How Taiwan battled disinformation in the run-up to the elections
Hi, it’s Mariam here and we’re back with our first disinfo newsletter of 2020. From the U.S. strike which killed Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani, to the ongoing fires which have ravaged part of Australia, it has been an eventful year already but today I thought this would be a good opportunity to write about elections in Taiwan.
While legislature and presidential elections took place yesterday, I thought it was important to write about how disinformation has cast a shadow over proceedings.
Yesterday, the people of Taiwan had to decide between two main presidential candidates, the incumbent Tsai Ing-Wen of the Democratic Progressive party (DPP) and Han Kuo-Yu of the opposition Kuomintang party (KMT), who supports stronger relations with mainland China.
As we’ve seen in elections elsewhere, the lead-up to polling day Taiwan was rife with disinformation campaigns. Social media platforms have teamed up with the authorities and civil society groups to counter malicious online efforts and raise awareness among the population.