Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
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Photo Credit: dronepicr/WikiCommons/CC BY 2.0
THE DPP HAS leaned into calls for regulating TikTok after a series of videos targeting DPP politicians.
Such calls took place after deepfake videos were released showing DPP caucus leader Ker Chien-ming discussing his lack of hope in Taiwan with the DPP as the ruling party. Videos showing DPP legislator Wang Yi-chuan were also released.
Ker and Wang have filed charges with the Criminal Investigation Bureau and the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. As simplified Chinese characters were used in the video, the Ministry of the Interior suggested that the video could have originated from outside Taiwan.
The measures called for include having TikTok establish an office in Taiwan. If TikTok or any other platform does not comply with the deadline to establish an office in Taiwan, it could be banned from the Taiwanese market.
The call, then, is that platforms that operate in the Taiwanese market should set up an office in Taiwan and comply with local regulations or face being banned. Such legislation, then, does not call for a wide-ranging ban on TikTok such as occurred in India and has been called for in the US.
This treatment of TikTok would be similar to how the government handled the issue of Chinese streamer platforms operating in the Taiwanese market. Namely, Taiwanese companies were banned from acting as intermediaries for Chinese streaming platforms, due to the inability of the Taiwanese government to regulate such providers. But such platforms were themselves not banned, due to the infringement on freedoms of expression and broadcast.
Previously, a number of experts took the view that Taiwan was likely to follow the precedent of the US when it came to how to handle TikTok. Nevertheless, it is also possible that the Taiwanese government will instead go its own path.
The DPP’s solution to the issue of how to handle TikTok is, in fact, a relatively moderate one. Yet the DPP is likely to lean into the narrative that it is taking a bold move to minimize Chinese influence with its actions, so as to rally up its party base.
Photo credit: 民進黨立法院黨團/Facebook
One also notes that the DPP has decided to drum up momentum for taking action to regulate TikTok using videos that are relatively easy to see through, rather than more subtle–and therefore effective–forms of propaganda. Similarly, there was no such move against TikTok or other platforms after a police investigation into an online ring used to circulate deepfake pornographic videos of female politicians and other public figures. The DPP appears to be aiming for rather low-hanging fruit when it comes to justifying its move against TikTok.
To this extent, it is likely that the KMT will react against the move by framing it as the DPP seeking to limit freedoms of speech in Taiwan. This, too, is how the KMT framed efforts by the Tsai administration to regulate Chinese streaming platforms.
TikTok previously tried to engage with Taiwanese civil society actors such as media watchdogs, so as to bolster domestic legitimacy. But such groups were often divided on whether to engage with TikTok or not.
Indeed, the DPP does not operate on TikTok, given that the company is seen as Chinese-owned and backed by the Chinese state. By contrast, the TPP’s electoral successes have sometimes been credited to its high engagement on TikTok.
Moves to regulate TikTok will prove significant, in setting a legal precedent for how other Chinese platforms are handled in Taiwan going forward, such as Xiaohongshu. In this sense, the case is worth watching, not only for how regulation of TikTok is handled, but for the precedent it sets for future cases.