A man was taken in for questioning this afternoon after alleging that Team Taiwan had admitted to throwing games in the World Baseball Classic (WBC) tournament, police said.
The Criminal Investigation Bureau notified the man, surnamed Chang (張), to appear for questioning at 1pm.
The case is to be referred for investigation and investigators are currently taking his statement.
Photo: AFP
The man is suspected of contravening the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法) for spreading harmful rumors that undermine public order and peace, as well as defamation under the Criminal Code, law enforcement said.
If found guilty, defamation carries a prison sentence of up to one year or a fine of up to NT$15,000, while he may additionally be sentenced to up to three days imprisonment and incur fines of up to NT$30,000 under the Social Order Maintenance Act.
Chang yesterday posted to social media platform Threads: “Team Taiwan admitted to throwing games in the WBC?”
His profile has since been deactivated, although a screenshot of the post has been circulating on Threads to “help” Chinese Professional Baseball League president Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) preserve the evidence.
Tsai personally replied to the post, saying: “The matter has already been forwarded to the Criminal Investigation Bureau.”
The screenshot has amassed more than 16,000 likes.
Team Taiwan was eliminated in the preliminary round of the WBC tournament last night, after South Korea beat Australia 7-2 and won the tiebreaker with Australia and Taiwan.
They nevertheless secured a tournament record by defeating South Korea for the first time in WBC history.
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