Activists battle disinformation ahead of Taiwan vote

FRANCE 24 English

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00:00 With Taiwan's elections only days away, campaigning from both main parties is in full swing.

00:06 At this rally, held by the Democratic Progressive Party, described by Beijing as a separatist

00:11 organisation, supporters are worried about increasing election-related fake news.

00:17 Fake news, I feel, is really becoming more and more like real news, and I think that's

00:21 a pretty scary thing.

00:23 It does affect us, like, affect our life and our political climate.

00:27 Facing rising misinformation, this voter sends suspicious messages shared on social media

00:32 to a fact-check centre.

00:33 This is a text saying that all of the CCTV near the voting booths will be shut down this

00:37 year and I will send it to the fact-checking centre.

00:40 So here's the response telling me this is fake news.

00:44 Behind the screen is former reporter Eve Chu.

00:46 She works with 10 other journalists to debunk rumours in real time.

00:50 Election-related rumours are going up in the last month.

00:55 Most of them are candidate-related for their nationality, for their morality and for their

01:02 property.

01:03 In the last month alone, they have debunked 50 fake stories.

01:07 From fake news to AI-generated videos like this one, Taiwanese officials blame China,

01:11 but Beijing argues that allegations of election interference are overhyped.

01:15 We don't have clear evidence, but it is reasonable to infer that it's come from the Beijing government.

01:24 This researcher warns that misinformation is leading to increasing levels of polarisation.

01:29 China's hacking warfare hurts, but not because it will change the presidential election result,

01:35 but because it will intensify existing social conflicts.

01:39 According to a Swedish study, Taiwan is ranked as the biggest target for foreign disinformation

01:44 in the world.

01:44 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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