Taiwan: A Leading Democracy and Internet Freedom Advocate
Taiwan has become a role model for many countries in both democracy and internet freedom. Ranked one of the top spots by the Freedom House organization and ahead of Germany in the Democracy ranking by The Economist, the small island in the South China Sea has drawn the attention of the world. To find out how Taiwan was able to transform itself from an autocracy to one of the most democratic spots in Asia within 30 years, Professor Jeanette Hofmann conducted research for a few months in the region.
One of the biggest advantages that Hofmann discovered was the digital self-image of those in government and civil society, who actively work on tools. Taiwan has an extremely commercialized media landscape that has an almost unmanageable number of private providers. While media plurality might seem like a good thing, it has led to many providers hiring individuals who are still students or have not learned the journalistic trade. As a result, many of them copy Facebook messages, amplifying false news and targeted disinformation instead of correcting them.
Hofmann identified disinformation as the dominant theme in Taiwan. While there is a lot of disinformation from China, she noticed that there was also a lot of disinformation coming from Taiwan itself. The digital media, which is entirely unregulated, is used for disinformation, particularly during elections. The most widely used social media platform in Taiwan is the Japanese messenger app, Line. It works as a news aggregator and has contracts with around 600 media providers, from simple blogs to big newspapers. Line makes their news available for little money, making it easy to disseminate information of varying quality.
Hofmann expressed concerns about the business model that a de facto monopolist like Line uses. Although it allows users to buy articles from different providers without paying individual paywalls, she worries that it doesn’t pay attention to quality standards. Unable to re-sort all the news and background information, people are exposed to disinformation more frequently in countries that don’t prioritize a good media landscape.
Taiwan’s media landscape is far from perfect, but it has been able to develop into one of the leading democracies and advocates of internet freedom. Its approach might not be without flaws, but the lessons it can teach the rest of the world are essential.
