The primary goal of responding to China’s “united front” propaganda on social media should be to expose intermediaries so they face public scrutiny, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) said.
The statement came in response to Taiwanese rapper Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源) exposing methods the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses to bribe Taiwanese influencers to promote its propaganda in a video produced by YouTuber “Pa Chiung (八炯)” that was published online on Friday.
Commenting on the matter, Shen on Saturday said the government should establish mechanisms to respond to online propaganda, so the public can report influencers’ “united front” activities.
Photo: CNA
This would increase public awareness and reduce the harm caused by influencers’ propaganda, he said.
Regulations imposed by tracking cash flow to influencers could be quickly circumvented, Shen said.
China could instead use virtual currencies or underground exchanges between Chinese and international platforms to avoid detection, he said.
For example, influencers could create pro-China videos on YouTube while “selling products” on Douyin, he said. While the cash flow should be investigated, the primary goal should be to identify “united front” intermediaries, including travel agencies, gangsters, academics, businesspeople and even legislators and public servants, he said.
Without these intermediaries, it would be much harder for China to engage with Taiwan’s public, he added.
China’s primary method of recruiting Taiwanese influencers is by attracting pro-China supporters to specific content and using Alipay or WeChat for donations, Kuma Academy chief executive officer and Taiwan National Security Institute deputy secretary-general Ho Cheng-hui (何澄輝) said.
Influencers need not visit China, but can post videos with donation QR codes on social media platforms and circulate them through closed communities like Line groups, Ho said.
It is very difficult to track online cash flows, he added.
However, if platforms take responsibility for revealing “united front” propaganda that is disguised as neutral and objective content, the public can develop the ability to recognize it, weakening its influence, he added.
In recent years, China’s “united front” efforts have had two main aspects, Taiwan Thinktank China Research Center director Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said.
The first is expanding China-friendly forces in Taiwan, such as the group of Chinese students associated with the CCP invited to Taiwan for a visit by the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, Wu said.
The second is using influencers, as they can reach a wide audience and online freedom of speech shields them from legal issues, as long as there are no personal attacks, he said.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
COMMITMENTS: The company had a relatively low renewable ratio at 56 percent and did not have any goal to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, the report said Pegatron Corp ranked the lowest among five major final assembly suppliers in progressing toward Apple Inc’s commitment to be 100 percent carbon neutral by 2030, a Greenpeace East Asia report said yesterday. While Apple has set the goal of using 100 percent renewable energy across its entire business, supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030, carbon emissions from electronics manufacturing are rising globally due to increased energy consumption, it said. Given that carbon emissions from its supply chain accounted for more than half of its total emissions last year, Greenpeace East Asia evaluated the green transition performance of Apple’s five largest final
The first tropical storm of the year in the western North Pacific, Wutip (蝴蝶), has formed over the South China Sea and is expected to move toward Hainan Island off southern China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. The agency said a tropical depression over waters near the Paracel and Zhongsha islands strengthened into a tropical storm this morning. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 64.8kph, with peak gusts reaching 90kph, it said. Winds at Beaufort scale level 7 — ranging from 50kph to 61.5kph — extended up to 80km from the center, it added. Forecaster Kuan Hsin-ping
RSS