The Taipei City Government has been slow to react after fake accounts were created on TikTok using the name and photographs of Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said on Friday.
A TikTok account with the username wanan.chiang was created, Lin said, adding that since Dec. 11 last year, the account has gained about 21,600 followers and posted short videos about Chiang.
On March 3, Lin sent the city government a written inquiry about the mayor’s TikTok account, and on Thursday received a response saying that Chiang did not have one on the Chinese video sharing platform, so the government has reported the identity theft to the Taipei City Police Department, she said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Lin said she found the city government’s “laissez-faire” attitude “outrageous,” as it took the city government seven days to report the breach to the police.
“What if people who set up the account use it to spread false information about the city and commit fraud? What will the city do if a large group of people fall victim to fraud?” Lin asked.
Many countries are aware of the negative effect TikTok can have on society, Lin said, adding that a bipartisan bill has been proposed at the US Senate to ban the use of TikTok on government devices.
The central and local governments should take cybersecurity and national security issues relating to the potential information war seriously, she said.
“As a victim of identity theft, Chiang should tackle related issues, and tell the public how to correctly use social media and identify false information,” Lin said.
An investigation launched by the Taipei City Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division said it found five fake accounts on TikTok that use Chiang’s name and photographs, but no messages were posted in any of these accounts.
The division would report these accounts to the platform operator and identify the people who set them up through extensive investigations, it said.
Chiang only uses Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter, Taipei City Government deputy spokesperson Hsu Cheng-Hsuan (徐政璿) said.
“We advise people to look for accounts that are certified, such as with the blue check marks on Facebook and Instagram,” he said.
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