China targets Taiwan with new disinformation campaign

China is conducting disinformation campaigns against Taiwan by infiltrating social media, internet forums and online chatrooms to subvert the public's trust in the government. It further said that it is trying to destabilise society and meddle in elections.

According to Investigation Bureau, more than 400 fake accounts are targeting Taiwanese on social media, reported Taipei Times.

Chinese content farms use hundreds of fake accounts to reach 'every corner of society,' an official at the Investigation Bureau said.

Since it started tracing fake accounts and disinformation to Chinese content farms in April last year, the Information and Communication Security Division investigated 2,773 such cases, the bureau said.

It has forwarded 174 cases to prosecutors, who have listed 234 people as suspects, the bureau added, reported Taipei Times.

An official involved in the investigations said that China had planted 20 accounts on CK101.com, a popular forum among Taiwanese, using mobile phone numbers registered outside Taiwan and e-mail addresses with foreign providers.

"These accounts are specialising in posting fake news and disinformation to undermine the Covid-19 measures implemented by Taiwan's health authorities, create confusion and circulate politically charged messages to generate disputes and conflicts," said the official, who declined to be named. "These are clearly products of China's content farms."

The bureau also uncovered that Chinese accounts had altered posts on the People's Technology Temple (PTT) -- Taiwan's most popular online bulletin board system, reported Taipei Times.