The Institute of Watch Internet Network’s inbox this month was inundated with complaints from people who clicked on the link on Professional Technology Temple (PTT), the nation’s largest online bulletin board system, institute executive secretary Liu Yu-chun (劉昱均) told reporters in a telephone interview.
It ordered PTT to remove the post, as it had a hyperlink to an animation of female characters engaged in sexual intercourse, Liu said, adding that the first complaints were received in December last year.
The institute, a semi-official task force funded by multiple government agencies, reviews complaints about online content and relays them to the agencies.
Photo: CNA
Complaints about online content involving sexual exploitation of children are forwarded to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, which is in charge of enforcing the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例).
The PTT incident triggered debate over whether the act, which was amended last year, applies to images based on children, whether they are created by artificial intelligence (AI) or artists.
“The text was about a new online adult game and contained a hyperlink to the game,” Liu said.
“Female characters in the game look like elementary-school students,” she said. “People complained that the images depicted children having sexual intercourse, although the sexual organs were blurred.”
“After consulting child experts and non-governmental organizations, we determined that the content contravened the act and asked PTT and the person who posted the message to take it down,” she said.
PTT voluntarily took down the post, as it knows that the institute does not issues notices arbitrarily, she added.
“We have also ascertained that the act applies even if it involves animated or AI-generated characters that are child-like,” she said.
“The ministry asked Shopee.com to take down AI-generated images of children being sold online, as they contravened the act and the Criminal Code,” she added.
Disseminating pictures of children being sexually exploited is different from disseminating pornographic content, Liu said.
“Even though PTT and the poster have taken down the content, we still have to report the case to the police and prosecutors, as well as to the social welfare agency, as it is a criminal offense,” she said. “Even if prosecutors do not press charges, the social welfare agency might impose a fine.”
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RSS