China is hurting our democracy with fake news, says Taiwan

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Taiwan's government says China is redoubling efforts to undermine confidence in the self-governing island's democracy and close ties with the United States through the spread of disinformation, especially online.

The National Security Bureau said the number of pieces of false or biased information distributed by China increased 60 per cent last year, to 2.16 million from 1.33 million in 2023. The brief report issued tallied "pieces of controversial information," but did not further define the term. Facebook and X, were the main conduits for disinformation, along with platforms that explicitly target young people.

China created "inauthentic accounts" to distribute its propaganda on YouTube, used technology such as AI to create fake videos and flooded comments sections with pro-China statements, the report said. China has for years used global social media platforms to spread both official messages and misinformation even while banning them inside the country.

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