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China uses social media to spread misinformation in Taiwan as elections approach (Image d'illustration). AFP Photos / Sam Yeh

The island of Taiwan is currently in the middle of the electoral campaign and misinformation on social networks is raging. As in Hong Kong, China is accused of wanting to defend its interests by spreading false information.

The Taiwanese authorities and several experts accuse China of leading a massive misinformation campaign on social networks. Taiwan, which is still claimed by China, but has a government that refuses any rapprochement with the Chinese Communist Party. According to a report from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, published this year, Taiwan is the most targeted territory in the world by Chinese misinformation campaigns.

In the run-up to the January 2020 elections, these campaigns are aimed at current President Tsai Ing-wen , but also at all the groups that defend Taiwan's autonomy. The opposition party, the Kuomintang, denies all involvement ... but it is of course the first beneficiary since it defends a rapprochement with China.

The attack of the bots

China would resort to thousands of fake accounts, but also to "bots" computer, these little software able to pose as Internet users. For example, the American magazine Foreign Policy looked at one of the main Facebook groups supporting the opposition candidate.

According to Foreign Policy, this page was created by Internet user accounts located in China. The group then used the paid features offered by Facebook to become viral. A popularity then used to relay messages favorable to China.

But Beijing can also count on several media that are acquired to its cause. This is particularly true of all the newsrooms owned by the Want Want China Times Media Group. This holding belongs to a Taiwanese businessman, deemed close to the Chinese Communist Party.

According to a Financial Times survey released in the summer of 2019, media officials receive daily calls from Chinese Communist Party officials. And all these newsrooms obviously produce content on the internet.

Difficult struggle with the phenomenon

The Taiwanese government is struggling to limit the phenomenon and must rely directly on social networks and search engines.

Google has indeed decided to ban all commercial ads related to the Taiwan elections. But it's a bit of a slab in the pond since here the majority of Taiwanese use Facebook. And Marc Zuckerberg's group categorically refuses to suspend sponsored publications.

The problem in Taiwan is that in the absence of real regulation, all political parties start producing partisan content. And the big loser is of course the Taiwanese surfer, for whom access to verified information becomes more and more complicated.

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