Taiwan on the Front Line of Chinese Disinformation as Election Nears
Taiwan has seen an uptick in fake news as it prepares for national elections on January 13. The government has warned of China’s efforts to sway the outcome. TaiwanPlus takes a look at the people on the front line against Beijing's cognitive warfare.
Transcript
00:00 A deep fake video purporting to show Chinese leader Xi Jinping denouncing Taiwan's presidential
00:06 candidates and saying the country's upcoming elections are futile as he is the rightful
00:11 leader of the country.
00:13 It's been debunked by local Taiwan fact-checking organisation Cofact, but it's already caused
00:18 upset in the nation, which China claims as part of its territory.
00:22 This type of content might make people feel like democracy is useless, election is useless
00:29 and what people do is nonsense.
00:33 Li works with more than 2,000 volunteers to find and debunk disinformation and run a chatbot
00:38 that flags fake news shared on messaging apps.
00:42 She says disinformation is up 40% ahead of elections.
00:46 It's often difficult for the general public to determine the veracity of the information
00:50 they are seeing.
00:51 The government here has warned that China could be behind the massive amount of disinformation
00:56 now out there.
00:58 Part of Beijing's attempts to disrupt the election now less than two weeks away.
01:03 Beijing has been known to use a combination of economic coercion, military intimidation
01:07 and cognitive warfare like this to threaten self-ruling Taiwan.
01:12 And their tactics are evolving.
01:14 Taiwan has seen an uptick in videos, graphics and memes spreading false information about
01:19 candidates and parties considered less friendly to China.
01:23 This content is easier to share and harder to detect.
01:27 More memes and illustrations are an easy way for people to absorb the information nowadays.
01:34 We know younger generation they are now really keen or interested in reading a whole report.
01:42 So the memes become very, very effective.
01:46 But Taiwan is fighting back.
01:48 Recently at a temple in central Taiwan, hundreds of people joined disinformation training by
01:53 a local civil defence group.
01:55 It's very scary.
01:57 We must have this kind of understanding so we won't be brainwashed.
02:01 I think it's a great power.
02:03 It makes people realise we have autonomy.
02:06 And we must defend ourselves.
02:10 Fact-checker Li publishes her disinformation updates in multiple languages on her website.
02:15 She wants to share Taiwan's battle with the rest of the world.
02:19 The democracy issue and freedom issue is also in common.
02:24 I think that is also one way to let people feel how Taiwanese people is different from
02:31 Chinese.
02:33 China is stepping up its claims over Taiwan.
02:36 And leaders here have warned that the country's freedom, democracy and peace are at stake
02:40 in this upcoming vote.
02:42 For Taiwanese, the battle for these values is increasingly being fought online.
02:48 Justin Wu, Alex Chen, Klein Wang and Rick Lawert for Taiwan Plus.
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