TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — MingMing is adorable and the face of TikTok in Taiwan, with 5.2 million followers. However, plenty of critics are worried about the China-owned platform’s influence and there could be checks on its growth.
Despite having a highly regarded free speech and media environment — second in Asia for civil liberties, according to Freedom House — some Taiwan legislators want controls on TikTok. They blame it for waging “cognitive warfare” on Taiwan, calling the social media platform a metaversal Trojan Horse to push propaganda and promote social division.
While the well-trained, well-dressed, and perfectly innocuous MingMing brings joy to millions, TikTok also stands accused of using its influencers to front Chinese Communist Party (CCP) media campaigns. In May, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) gave the example of a TikTok celebrity saying the Chinese government was offering to evacuate Taiwanese people out of Ukraine.
It was discovered the individual was not even in Ukraine but based in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, per CNA. YouTube influencers were also accused of similar “united front” activities against Taiwan.
TikTok has a billion users and counting. Its adverts have the potential to reach 4.16 million people, or 17.4% of Taiwan’s population, according to AJ Marketing. “Moreover, 23.7% of internet users in Taiwan follow influencers and experts on social media platforms.”
There are an estimated 4.2 million users in Taiwan, 14% of whom are young, according to a video on the issue of the social media platform’s influence in the nation, via the German media organization Deutsche Welle. Here the political scientist, Titus C. Chen, is quoted as saying:
“If you are immersed in China’s strictly controlled media environment for a long time you naturally look at China positively. But the Chinese society shown on social media platforms is not the real China, and it will give young people in Taiwan the wrong impression of China.”
More recently, The Economist has weighed in with a word of warning on the spread of TikTok and its oversized media influence. In a July article, it wrote: "TikTok is a source of pride in Beijing. But the app’s Chinese ownership makes politicians elsewhere uneasy about its tightening grip on their citizens’ attention.
“Users’ data could end up in the wrong hands, they fear, or their viewing could be molded by Chinese propagandists. TikTok has already been banned in India, formerly its largest market. Other countries, including America, are considering their next move.”
While TikTok is incorporated in the Cayman Islands and has international investors, it was founded in China and is based in Beijing. As such it is bound by CCP rules.
This is why regulators in Taiwan and elsewhere are concerned. Not just because TikTok hoovers up private information such as GPS coordinates, photos, documents, and much more, but also because it is increasingly being seen as a news service and opinion leader.
As such the National Communications Commission’s (NCC) Digital Services Intermediary Act is being mooted as a counterweight to the influence of TikTok and other media platforms. It is hoped the act will provide the right to review content and regulate transparency.
Based on the EU's Digital Services Act, the draft was approved by the NCC on June 29. Even so, the former NCC Commissioner Katherine Chen (陳憶寧), now on Meta's Oversight Board, said at the time that even though the draft plan was a “big step forward," there would be problems with getting companies like TikTok to self-regulate, per CNA.
However, there are fears the issue could become a political football being kicked around for points by the two major political parties. Also, since TikTok is Chinese, it will be affected by cross-strait rules, which could make it difficult to deal with and regulate.
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