Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem).
The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said.
After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said.
Photo: I-Hwa Cheng, Bloomberg
Each country listed in the report was given a score, and the lower the score, the greater the impact of disinformation was in that country, said National Cheng Kung University associate professor Wang Yi-ting (王奕婷), who participated in the study.
Taiwan’s score of 0.092 was the lowest among all countries listed, and was similar to its score last year, she said.
Countries such as Latvia, Belarus, Palestine and Israel also ranked high on the list of countries affected by disinformation because of the conflicts in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip, and attempts by certain actors to control the narrative on those conflicts, she said.
This year, China rose from sixth place to fourth on the list of countries that spread disinformation to the outside world, while Russia ranked ninth, placing in the top 10 for a second year in a row.
“Hong Kong has also risen on the list in recent years, particularly since 2018 when China began to tighten controls over the city,” Wang said.
National Changhua University of Education professor Liu Chao-lung (劉兆隆) said that disinformation targeting Taiwan — much like other international challenges facing the nation — originates almost exclusively in China.
“This disinformation aims to make the international community question Taiwan’s determination to resist an attack from China, which would affect the resolve of foreign powers to provide Taiwan with aid in the event of such an attack,” he said.
Taiwanese must be made aware of the threat of cognitive warfare, and be urged to refrain from spreading disinformation, he said.
Sky Fung (馮詔天), secretary-general of the Taiwan-based exile group Hong Kong Outlanders, said that the Chinese Communist Party also spreads propaganda about China’s progress and freedom, which misleads young people in Taiwan.
For example, disinformation spread in Taiwan following Hong Kong’s passage of Article 23 of the Basic Law aimed to convince Taiwanese that about 90 percent of Hong Kongers supported it, Fung said.
“At the same time there were a large number of negative remarks about Taiwan purportedly made by Hong Kong people that aimed to sow division between Hong Kong and Taiwan,” he said. “Taiwan must learn from these experiences and remain vigilant regarding such propaganda.”
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