To protest the Ministry of the Interior’s handling of fabricated stories about mistreatment of Filipinos which were spread online, a number of netizens have joined National Chengchi University (NCCU) law professor Mark Liu (劉宏恩) in intentionally posting unfounded rumors on their Facebook pages, challenging police to charge them with violation of the Social Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法).
“I also posted a story, I urge the police to investigate me as soon as possible,” Liu said in a Facebook post accompanying a story that he made up about an official being refused service at a restaurant.
Liu reused a story posted by a woman surnamed Tung (董) about how she encountered a boxed-meal shop owner saying that he would not sell food to Filipino workers.
As part of the story, Tung said she told the shop owner what he was doing was wrong and bought lunch for the Filipino who had waited outside the shop for over an hour without being served.
Liu used the same story, except he changed the Filipino worker in the story to a government official, and posted it on Facebook.
“There is no need to search for my identity, my name is Mark Liu and I am an associate professor at NCCU’s law school,” Liu said.
“So, Minister of the Interior [Lee Hong-yuan, 李鴻源] who ordered the police to find out who posted the lunchbox story as soon as possible so as to press charges against the author, I would welcome the police investigating me,” he wrote.
Liu said in the post that while it may be morally questionable to post a fabricated story that does not harm anyone on Facebook, “it’s different from breaking the law.”
“It’s regrettable that the media and many netizens don’t know the difference between a legal responsibility and a moral responsibility, but when the interior minister and the police don’t know the difference, it’s a disaster for the rule of law and bad news for human rights,” he added.
Liu said he could not agree with the idea that people who posted fabricated stories are in violation of the Social Order Maintenance Act by spreading rumors which “disturb public peace.”
“I only see them making many netizens very unhappy. Or does making netizens unhappy equal disturbing public peace?” he asked.
A number of Internet users supported Liu’s view, with many of them also posting fabricated stories on their Facebook pages and inviting the police to investigate them.
Taiwan yesterday expelled four China Coast Guard vessels that entered Taiwan-controlled restricted waters off Lienchiang County (Matsu) shortly after the Chinese People’s Liberation Army announced the start of its “Joint Sword-2024B” drills around Taiwan. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a statement that it had detected two China Coast Guard ships west of Nangan Island (南竿) and another two north of Dongyin Island (東引) at 8am yesterday. After Chinese ships sailed into restricted waters off Matsu shortly afterward, the CGA’s Kinmen-Matsu-Penghu Branch deployed four patrol vessels to shadow and approach the vessels, it said. The incidents pushed up to 44 the number
Renovations on the B3 concourse of Taipei Main Station are to begin on Nov. 1, with travelers advised to use entrances near the Taiwan Railway or high-speed rail platforms or information counter to access the MRT’s Red Line. Construction is to be completed before the end of next year, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said last week. To reduce the impact on travelers, the NT$95 million (US$2.95 million) project is to be completed in four stages, it said. In the first stage, the hall leading to the Blue Line near the art exhibition area is to be closed from Nov. 1 to the end
Taipei’s Ximending (西門町) shopping area welcomed the most international visitors, followed by Taipei 101, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park and Yangmingshan National Park (陽明山國家公園), a list of the city’s most popular tourist attractions published by the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism showed. As of August, 69.22 million people had visited Taipei’s main tourism spots, a 76 percent increase from 39.33 million in the same period last year, department data showed. Ximending had 20.21 million visitors, followed by Taipei 101 at 8.09 million, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park at 6.28 million, Yangmingshan at 4.51 million and the Red House Theater (西門紅樓) in
The government has issued a deportation order for a Spanish fugitive, ordering him to leave the country within 10 days, as he is wanted by European authorities for allegedly operating a car rental scam. National Immigration Agency (NIA) officials yesterday said Salvador Alejandro Llinas Onate, 48, had been notified that he must leave Taiwan, as he was wanted for committing serious crimes. The Spaniard has been indicted by Italian prosecutors for allegedly leading a 30 million euros (US$32.74 million) car rental scam and setting up a fraudulent company in Trento, Italy. The deportation order is based on Article 18 of
RSS