TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Rumors of a labor agreement with India to allow 100,000 Indian migrant workers into Taiwan are false, Taiwan Labor Minister Hsu Ming-chun (許銘春) said on Friday (Nov. 24).

Taiwan is set to finalize a labor deal with India by the end of the year, Hsu said, but there is false information being shared to cause panic among the public. The minister urged Taiwanese not to fall into the trap of cognitive warfare.

According to Taiwan national security officials, there were three categories of comments left on the Ministry of Labor's (MOL) Facebook page. These included demands to disclose the details of the agreement, opposition to Indian workers being let into Taiwan, and strong objections to the deal, per CNA.

Further analysis revealed that nearly 3,600 accounts commented on the MOL Facebook page, with close to 2,000 falling into one of these categories.

The officials said these suspicious accounts sometimes had no other Facebook friends, lacked personal posts, or had low interaction with other profiles. They left the same types of comments and were posted at specific time intervals, suggesting potential automated manipulation.

They added that this behavior was also observed on LINE, Twitter, and Dcard. 

National security officials emphasized that while the MOL has responded to the best of its ability, the government cannot allow Indians to feel discriminated against by Taiwanese. Therefore, it is imperative for the foreign affairs ministry to communicate with India about this matter, they said.

Taiwan seeks to hire more Indian workers to address labor shortages in the manufacturing, construction, agriculture, and fishery industries.