The government would push for the passage of a digital communications draft act that would define the responsibilities of large online platform operators, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday.
The bill would also define government agencies’ responsibilities in regulating online content and regulate how disputes over content should be handled, NCC Chairman Chen Yaw-shyang (陳耀祥) said on the sidelines of a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee.
Chen said that the commission would solicit opinions from civic groups and other stakeholders.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
The commission would also take into account the responsibilities of large online platform operators and the development of over-the-top (OTT) service providers when it decides on a separate proposal for a “Internet audiovisual service management act.”
That bill was drafted last year when the government banned individuals and corporations from serving as local agents for iQiyi and other Chinese OTT operators.
“So far, no other country has stipulated a specific law to regulate OTT services. Many business groups, including the American Chamber of Commerce, were concerned about the matter. We will continue monitoring the development of OTT services in Taiwan and abroad to consider whether and how they should be regulated,” he said.
The main goal of a law to regulate OTT providers would be to protect consumers, for example by requiring operators to set up an office in Taiwan to handle consumer protection issues, he said.
NCC commissioners would discuss whether a specific law to protect OTT service subscribers would be needed or similar clauses to other acts should be added, he said.
Lawmakers in the Transportation Committee passed a motion asking the commission to submit a report within two months on whether and how it would tackle misinformation on social media through the measures stipulated in the draft digital communications act.
Chen said that Internet governance is a complex and sensitive issue.
The government, Internet service operators, social media platforms and civic groups should jointly determine what constitutes misinformation and remove it from the Internet, he said.
“We will continue our discussions with the relevant stakeholders. Hopefully, we will be able to review the draft act before the end of this year,” he said.
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