Taiwan is about to vote for the presidency this January. However, Taiwan is currently fighting against fake news campaign that is believably coming from China.
The first candidate is the acting president Tsai-Ing-Wen of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP), which promotes independence from China. Her rival, Han Kuo-Yu of the Kuomintang party (KMT), wants the opposite which is to strengthen ties with Beijing.
The two candidates, which have contradicting ties with China, are fighting for different causes. In the televised debate, Tsai warns that independent Taiwan fake news campaign should help them not to have a political association with China, while Han believes that China will make the country more prosperous.
However, during the campaign, fake news is currently bombarding Tsai’s party. Among them, there is news indicating that Tsai’s doctorate degree is actually false.
Also, what is captivating from both campaigns is the use of Hong Kong protest as a weapon. Accordingly, Tsai warns the public that Taiwan can soon be Hong Kong if China starts to have its own way. Meanwhile, Han tells the people that Hong Kong protesters and activists are not all good as they think.
Also Read: About Hong Kong Protest, Taiwan Next?
Taiwan, China, and the Battle against Misinformation
A recent study by the V-Dem Institute at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden disclosed that Taiwan received most exposure false information from foreign sources. In addition, the government believes that China is currently conducting such a practice.
“China has multiple ways of pushing misinformation. We’ve found that content mills are no longer simply producing fake information. More and more, they are manipulating opinions,” said Jarvis Chiu, senior manager for the Institute for Information Industry.
Furthermore, Jarvis added that China has various ways to execute its ‘non-military subliminal attacks.’ Among the efforts, China has countless bots ready to bombard news sites and social media.
These bots will spam and point out details that have little to no context of the debate, leaving the crux of the points to be overlooked. On several occasions, the bots will spam sharing pro-China articles or search for a certain candidate’s name to manipulate search engine algorithms.
“China won’t give up this practice. It will only increase and because it is non-military, it won’t get much global attention,” he said.