The National Security Bureau (NSB) today said it has found more than 1,200 TikTok and YouTube videos mostly from overseas accounts discussing the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairperson election, prompting the Executive Yuan to review legal measures to counter foreign interference in elections.
KMT heavyweight and former Broadcasting Corp of China chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康) on Monday said that most videos on TikTok and YouTube show strong support for specific candidates and come from accounts registered just before the KMT launched its chairperson election.
Jaw called on national security agencies to investigate foreign interference in the election.
Photo: CNA
NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) spoke to reporters this morning before a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
Tsai said that the bureau has started investigating the circulation of relevant videos online, looking for possible foreign interference in the election.
The bureau found more than 1,000 TikTok videos discussing the KMT chair election, as well as 23 YouTube accounts that have published about 200 related videos, Tsai said.
He said that more than half of the 23 YouTube accounts were registered overseas, but did not specify where.
Tsai also said he would not discuss which candidate the videos support to avoid influencing the election.
While investigating, the NSB found that there are insufficient legal tools to address the issue, as neither the National Security Act (國家安全法) nor Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) have provisions regarding foreign forces infiltrating domestic associations or political party elections, Tsai said.
The Executive Yuan has already held multiple interministerial meetings to discuss how to strengthen relevant national security legislation, he said, adding that the NSB gave advice during these meetings.
Tsai said he hopes all political parties would discuss the legislation upon its proposal to effectively strengthen the national security framework and provide a more complete legal foundation for digital governance.
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