The government is to closely monitor the legislative process on a potential ban of TikTok by the US Congress and take the opinions of all stakeholders into consideration, Executive Yuan spokesperson Lin Tze-luen (林子倫) said yesterday.
The US House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill asking the short-form video hosting service to divest shares owned by its parent company ByteDance in six months or face a comprehensive ban in the US.
The US Senate has yet to deliberate on the bill.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
US President Joe Biden said that he would sign the bill into law if Congress passes it.
Authoritarian regimes frequently abuse freedom of speech in liberal democracies and manipulate election results through social media, Lin said.
TikTok has in some countries become a platform on which cognitive warfare is conducted, he added.
“We have been aware of the risks of accessing TikTok. As such, all government agencies in Taiwan have been banned from using the app since 2019,” Lin said.
The government would ensure freedom of speech in Taiwan would be protected, he added.
“Fake and false information on TikTok has harmed people’s fame, health and privacy, and affected social stability and national security, so democratic nations must be cautious in handling the dissemination of misinformation and disinformation,” Lin said.
Aside from banning government agencies from using TikTok, national security officials have warned that TikTok could pose a threat to national security, Deputy Minister of Digital Affairs Lee Huai-jen (李懷仁) said.
“We have asked that TikTok, like Meta, Google, Line and X, have a representative in Taiwan whom we can contact when there is a need for direct communication. The company would be quickly informed if any illegality was found by the platform,” Lee said.
Banning the use of TikTok would be a major policy change, Lee said, adding that the Executive Yuan would evaluate its legality and feasibility and make a final decision following interdepartmental meetings.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to