Telecoms and Internet service providers (ISPs) that fail to comply with government regulations to block broadcasts from illegal over-the-top (OTT) service operators from China could face a fine of up to NT$5 million (US$1.69 million), according to a draft Internet audiovisual service management act passed by the National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday.
Details of the draft act are scheduled to be announced next week after the wording of its articles is reviewed by NCC commissioners, it said, adding that the act would be subject to a 60-day public review period afterward.
Regarding Chinese Internet audiovisual service operators that operate in Taiwan illegally without securing permission in accordance with the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the draft act states that Taiwanese telecoms and ISPs should not offer them telecommunication service or equipment, data center services, content delivery network services or cloud services, the commission said.
Photo courtesy of a reader
They should also comply with government regulations to block the broadcast of Chinese operators’ content in the nation, it added.
Industry observers said that the draft act specifically targets Chinese OTT operators iQiyi.com (愛奇藝) and Tencent Video (騰訊視頻), which the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) had ruled as illegal audiovisual service operators based on the act regulating cross-strait affairs.
Although operating illegally in Taiwan, iQiyi has about 6 million subscribers across the nation, they said.
The nation’s ISPs and other relevant service providers must not help OTT operators transmit content so long as the MAC deems them as contravening the cross-strait act, NCC spokesperson Hsiao Chi-hung (蕭祈宏) said.
Those assisting them in doing so could face a fine of NT$500,000 to NT$5 million, he said.
Meanwhile, the draft act would require OTT operators with large-scale operations or significant market influence to register with the government, which would make public the names of the operators, the commission said.
Operators that fail to register with the government after their names are publicized would be fined between NT$100,000 and NT$1 million, it added.
In addition, OTT operators that have registered with the government would be obligated to regularly report key business information to the NCC, from the number of subscribers they have to their sales revenue, the commission said.
They must join or form an OTT service association and follow the ethical guidelines set by the association, it added.
“The OTT operators must annually disclose the percentages of local content on their platforms that are produced by themselves or through partnerships with local content providers. The Ministry of Culture would determine the subsidies and other incentives available to them based on the disclosed percentages,” the commission said.
‘UNPRECEDENTED’: Taiwan’s envoy said that official wording framing Taiwan-China issues as not about unification or independence counters the narrative Beijing wants Use of the phrase “democratic Taiwan” by Germany’s new coalition government in official document shows that Taiwan-China issues are not about “independence” against “unification,” but about democracy against authoritarianism, Representative to Germany Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉) said yesterday. Germany’s Social Democratic Party, Free Democratic Party and the Greens — known as the “traffic light coalition” for their colors — on Wednesday inked a coalition agreement following elections on Sept. 26. The agreement, a blueprint for their governance for the next four years, mentions “Taiwan,” which is unprecedented, showing that the new German government is paying close attention to cross-strait peace and supports Taiwan’s
BIDEN NOD: A China watcher said that the inclusion of Taiwan is notable, as it is the only democratic state on the list that Washington does not officially recognize Minister Without Portfolio Audrey Tang (唐鳳) and Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) are to attend the US-led Summit for Democracy on Dec. 9 and 10, the government said yesterday, after US President Joe Biden announced the list of guests for the virtual event. The US Department of State on Tuesday announced a list of 110 invited participants, including Taiwan, Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Japan and the UK. China and Russia were not invited, and Beijing expressed anger at the decision to invite Taiwan. The summit is to revolve around three key themes: Defending against authoritarianism, addressing and fighting
China said it would punish businesses and political donors with links to individuals supporting Taiwanese independence after it fined Taiwanese conglomerate Far Eastern Group (遠東集團). “Businesses and financial sponsors associated with supporters of Taiwan independence will be penalized according to law,” Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) told reporters on Monday, according to a statement from her agency. Zhu said that backers of independence undermine cross-strait relations and risk instability in the region. Zhu made the remark as she responded to a question about whether the punishment Far Eastern received earlier on Monday was connected to China’s efforts to sanction Taiwanese
‘REMAIN VIGILANT’: The CECC said that the COVID-19 situation in neighboring countries is still severe, so it is not considering easing border controls at this point About 35,500 rooms are expected to be available at quarantine hotels and centralized quarantine facilities for Taiwanese returning to the nation from abroad between Dec. 14 and Feb. 14, up from 29,600 rooms announced previously, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday. Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) early this month said 26,000 rooms were available at quarantine hotels and that the CECC planned to make 3,600 rooms available at government quarantine facilities. The center announced the capacity expansion at an inter-ministerial meeting on COVID-19 prevention at the Executive Yuan yesterday morning. The CECC told the meeting that COVID-19 cases
RSS