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2022年08月

Nancy Pelosi's Asia tour

As US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan late Tuesday (August 2), tensions between Taiwan and China have been escalating. Shortly after Pelosi’s arrival, China announced three days of military exercises and live-fire drills to encircle Taiwan from August 4-7.

Pelosi had concluded her 19-hour-visit in Taiwan on August 3 and headed to South Korea.

Pelosi’s Asia trip and China’s response have sparked a misinformation wave on social media since July 29. Taiwan FactCheck Center has been closely monitoring the situation as well as narratives on internet space. We will constantly update our work here.

2022.08.05

Day 2 of Chinese military drill

2022.08.04

China held its biggest-ever military drill at air and sea around Taiwan- Day 1

China fired live missiles near Taiwan, four of them have flown over Taiwan's main island.

An image of Chinese CCTV news with an overlay showing China is evacuating its citizen from Taiwan, appeared on Taiwanese bulletin board system PTT. The image is altered. CCTV didn't have a such report. Nor did Chinese immigrants' support services in Taiwan receive notice.

Fact-check: https://tfc-taiwan.org.tw/articles/7980

Citing a fabricating article from a Chinese forum, false Facebook post claimed that China resumes the exercise of sovereignty over Taiwan.

Fact-check: https://tfc-taiwan.org.tw/articles/7987

False posts claimed flights in Taiwan are all canceled over Chinese military drills. But live data shows international flights are scheduled to depart/arrive in Taiwan despite the disruption.

Fact-check: https://tfc-taiwan.org.tw/articles/7986

2022.08.03

Pelosi concluded her 19-hour-visit in Taiwan and headed to South Korea

7-Eleven stores' TV are hacked to display the message 'Warmonger Pelosi get out of Taiwan'

2022.08.02

China announced three days of military exercises and live-fire drills to encircle Taiwan from August 4-7, in response to Pelosi's visit to Taiwan.

Pelosi landed in Taiwan at 9:30 PM (GMT +8)

Shortly before US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's arrival in Taiwan on Aug 2, a video appeared claiming to show a siren wailing in Fujian, the Chinese province that lies west of Taiwan.

We geolocated the video and found it was actually filmed in Xinzhuan, Taiwan.

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2022年07月

2022 Taiwanese Local Elections

Coming soon. :)

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The assassination of Japan's Ex-leader Shinzo Abe

Disinformation flooded the Taiwanese Internet as news of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe being assaulted broke out, much of which followed a typical pattern of how disinformation exploited the limitation of breaking news. The Taiwan FactCheck Center has released no less than seven fact-checking reports within two weeks debunking related fake news and clarifying misinformation regarding the incident.

The news about the gun attack against Shinzo Abe in Japan on July 8th was soon picked up in Taiwan, and in no time the social media platforms and messaging apps were overflowed with rumors, photos, and video footages that claimed to carry details about the assassination and its location. The information however was cluttered and mostly came from personal social media accounts, with their authenticity in doubt. This is where fake news fabricators came in and took advantage of the confusion.

*Media inquiry: If you have questions about TFC's work on debunking falsehoods on the assassination of Shinzo Abe, please reach out to us at public@tfc-taiwan.org.tw or huian@tfc-taiwan.org.tw.

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