Legislators yesterday called for stricter regulation of Facebook Marketplace to address a surge in scams on the peer-to-peer site, calling the government’s current approach ineffective and in need of a bold response.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) said that many fraudulent posts on the commerce platform use suggestive images or unreasonably low prices to lure customers, while some do not specify the source of the product they purport to sell.
Some illegally sell medication or drugs, she said, adding that she has seen a town house for sale on the Web site for just NT$320.
Photo: Liu Ming-de, Taipei Times
Although the Ministry of Economic Affairs has regulations governing online retail platforms, it does not have any means to respond to such scams without jurisdiction over Facebook, Lin said.
The government cannot do anything about the marketplace, and yet it still provides Facebook public funds to promote its posts, she said.
The social media giant’s Taiwan office is only responsible for marketing and must send any problems to its corporate headquarters, Lin said.
A week ago the office tried to contact its headquarters, but they have not responded, she said, adding that even legislators’ messages are going unanswered.
“How can the government turn a blind eye to a platform so opposed to Taiwanese law, full of suggestive content and scams?” she asked.
The National Communications Commission (NCC) needs to “muster the courage” to address the issue, DPP Legislator Chen Su-yueh (陳素月) said, adding that the platform must more effectively block inaccurate postings.
Facebook has a social responsibility to its users and to follow local laws, yet on marketplace, pornographic content is readily available, not to mention the sales of illicit drugs, DPP Legislator Chang Hung-lu (張宏陸) said, asking who should be held accountable.
The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed retail online faster than anticipated, making services such as marketplace important public spaces and increasingly favored platforms for scammers, DPP Legislator Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤) said.
The NCC and Department of Commerce keep “kicking the ball back and forth” on regulation, yet it is the NCC’s responsibility to request that a post be taken down, he said.
As digital platforms are not good at self-regulating, governments must step in, National Taipei University of Technology intellectual property institute associate professor Christy Chiang (江雅綺) said.
A foreign-based company such as Facebook can dodge local laws, making it hard to regulate and ensure fair competition, she said, calling for the creation of a regulatory entity.
The Internet lacks a centralized authority, but most sites can be held accountable through their corporate counterpart, NCC Planning Department Director Wang De-wei (王德威) said.
Its borderless nature makes it extremely difficult to manage, but the NCC is working on drafting a digital communications bill based on EU law, he added.
The bill would require Web sites to register locally with a legal representative and require the platforms to self-regulate, while also removing illegal content when requested by local authorities, he said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and