More Dreadful When Gov’t Disseminates Fake Information

 More Dreadful When Gov’t Disseminates Fake Information

China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

March 6, 2019

 Translation of an Excerpt

President Tsai Ing-wen recently granted an exclusive interview to Japan’s Sankei newspaper, stressing Mainland China’s threat to Taiwan’s security. What was shocking was that in her exclusive interview, she lambasted the opposition party for coalescing with the Mainland to disseminate fake news, causing harm to Taiwan’s democracy; she called for a joint Taiwan-Japan crack-down on hackers, even elevating the tone by saying that Taiwan and Japan should conduct "security cooperation." The proposal obsessed with wishful thinking was resolutely rejected by Japan’s Foreign Ministry two days later, declaring: "It does not consider…[Japan] maintains non-governmental, substantive relations with Taiwan."

Tsai Ing-wen and US President Trump share one point, that is, using their sharp tongues to criticize “fake news”; any unfavorable information is classified as fake news, often times demanding that legislation be enacted or amended to crack down on fake news. In her accusations during the exclusive interview, she even dragged in the opposition party, but for these accusations, she did not cite evidence. In fact, how did the Mainland’s netizen army intervene in Taiwan’s elections and how did they act in concert with the opposition party? Tsai Ing-wen made these accusations without any foundation; people could not but doubt that she, on the one hand, sought a scapegoat for the disastrous defeat in last year’s elections, while on the other hand, launched a preliminary attack for the 2020 Presidential election, attempting to shape a false image that the opposition party was colluding and allying with the government across the Strait.

The DPP government accuses the "localities" of manipulating the netizen army to trump up charges against the government and impact its electoral prospects, claiming that the acts could be verified. As President Tsai said earlier, "As long as the evidence is conclusive, we shall throw the book at the culprits!" Facing the ever-increasingly serious rampage of fake information, the government should of course set up a comprehensive and effective information security system; however, for any preventive and control measures, the premise should be not to harm freedom of the press and freedom of speech. Every statement should be based on evidence; the government should not smear the innocent “localities” at will.

The rapid development of Internet technology massively elevated the capabilities of the government to scrutinize and control public opinion; disseminating baseless information to attack or control opposition by the government has been witnessed frequently. On the basis of this consideration, how to limit the government in employing Internet technology to harm the public's fundamental rights as well as freedom of speech is probably more important.

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