The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) is considering amendments to prevent Beijing from spreading disinformation through TikTok, a source said yesterday, as prosecutors and government officials investigate alleged illegal activity by the app’s Chinese owner.
The government is mulling amending the Anti-infiltration Act (反滲透法) or the National Security Act (國家安全法) to prevent false information from being spread through TikTok and its Chinese version, Douyin (抖音), as it might endanger national security, a source said yesterday.
The Executive Yuan has also formed a task force to discuss how to mitigate damage caused by Douyin, the source said.
Photo: AP
The Cabinet believes that blocking the platform in Taiwan would not prevent people from using it, but could reduce risk, they said.
As Beijing continues to spread propaganda as part of its “united front” efforts, Taiwan’s lack of a competent authority overseeing the Internet leaves a “huge loophole” in terms of national security, a source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Ministry of Digital Affairs should be that competent authority, they said, adding that laws were needed to regulate online content, as simply blocking Douyin cannot effectively prevent Beijing from infiltrating Taiwan.
The MAC in a statement on Sunday said it launched an investigation into TikTok on Dec. 9, after Executive Yuan spokesman Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) said at an interministerial meeting that the application posed a cybersecurity threat.
After the meeting, the council submitted to prosecutors information on the app’s activities, which could contravene the Criminal Code.
The disclosure of the probe came after the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the sister paper of the Taipei Times) on Sunday reported that Beijing-headquartered ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動), the developer of TikTok, reportedly registered a company called Tiktoktaiwan Co Ltd (昇洋國際生技) with the Ministry of Economic Affairs in March 2018.
The firm on Nov. 2 changed its registered name to ByteDance Taiwan (字節跳動台灣), economic affairs ministry records showed.
ByteDance yesterday denied setting up a subsidiary in Taiwan.
The Ministry of Digital Affairs has already listed Douyin as a product that “endangers national information security,” as it is said to transmit user data back to Beijing.
Government employees are prohibited from using the application, which is also banned on information and communication devices in the public sector.
An anonymous national security official said that China is nurturing Taiwanese influencers in a bid to influence young Taiwanese through the platform.
To counter the influence of TikTok and Douyin, European countries and the US have focused on the platform’s information security problems, and Japan has focused on issues related to the spread of false information, while India blocked its use because it says the app puts national security and children at risk, the official said.
Apart from India, no other country bans the public from using the platform.
Additional reporting by Cheng Chi-fang and CNA
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as
‘ARMED GROUP’: Two defendants used Chinese funds to form the ‘Republic of China Taiwan Military Government,’ posing a threat to national security, prosecutors said A retired lieutenant general has been charged after using funds from China to recruit military personnel for an “armed” group that would assist invading Chinese forces, prosecutors said yesterday. The retired officer, Kao An-kuo (高安國), was among six people indicted for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), the High Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement. The group visited China multiple times, separately and together, from 2018 to last year, where they met Chinese military intelligence personnel for instructions and funding “to initiate and develop organizations for China,” prosecutors said. Their actions posed a “serious threat” to “national security and social stability,” the statement
NATURAL INTERRUPTION: As cables deteriorate, core wires snap in progression along the cable, which does not happen if they are hit by an anchor, an official said Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) immediately switched to a microwave backup system to maintain communications between Taiwan proper and Lienchiang County (Matsu) after two undersea cables malfunctioned due to natural deterioration, the Ministry of Digital Affairs told an emergency news conference yesterday morning. Two submarine cables connecting Taiwan proper and the outlying county — the No. 2 and No. 3 Taiwan-Matsu cables — were disconnected early yesterday morning and on Wednesday last week respectively, the nation’s largest telecom said. “After receiving the report that the No. 2 cable had failed, the ministry asked Chunghwa Telecom to immediately activate a microwave backup system, with
RSS