Coordinated actors have been working to influence Taiwanese politics by manipulating online conversation since at least May last year, a US-based network analysis firm found in a report published on Wednesday.
Graphika, which uses artificial intelligence to analyze social media landscapes, said it has identified a “sustained and coordinated effort” to mold political conversation online ahead of next month’s elections.
Its study identified more than 800 Facebook profiles, 13 Facebook pages, one TikTok account and one YouTube channel centered around the persona “Agitate Taiwan” (鼓動台灣).
Photo: Screengrab from TikTok
Videos posted daily by Agitate Taiwan on YouTube and TikTok were distributed through likely inauthentic Facebook accounts, it said, adding that the content had mostly been taken down by the platforms.
Graphika said it found signs of coordination, such as different accounts posting the same content within minutes of each other and using the same sets of hashtags.
The content tended to support the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) while disparaging other parties and candidates, including Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘), Graphika said.
They also tended to quickly leverage domestic news “to portray the KMT’s opponents as incompetent and corrupt,” it said, citing the egg import controversy and alleged drugging of kindergarteners as examples.
The firm was unable to determine whether Agitate Taiwan was part of the operation, or an authentic account leveraged by the actors.
Although it could not link the activity to any specific actor, Graphika did find some erroneous transliterations of Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) slang, “calling into question the operators’ Taiwanese language fluency.”
The firm predicted that influence operations would continue to increase ahead of the election on Jan. 13, adding that it had previously seen actors linked to China “repeatedly target” Taiwanese audiences.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS