Having seen pictures of gorgeous mulberries on Facebook ads, a friend placed an order for five packs. When the mulberries arrived, not only was the quality completely different from what was advertised, there was no label on the packaging.
Concerned that the fruit might be an inferior product and wanting to return it, she tried to call the seller for more details, only to find out that the phone number on the package did not exist and the address was fake.
Moreover, the Line group the seller invited her to join had blocked her. There is nowhere for her to seek help.
My time assisting people to deal with cases of food purchase fraud on Facebook or Instagram has shown that a person who makes such a purchase in Taiwan enters a contractual relationship between US-based Meta Platforms Inc and the buyer, while Taiwan Facebook Ltd is not a party to the Terms of Service.
Therefore, once such fraud cases occur, only Meta, which has the right to operate “network services,” can be asked for the personal information — names, ID numbers, contact addresses, etc — linked to fraudulent food advertisements.
However, to register a Facebook account, all that is required is a name and a date of birth, both of which could be faked, a gender from among female, male or self-defined, and a mobile phone number or e-mail address.
How can authorities conduct follow-up investigations and penalize wrongdoing in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act (行政程序法) if they lack information such as the perpetrator’s name, birth date, gender, ID number and residence?
There is no law in Taiwan to regulate and control people overseas posting false information on social media such as food fraud advertisements, but a law is necessary and urgently needed.
Legislation should be drafted as soon as possible to protect people’s rights and interests, and food safety.
The government must enact regulations to prevent fraud while protecting freedom of speech on the Internet.
Yeh Yu-cheng is a secretary at the Pingtung Public Health Bureau.
Translated by Lin Lee-kai
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