protect their rights.
The protections may be retroactively applied.
Articles of the Criminal Code governing disciplinary education and compulsory labor for juvenile offenders are to be struck down and re-established under new legislation to protect the rights of underaged offenders.
The draft amendments would also delay the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse until the victim turns 20. The period from the date the crime was committed until the victim turns 20 would not count toward the statute of limitations, providing victims more time to report crimes once they have reached maturity.
The statute of limitations is intended to maintain legal stability and urge law enforcement to fulfill their duty to prosecute, the Ministry of Justice said.
If victims are not mature, physically or psychologically, at the time of the offense, they might be unable to seek help in due time due to trauma, a lack of understanding of their legal rights or power imbalance with the perpetrator, it said.
Additional reporting by Chung Li-hua
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
RSS