2020.8 Defending Election Integrity in Taiwan Acknowledgement This report is possible because of the teamwork from over 50 dedicated members of Taiwan election integrity task force. A special thanks to Public Policy and Global elections teams for their tireless dedication and efforts. We would also like to thank the following teams around the globe for their continuous support: Trust and Safety, Legal, Cyber Security Policy, Threat Intelligence and Discovery, Site Integrity, Misinformation, News Partnership, Media Operation, Communication, Business Integrity, Community Operation, Risk and Responses, Global Security Intelligence and Investigations, Compliance, Content Policy, Law Enforcement and Response, Safety. Front cover photo credit: Office of the President. This is an image of art display in front of the building of the Office of the President. "Power to the People" reflects the democratic value of Taiwan. Similarly, Facebook's mission is to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. Table of Content Foreword .......................................................................................................... 1 Keep Taiwan’s Cyberspace Safe and Secure ............................................. 2 Combating Misinformation .................................................................... 3 Removing Violating Content ............................................................. 4 Third Party Fact-Checking ................................................................ 4 Enhancing Digital Literacy ................................................................. 5 Misinformation Hackathon................................................................ 5 Protecting Civic Integrity ....................................................................... 7 Making Ads More Transparent ......................................................... 7 Fighting Malicious Interference ...................................................... 9 Online Trolling ............................................................................. 9 Monitoring Coordinated Inauthentic Behaviors ..................... 10 Content Farms ............................................................................ 10 Building Local Partnerships ............................................................ 10 Promoting Civic Engagement ............................................................... 11 Empowering Stakeholders ............................................................... 12 Launching Election Day Reminder .................................................. 13 Building News Partnerships ............................................................. 14 Conclusion ................................................................................................ 15 Key Milestones ....................................................................................16 Foreword Ongoing technological advancement has accelerated interpersonal interaction and information exchange, and enabled the growth of diverse ideas and communities. However, new types of Internet threats have also emerged as a result of bad actors abusing new technologies; for example, information operation, through the rapid spread of manipulated disinformation by inauthentic abusers, has brought severe challenges to democracies founded on freedom of speech, especially impacting the most important democratic institution–elections. Looking back at Taiwan’s democratization, we take deep pride in our freedom of speech and democratic vitality, but we are also aware of the challenges that arise in this pursuit. Therefore, we must strive harder to protect our democratic values. To counter the threat of “malicious,” “false” and “harmful” information that is spread rapidly and widely on the Internet, collaboration between civil society, industry, and government is required. Since September 2018, multiple stakeholders in Taiwan, including the government, have worked closely to defend the threats of disinformation, by analyzing the nature of the problems, and developed countermeasures combining the efforts from societal, private, and public sectors. These include: 1. Identifying disinformation by enhancing media literacy; 2. Debunking disinformation by providing correct information; 3. Combating the spread of disinformation by suppressing its dissemination; 4. Punishing perpetrators of disinformation by prosecuting illegal behaviors. In reducing threats of disinformation to Taiwan’s society during the 2020 general election and COVID-19, this model has led to positive results and won international acclaim. The “Taiwan model” is based on collaboration between civil society, the private sector, and the public sector. Through self-regulation by platform operators, fact-checking by third- party organizations, and timely provision of correct information by the government, the “Taiwan model,” in contrast to authoritarian states imposing censorship, is a new means of governance for democracies seeking to combat disinformation. I am very pleased to see that Facebook, as a major social media platform, has taken its corporate social responsibility toward Taiwan, building extensive partnerships with different stakeholders, adopting an array of defensive measures such as countering coordinated inauthentic behaviors, launching advertising transparency tools, and rolling out the “We Think Digital” program with civil society and the government. These measures and achievements are listed in this report. I am confident that the corporate social responsibility of Facebook and other companies, as well as their proactive self- regulatory policies, are indispensable to the “Taiwan model” in combating disinformation. Due to its success throughout the 2020 general election and COVID-19, the “Taiwan model” has set a good example for the global community. We understand that there is no single solution for countering disinformation, that cyberattacks are ever-present, and that threats will continue to evolve. So this is just the beginning. We look forward to collaborating with more partners like Facebook to collectively safeguard Taiwan’s democratic values. Lo Ping-cheng Minister without Portfolio 1 Taiwan Keep Taiwan’s Cyberspace Safe and Secure Taiwan, Asia’s role model for democracy, means a lot to Facebook. We have about 20 million active users in Taiwan who use Facebook to stay connected with their friends around the globe, put more popular Taiwan brands on the world map, and ship love to their local communities in both the good and bad times of our society. Taiwan loves Facebook and we love Taiwan too. Our Public Policy team on the ground in Taipei serves as a window for Facebook in Taiwan. For the past few years, we’ve been thrilled to work with many partners coming from very diverse backgrounds and sectors, including the government, law enforcement, and civil society organizations. We don’t always agree on everything and we appreciate different views and constructive feedback, which are important to help us to keep improving our services. But our goal remains the same all the time -- to work together to keep Taiwan’s cyberspace more secure and safer. Fair election is the foundation for every democratic society. At Facebook we take our work on election integrity very seriously. This report provides an overview of Facebook’s comprehensive efforts to help protect the integrity of the Taiwanese presidential and legislative elections on January 11, 2020. Over the past few years, we’ve observed technological, cultural and societal changes of modern elections and also the problems that come with these changes. We’ve worked with a wide array of Taiwanese policymakers and experts to understand the problems and vulnerabilities as well as the emerging threats. We were able to develop smarter tools, greater transparency and stronger partnerships to collectively safeguard election integrity. At Facebook, we have more than 35,000 people dedicated to safety and security issues, with about 40 teams contributing to our work on election integrity. We started our Taiwan election integrity work early on and built significant and extensive partnerships with relevant government partners including Taiwan’s Executive Yuan and Central Election Commission, as well as with civil society organizations. This has improved coordination and cooperation between Facebook and all partners to quickly respond to abuses and threats on our platforms. On October 16, 2019, we held “Facebook Election Day Taiwan” in Taipei, where Minister Ping-cheng Lo was a guest of honor. We are also grateful for Minister Lo’s long-time support, including the kind foreword he authors for this special report. We want to show our commitment to a free, fair, and transparent election in Taiwan. These election defense measures include combating misinformation, protecting civic integrity and promoting civic engagement. This report details the works and results of these measures. We hope this initiative will open cross-sectoral dialogues on many important topics of the digital age. Let’s work together to continue to keep Taiwan’s cyberspace safe and secure. George Chen Max Chen Aidan Hoy Head of Public Policy Public Policy Manager, Regional Program Manager, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Taiwan Strategic Response 2 Mongolia, Facebook Facebook Facebook Combating Misinformation The problem of misinformation is not new, and unsubstantiated claims sometimes cause risks and challenges to user safety and our broader community. Over the past