The Executive Yuan yesterday passed an amendment to the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法) that would have offenders face maximum fines of up to NT$30,000 for spreading hate speech in public places such as parks and train stations.
According to the draft amendment, people advocating, promoting, spreading, or broadcasting hate speech, terrorist ideology, or claims from foreign hostile forces that escalate social division or seek to eliminate the country’s sovereignty in public places such as parks or stations with flags, slogans, or related materials, and that are likely to affect public order, would face detention for up to three days or a fine of up to NT$30,000.
The Ministry of the Interior said that hate speech affects the unity of the public.
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times
When such speech is spread in public places, it is necessary to regulate it to maintain public order, it said, adding that as speech transmitted via the Internet has no boundaries, the widespread dissemination or transmission of such speech online makes it necessary to add regulations and management provisions.
The draft also adds provisions that if hate speech, terrorism, or claims from foreign hostile forces advocating for the escalation of social division or the elimination of the country’s sovereignty are publicly promoted, spread, or broadcast on the Internet, and such actions are likely to affect public order, the ministry may order Internet platform, content or application service providers to restrict access to the content, remove it, or take measures such as restricting or terminating the user’s account or service, the ministry said.
The content on the Internet is diverse, and it has become common for people to use the Internet for private communications, the ministry said.
For private personal messages which might be controversial, the impact on public order is generally minor, and there is no need for intervention or regulation, it said, adding that this is to balance the right to privacy in communications.
Therefore, the scope of the amendment focuses on “public” Internet content, such as setting up Web sites or using social media to post information that is freely accessible to the public, it said.
On how such public speech would be handled, Deputy Interior Minister Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said that after the metro attack in Taipei on Friday last week, there has been a lot of imitative speech online.
If there are specific threats made, such as mentioning a particular place to threaten the public, it would be dealt with according to Article 151 of the Criminal Code, which carries a penalty of up to 2 years in prison, he said.
The Social Order Maintenance Act mainly targets more general, widespread speech that is not aimed at a specific individual or group, he said.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
RSS