TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Cybersecurity experts have warned of possible early-stage influence operations ahead of Taiwan’s local elections later this year after identifying coordinated Facebook page activity, CNA reported Saturday.
On Monday, a large-scale wave of nearly identical posts spread across Facebook. They repeated three themes drawn from previous news reports: an unexpected national emergency alert, an urgent notice from Kaohsiung, and work and class suspensions in Kaohsiung.
The posts were reshared by numerous accounts using near-identical formats, posting sequences, and high-frequency activity patterns. Cybersecurity experts tracking foreign information manipulation said the activity produced 383 posts across 163 Facebook pages.
At peak activity, 34 posts appeared within five minutes, averaging one post every 10 seconds. Fourteen different pages published identical content within the same minute at one point, suggesting coordinated scheduling rather than organic sharing.
Most of the pages appeared to be operated outside Taiwan. Of the 163 pages analyzed, 154, or 94.5%, were managed overseas, including links to Hong Kong, Malaysia, and China.
Researchers assessed that the activity may be linked to a network based in China’s Hebei Province, based on posting patterns and traffic structures. Researchers said the group has been associated with long-running online influence operations and has been cited in studies examining information operations targeting Taiwan elections.
Experts said such networks often use large numbers of non-political pages to reduce suspicion. They attract followers with parenting, health, entertainment, and lifestyle content before shifting to political messaging during sensitive periods.
Eighty of the 163 pages had changed their names at least once, with some doing so up to six times. Many were previously used for adult, entertainment, or public-interest topics, a tactic experts said can help bypass platform trust restrictions and rapidly build reach.
Cybersecurity experts warned that similar operations could expand as the local elections approach and urged users to check page transparency information and remain cautious of unfamiliar pages. The elections are scheduled for Nov. 28 and will include races for county and city magistrates, as well as other local offices, according to BusinessToday.
