The Ministry of Digital Affairs yesterday said that Meta promised to "proactively identify and restore" social media accounts it recently wrongly suspended, adding that nearly 90 percent of the accounts had been restored as of 4pm.
The ministry also instructed Meta to restore a list of nearly 100 accounts, mostly belonging to media organizations and public figures, before 6pm yesterday.
The ministry said in statement that, on Monday, it asked Meta’s Taiwan office to restore accounts that were wrongly suspended late on Sunday due to a technical issue that caused Meta’s system to mistakenly identify users as being under the age of 13.
Photo: Reuters
Between 3,000 and 4,000 accounts were suspended, including about 200 belonging to media organizations and public figures, the ministry said.
Meta later promised to identify and restore all affected accounts across its platforms, including Facebook, Threads and Instagram.
Meta said its existing appeal mechanisms remain available for users whose accounts are still suspended.
The suspended accounts often attract significant attention and tend to receive reports from other users, making them more likely to be flagged by Meta’s system, the ministry said.
Accounts are being restored, including those belonging to media organizations such as the Central News Agency, Public Television Service and Formosa Television, it said.
Restored accounts of public figures include former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) New Taipei City mayoral candidate, Lee Shu-chuan (李四川), and former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲).
In May, Meta rolled out new international online safety measures for young users, including an age-verification mechanism designed to identify users under the age of 13.
However, due to a technical issue, the system mistakenly suspended accounts worldwide regardless of region or demographic group, the ministry said.
It would continue monitoring the situation and urge Meta to safeguard the rights of Taiwanese users and prevent similar errors from occurring in the future, the ministry said.
The Consumer Protection Committee, the Fair Trade Commission and the ministry should establish a task force under the Executive Yuan to intervene, protect consumer rights and ensure fair trade, TPP Legislator Hung Yu-shiang (洪毓祥) told a media event.
The TPP would propose a digital platform users’ rights protection bill that would introduce the right to refuse automated replies, require human review and protect users’ right to retrieve information after accounts are suspended, Hung said.
The bill would also introduce a third-party dispute resolution mechanism, require annual reports and impose additional fines for repeated contraventions, Hung added.
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