Taiwan “does not need to wait for the US” to confront Meta Platforms over allegations that the social media company aided Beijing in censoring speech, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said yesterday.
He made the comments during Minister of Digital Affairs Huang Yen-nun’s (黃彥男) report on a cybersecurity bill at the legislature in Taipei, a week after a whistle-blower testified before the US Senate that the company helped China silence dissidents on the platform.
The testimony from former Meta executive Sarah Wynn-Williams suggested that Meta’s collusion with Beijing extended to Taiwan and Hong Kong, Tsai said.
Although the truth of the allegations has yet to be proven, the Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) should ensure the community guidelines used by social media platforms are transparent and open to public scrutiny, he said.
No platform should be allowed to delete speech at whim, he added.
Huang said officials would communicate with Meta about the lack of transparency on its platforms.
However, the ministry believes it should wait for the US Congress to complete its investigation before deciding on an appropriate response, he said.
The government cannot shut down social media platforms before explaining its decision to the public, he added.
In response, Tsai told the minister: “Stop communicating.”
Unlike the US, Taiwan faces an imminent national security threat from China and cannot afford to shy from empowering its regulators or demanding social media companies to explain their moderation policies, he said.
Platforms cannot be allowed to delete speech at will or target comments that criticize China at the behest of Beijing while pretending to support freedom and democracy, Tsai said.
“Every time Meta was brought up, you said [MODA] would have coffee with their people,” he said. “That approach did not work when we were dealing with fraud, and I do not believe it will work now.”
“A US company should follow our laws when operating on our soil, the same as any other foreign company,” he added.
Huang told lawmakers that the proposed amendments to the Cyber Security Management Act (資通安全管理法) was a bid to close “unpatched loopholes” that recent cyberattacks had exposed.
The law has not been updated since its promulgation in 2019, he said, adding that the nation’s cybersecurity has increased significantly in the interim.
The bill would clarify that the Administration for Cyber Security is the agency in charge of enforcing cybersecurity, and establish a cybersecurity incident response mechanism to coordinate the efforts of central and local officials, he said.
The Administration for Cyber Security would be empowered to oversee cybersecurity measures in all offices and branches of the government, including the Presidential Office, Huang said.
Regulators would receive enhanced authority to supervise government contractors and other private entities, including the power to investigate certain cybersecurity breaches, he said.
Rules empowering the government to ban the use of dangerous devices, software and other products in government offices would be elevated into law, he added.
In addition, government personnel rules would be amended to authorize the employment of qualified cybersecurity experts, Huang said.
