Lawmakers and a number of experts yesterday called on the government to ban or heavily regulate Douyin (抖音) over concerns that the short-video platform could be used by China to spread disinformation.
Owned by ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動), Douyin and its international version, TikTok, are a subject of concern in democracies worldwide because of potential manipulation by the Chinese government.
FBI Director Chris Wray on Friday said that Beijing might have the ability to control TikTok’s recommendation algorithm, “which allows them to manipulate content, and if they want to, to use it for influence operations.”
Photo: Reuters
TikTok could also be used to collect personal data on its users for use in traditional espionage operations, Wray said.
In Taipei, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Mark Ho (何志偉) yesterday said that Douyin could be used as a tool for disseminating “united front” disinformation.
There are already many accounts on Douyin impersonating Taiwanese government agencies, and even Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), Ho said during a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
The Mainland Affairs Council has said that although ByteDance does not have a branch office in Taiwan, it would continue to reinforce its information security measures in cooperation with the Ministry of Digital Affairs, the National Communications Commission and other agencies.
However, some experts are urging the government to view Douyin as a matter of national security and to regulate the app through legislation.
Investment Media Ltd (財信傳媒) chairman Hsieh Chin-ho (謝金河) on Sunday called Douyin a “driver of Taiwan’s destruction,” saying that state-owned China Network Television already owns 1 percent of ByteDance.
Taiwan cannot remain silent on this issue, Hsieh said, calling on the government to propose countermeasures.
“Douyin and Xiaohongshu (小紅書) should both be banned,” DPP Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) said, referring to another Chinese app.
The US previously banned TikTok without infringing on freedom of speech, she said, adding that its experience is worth studying.
China Network Television, which is banned from broadcasting in Taiwan, owns a stake in Bytedance, she said.
As the app becomes widely used in Taiwan, the digital ministry should have a plan for how to handle illegal content, disinformation and threats to national security, Lin said.
Experts have also said that the undeterred spread of disinformation on Douyin could affect the 2024 presidential election.
Ever since US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei in August, many videos have appeared on Douyin ridiculing the DPP, Cross-Strait Policy Association secretary-general Wang Zhin-sheng (王智盛) said.
There were also videos purporting to show Taiwanese soldiers throwing rocks at Chinese drones, Wang said.
The Douyin app could have a far-reaching effect on Taiwan’s democratic process, he said, calling for plans to be drawn up on how to regulate the app.
To mitigate its threat to the presidential election, the government should monitor Douyin for disinformation, he added.
As pan-blue supporters are to be more likely to use the Chinese app, pan-green supporters might need to “face disinformation head on” and post their own videos to dispel rumors, Wang said.
If these videos are quickly taken down, it would prove that Beijing is manipulating Douyin behind the scenes, he said, adding that the public should be alerted if this happens.
Additional reporting by Chen Yu-fu and AP
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat