Taiwan elections: TikTok teams up with fact checkers to stop disinformation on site

Name: Taiwan election exposes generational rift over potential reunification with mainland China
Uploaded: 2023-12-26T14:00:16.000Z
Duration: 5 min 27 s
Description: Taiwan election exposes generational rift over potential reunification with mainland China

Short-video app will guide users to official election-related information while MyGoPen will give tips on how to verify facts

The company will also provide channels to report content that might breach electoral rules

Reading Time:2 minutes

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TikTok is seeking to counter critics who say it is a mainland China disinformation tool. Photo: EPA-EFE

Lawrence Chungin Taipei

Published: 10:00pm, 26 Dec 2023Updated: 10:23pm, 26 Dec 2023

TikTok has teamed up with a fact-checking group to limit fake news about Taiwan’s coming presidential election, as it seeks to fend off critics that it is a mainland Chinese disinformation tool.

The popular short-video social media app launched its in-app “2024 Election Guide” this week, the company said on Tuesday.

The project was a partnership with MyGoPen, a Taiwan-based organisation certified by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN).

IFCN was established by the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in the US state of Florida in 2015 to set up a code of ethics for fact-checking groups worldwide.

“[The move] is part of our ongoing efforts to protect election integrity and support our community with authoritative information,” TikTok said on its website.

05:27

Taiwan election exposes generational rift over potential reunification with mainland China

TikTok users would be directed to the guide once they searched for election-related information, viewed relevant videos, and watched live-streaming content, it said.

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