Dec 15, 2024

Fighting Fake News: Lessons from the World’s Top Target

Written By: Alexandra Mork

2018 was a year of awakening in Taiwan. Two high-profile events threw the consequences of fake news into relief. First, Su Chii-cherng, the envoy to Osaka for the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, took his own life in September 2018 after false reports about him circulated throughout social media; following an earthquake and a typhoon in Japan, allegations spread that Su had refused to assist Taiwanese citizens attempting to leave Japan. Two months later, the Chinese-backed Kuomintang Party swept the midterm elections, in part fueled by disinformation campaigns supported by the People’s Republic of China. 

Of course, it is difficult to definitively draw a direct causal relationship between fake news and either Su’s death or the 2018 election results. Regardless, according to the National Bureau of Asian Research, the shocking nature of both events catalyzed increasing focus on cultivating a transparent and accurate media environment in Taiwan. Since 2018, the government, civil society organizations, and the private sector have worked both independently and collaboratively to combat misinformation and disinformation. Their response seems to be working–and it is one that other countries can draw lessons from in their own battles with fake news. 

Because one of the objectives of fake news is to destabilize elections, we should take this year’s election—which was widely considered a success–as evidence that the perpetrators of disinformation are not meeting their goals. The elections ran smoothly, voter turnout and trust were high, and the Democratic Progress Party (DPP) triumphed despite attempts to smear its politicians. 

There is no evidence to suggest that this achievement should be attributed to the creation of fewer fake stories in 2024 than in previous election years. On the contrary, The Varieties of Democracy Report has ranked Taiwan as the top target of disinformation for the past eleven consecutive years. It is especially vulnerable because of its significance to China as well as the popularity of digital platforms in the country: 90 percent of the population uses social media, and the average user engages in six and a half platforms. 

In this year’s elections specifically, Chinese media spread fake news in order to hurt DPP candidates, increase hostility to the United States, and undermine confidence in the election through voter fraud allegations. These stories were designed not only to increase support for reunification and decrease support for the DPP, but also to increase polarization and distrust. The fact they largely failed to do so should inspire reflection about Taiwan’s response to fake news. In seeking to apply Taiwan’s strategy to other countries, we should pay attention to four key aspects of its approach. 

First, governments should spread trustworthy information. Taiwan has adopted a whole-of-government approach to its online presence; every agency has staff dedicated to finding disinformation and crafting counter campaigns. In particular, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Economic Affairs regularly utilize social media to inform citizens of pertinent information. For example, during the pandemic, government officials shared public health advice about masking and hand-washing and debunked pandemic myths using memes (what Taiwan’s digital minister called a “humor over rumor” approach). Although there are many possible reasons for Taiwan’s effectiveness in handling the pandemic, the promotion of accurate information online may be one of them. 

Admittedly, government posts face an uphill battle against fake news in the competition for clicks. One MIT study found that false information spreads six times as fast as true information on Twitter. Even still, when the government regularly promotes important and accurate information on social media that is directly responsive to online misinformation, it can ensure that citizens have a reliable, accessible, and trustworthy place to turn to when they see questionable information online. 

Second, governments should ensure individuals have the toolkits necessary to discern the accuracy of content they see online. In a study of corruption in Brazil, Professors Rebecca Weitz-Shapiro and Matthew Winters found that the more “politically sophisticated” a citizen is, the more likely that he or she is to be able to discern whether a news source is reliable. This finding has important implications for fake news because it suggests that increased education can make consumers more critical of the information they encounter. Taiwan is providing targeted training to do just that, integrating media literacy curriculum into schools. Nongovernmental organizations have also participated in similar, targeted efforts. For example, the FakenewsCleaner, founded in 2018, trains elderly individuals about how to verify the veracity of information online. Because older people are particularly likely to spread fake news, such efforts are promising. 

Third, non-governmental organizations can partner with private companies to identify and correct fake news. The Taiwan FactCheck Center created a tool in collaboration with Facebook that alerts fact checkers to popular yet potentially false posts. If a post is deemed by the fact checker to be erroneous, then an alert is sent to the account who posted the information as well as all accounts with which they shared the information. Another group called MyGoPen worked with TikTok to identify fake news during the 2024 election. While flags do not disable users from circulating fake news, empirical research suggests they make people significantly more likely to be skeptical of the information.

Finally, avoid criminalization when possible. As false information spread during Taiwan’s 2020 presidential elections, government officials were overly punitive in their response. Invoking the Social Order Maintenance Act, prosecutors used criminal fines to punish private actors who spread inaccurate information. Similarly, the National Communications Commission levied fines against Chung Tien Television, and ultimately shut it down because it did not engage in proper fact checking. These attempts both faced pushback from the judicial branch, which overturned many of the sentences against individuals as well as the suspension of Chung Tien (although a new license for the network is still pending). The judicial protection of free speech and free press in Taiwan serve as examples of democracy functioning properly; when some parts of government eroded civil liberties, other parts stepped in. 

Even if criminalization could serve as a deterrent to posting false information, we should be wary of giving the government the power to punish speech. As political scientists such as Marisa Kellam and Elizabeth Stein have analyzed, constraining press freedom is a crucial tactic of authoritarian leaders, particularly in countries without a strong judiciary to curtail abuses of power. Moreover, a punitive approach risks creating a chilling effect, meaning individuals refrain from posting news on social media at all for fear that they might accidentally post false content. Strategies should thus center on maximizing the dissemination of accurate information and minimizing the dissemination of false information.  

As a new and fragile democracy, fake news poses a particular threat to Taiwan. And as a country of immense geopolitical importance, the consequences of fake news in Taiwan could have a profound impact on people around the world. No singular solution undertaken by Taiwan–or any other country–will solve the crisis of misinformation and disinformation. Fake news proliferates rapidly. When one story is squashed, another easily reappears in its place. As a result, countries must learn how to adapt to a new media environment in which the spread of false information is inevitable. Taiwan’s flexible and responsive approach presents one way forward.

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