TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Provisions in the now-canceled Digital Intermediary Service Act (DISA) may have been unconstitutional, Lu Chiu-yuan (呂秋遠), a Taiwanese lawyer, has said.

Though Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) has now halted the bill, its content is worrisome, UDN cited Lu as saying. The draft law aimed to regulate platform accountability, illegal content, and transparency and sought to disclose business information and service terms to protect users’ rights, according to Access Partnership.

Lu said social media platforms should publish transparency reports on a regular basis every year. The format of these reports should be based on National Communications Commission (NCC) guidelines and should not be created by the platforms themselves.

If the NCC believed certain online information violated DISA provisions, it could have applied for an information restriction order so as to “avoid or reduce harm” to the public, he said. The lawyer went on to say that before the court decided whether an information restriction order is legal, if the NCC deemed a post to be a rumor or false information, it could temporarily issue the online platform a warning that would last up to 30 days.

Lu stated that if the release of false information was deemed severe and violates DISA to the point at which the public would have difficulty recovering from the aftermath, the NCC could apply for an emergency information restraint order, and the court would have to make a decision within 48 hours.

With regard to illegal content, Lu said that if Internet users repeatedly shared such information, the online platform could issue a warning. If the user continued to post illegal content, the platform could suspend their account and discontinue service, he said.

DISA also authorized the NCC to designate any service with more than 2.3 million users as an online platform service provider, Lu said. Upon this designation, the platform’s obligations would be increased and the NCC could directly order it to conduct auditing tasks and provide relevant certificates, he said.

Lu explained that under DISA, the government would donate NT$2.5 billion (US$83 million) to set up a dedicated agency to supervise and urge online platforms to provide a better online environment, protect the rights and interests of users, and provide administrative guidance to online platforms. The board of directors of this agency would all be appointed by the government for a term of three years, according to Lu.

Articles 46 to 55 of DISA were all related to fines, the lawyer said, adding that if someone did not comply with government orders, there were relevant fines that ranged between NT$50,000 and NT$5 million.

Lu said he believes DISA would have restricted people's freedom of speech to a greater extent. It would not only have caused panic amongst the public, but the constitutionality of the bill was a concern.

The draft law could not have stopped the false information that continues to be spread across various online platforms in Taiwan, he added.