The government is to closely monitor the legislative process on a potential ban of TikTok by the US Congress and take the opinions of all stakeholders into consideration, Executive Yuan spokesperson Lin Tze-luen (林子倫) said yesterday.
The US House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill asking the short-form video hosting service to divest shares owned by its parent company ByteDance in six months or face a comprehensive ban in the US.
The US Senate has yet to deliberate on the bill.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
US President Joe Biden said that he would sign the bill into law if Congress passes it.
Authoritarian regimes frequently abuse freedom of speech in liberal democracies and manipulate election results through social media, Lin said.
TikTok has in some countries become a platform on which cognitive warfare is conducted, he added.
“We have been aware of the risks of accessing TikTok. As such, all government agencies in Taiwan have been banned from using the app since 2019,” Lin said.
The government would ensure freedom of speech in Taiwan would be protected, he added.
“Fake and false information on TikTok has harmed people’s fame, health and privacy, and affected social stability and national security, so democratic nations must be cautious in handling the dissemination of misinformation and disinformation,” Lin said.
Aside from banning government agencies from using TikTok, national security officials have warned that TikTok could pose a threat to national security, Deputy Minister of Digital Affairs Lee Huai-jen (李懷仁) said.
“We have asked that TikTok, like Meta, Google, Line and X, have a representative in Taiwan whom we can contact when there is a need for direct communication. The company would be quickly informed if any illegality was found by the platform,” Lee said.
Banning the use of TikTok would be a major policy change, Lee said, adding that the Executive Yuan would evaluate its legality and feasibility and make a final decision following interdepartmental meetings.
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Actor Lee Wei (李威) was released on bail on Monday after being named as a suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found in the meeting place of a Buddhist group in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) last year, prosecutors said. Lee, 44, was released on NT$300,000 (US$9,148) bail, while his wife, surnamed Chien (簡), was released on NT$150,000 bail after both were summoned to give statements regarding the woman’s death. The home of Lee, who has retreated from the entertainment business in the past few years, was also searched by prosecutors and police earlier on Monday. Lee was questioned three
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