The Mainland Affairs Council has reached out to temples across Taiwan to promote awareness of Chinese misinformation campaigns, after national security agencies reported a “high occurrence” of election disinformation being spread among the religious community, a senior government official said.
The Executive Yuan has established a special task force on preventing the spread of false news and disinformation ahead of next year’s presidential election, headed by Executive Yuan member Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) and spokesman Lin Tzu-lun (林子倫), the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
China has been building a network within Taiwan’s religious community by treating Taiwanese temple members visiting China with food, board and other amenities, the source said.
Photo: Tsai Chang-sheng, Taipei Times
China is known to spread disinformation among networks in Taiwan, especially during election season, the official said.
On Sunday last week at an event in Hsinchu City, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) urged temple organizations and members to be aware that misleading or false information could be circulating through their ranks, and they should verify information before spreading it.
The government cannot limit speech in a way that would go against the spirit of democracy, but with the help of Taiwanese, the nation can do its best to prevent social instability brought about by misinformation and false news, Tsai said.
Some of the misinformation is being spread through the efforts of hostile foreign forces and domestic organizations, and some of that disinformation has distinct political motives, the official said.
They said the Executive Yuan’s efforts would focus on recognizing, exposing and suppressing false news, and identifying those spreading such information.
The task force is to respond to false news and provide factual clarification within four hours of it being discovered, they said.
The task force’s responses should not only be issued as news releases, but also on multiple platforms, including online with short videos, the official said.
The Criminal Investigation Bureau and the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau are using technology such as artificial intelligence software to identify false news, the government said.
Taipei on Thursday held urban resilience air raid drills, with residents in one of the exercises’ three “key verification zones” reporting little to no difference compared with previous years, despite government pledges of stricter enforcement. Formerly known as the Wanan exercise, the air raid drills, which concluded yesterday, are now part of the “Urban Resilience Exercise,” which also incorporates the Minan disaster prevention and rescue exercise. In Taipei, the designated key verification zones — where the government said more stringent measures would be enforced — were Songshan (松山), Zhongshan (中山) and Zhongzheng (中正) districts. Air raid sirens sounded at 1:30pm, signaling the
The number of people who reported a same-sex spouse on their income tax increased 1.5-fold from 2020 to 2023, while the overall proportion of taxpayers reporting a spouse decreased by 4.4 percent from 2014 to 2023, Ministry of Finance data showed yesterday. The number of people reporting a spouse on their income tax trended upward from 2014 to 2019, the Department of Statistics said. However, the number decreased in 2020 and 2021, likely due to a drop in marriages during the COVID-19 pandemic and the income of some households falling below the taxable threshold, it said. The number of spousal tax filings rebounded
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
RSS