Google and Facebook would face stricter rules of accountability under a digital communications bill to be considered by the legislature, National Communications Commission (NCC) Chairman Chen Yaw-shyang (陳耀祥) said yesterday.
The commission on Wednesday unveiled the framework of the bill at a news conference in Taipei, saying that it was designed to regulate online platforms, as well as Internet service providers and caching service providers.
The bill would divide the operators of digital platforms into “online platform service providers” and “designated online platform service providers,” with the latter representing companies with a stronger market influence, which would have to meet more obligations, the commission said.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Although the NCC said that the rules for designated online platform service providers would focus on businesses with large user bases and significant market power, the bill stoked fears online that the commission would target influential platforms in Taiwan, such as the Line messaging app or the Professional Technology Temple (PTT) bulletin board system.
At a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday, Chen was asked by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) to elaborate on how the commission would determine which entities were designated online platform service providers.
“We mainly follow the principle stated in the European Commission’s proposed digital services act, in which larger platforms are obligated to bear more responsibilities. Under such a principle, Google and Facebook would definitely be regulated, while other platforms would be regulated based on their attributes,” Chen said.
NCC commissioners could consider a platform’s active users, market influence and other factors before setting criteria for a designated online platform service provider, he told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting.
“However, regardless of the criteria we would use, Google and Facebook would qualify as designated online platform service providers given their massive user base,” he said.
Commissioners would have to further discuss whether the agency should regulate PTT and Line, which function differently from Facebook, he said.
Chen dismissed accusations that the commission intends to censor online content through the legislation, saying that it lists only responsibilities and obligations of large platform operators.
The focus of the digital communications bill is to address personal data protection as well as other consumer issues, he said.
Digital platform service providers would be asked to regularly produce transparency reports, offer consumer relief systems, disclose information about online sellers, present guidelines for handling complaints and ensure that the platform would not be abused, the commission said in a statement on Wednesday.
Users must be notified and told why their comments are taken down, while platform operators are required to list comments that they have removed on a database so that cases could be scrutinized by the public, the commission said, adding that users need to have ways to dispute claims.
Designated online platform service operators would also have to conduct independent audits and risk assessments, it said.
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