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Taiwan's National Security Bureau (NSB) has revealed a significant increase in disinformation attacks from China, with reported cases nearly doubling in 2024 compared to the previous year, Taipei Times reported on Saturday.
The NSB's analysis shows that Chinese Communist Party (CCP) disinformation tactics aim to undermine confidence in Taiwan's military, US support for Taiwan, and President William Lai. The NSB reported 2.159 million cases of controversial information in 2024, with Facebook being the most vulnerable platform, seeing a 40 per cent increase in disinformation compared to 2023. Other platforms also saw significant increases, including Video platforms: 151 per cent increase, and Forums: 664 per cent increase - X (formerly Twitter): 244 per cent increase. Further, the NSB also identified 28,216 questionable accounts, a significant increase of 11,661 accounts compared to 2023, as per Taipei Times. Facebook had 21,967 of those accounts, but TikTok, X and China's Douyin also had major surge, data showed. That suggests the main target of disinformation is young Internet users, the NSB said. The rise of these platforms reflects changing social media habits in Taiwan driving changes in disinformation tactics, it said. Further, the NSB report has identified six key tactics employed by the Chinese Communist Party, which include flooding social media with disinformation, using official accounts to spread fake news, leveraging military exercises for propaganda etc.... According to the Taipei Times, the first was flooding social media with information with the goal of changing voter behaviour and election results, it said, adding that this included posting memes and videos to spread disinformation about candidates. The second is impersonating Taiwanese users and official accounts to spread fake news, the report said. During the Chinese People's Liberation Army's Joint Sword-2024A and 2024B military drills, CCP accounts posing as Taiwanese officials spread disinformation to undermine trust in the military, it said. Third is leveraging military exercises for propaganda -- using both official accounts and state media -- to highlight China's capability to invade Taiwan, the bureau said. During both military drills last year, videos on TikTok and YouTube were heavily used to intimidate Taiwanese, it said. Fourth was posting artificial intelligence-generated deepfakes of Taiwanese officials to distort their public perception and mislead voters, the bureau said. Fifth was co-opting integrated media accounts to spread propaganda, using them as proxies for state-owned media, it said. The report highlighted multiple accounts on TikTok that have close ties to CCP-owned outlets. Sixth was establishing multilingual news sites such as the fake Czech newspaper Bohemia Daily and fake Spanish outlet Guell Herald to reinforce the CCP's "one China" principle internationally, it said. The bureau reported 3,900 cases of disinformation to different government agencies and ministries, and Taiwan hosted more than 100 exchange events to share expertise with like-minded nations, the report said. (ANI)
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