EU anti-disinformation experts visit the Human Rights Commission to exchange experience on the development of freedom of speech.

(provided by the Human Rights Council)

[Reporter Wu Shuwei/Taipei Report] The National Human Rights Commission pointed out today that the European Commission’s anti-false information expert delegation visited the Human Rights Commission yesterday, and was received by the representative of the Human Rights Commission’s vice-chairman Wang Rongzhang. , and to conduct extensive exchanges of views on topics such as improving citizen media literacy.

The Commission on Human Rights pointed out that Marcin Jerzewski, Director of the Taiwan Office of the European Value Security Policy Center, together with 7 experts from Lithuania, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland and other national defense counterfeiting information and media literacy education experts, as well as personnel from the European Economic and Trade Office, etc. On the morning of the 27th, he visited the Human Rights Commission, which was received by Wang Rongzhang, and was attended by Human Rights Commissioners Ye Dahua, Su Liqiong, Supervisory Committee Lin Wencheng, and French international human rights management technical expert Zhou Jie in Taiwan.

Wang Rongzhang said that the European Parliament last year passed the resolution on "External Forces Interfering in EU Democratic Procedures", affirming Taiwan's experience in democratically resisting external force interference and false information attacks. In recent years, with the development of information technology and changes in media types, The freedom and human rights that Taiwan has accumulated over the years since democratization are also facing new challenges, including the abuse of freedom of speech on the Internet, the damage caused by the proliferation of false information to democratic institutions, and cognitive warfare that endangers national security.

Wang Rongzhang said that other national human rights organizations such as South Korea and New Zealand have also issued messages concerned about the impact of false information on human rights.

Therefore, it is very valuable for EU experts on anti-disinformation and media education literacy to come to the Commission on Human Rights to share common challenges and experiences faced by liberal democracies today.

Ye Haoqin said that this trip is the first visit of the delegation after the approval of the EU-Taiwan Engagement Support Facility.

Due to the development of Internet information and media technology, democratic countries all over the world are facing new challenges. The support of the EU is expressed through face-to-face exchanges and experience sharing between EU and Taiwan experts.

Ye Haoqin said that the purpose of the delegation's visit to Taiwan is to hope for exchanges and cooperation between Taiwan and the European Union on maintaining the integrity of information and promoting high-quality media literacy education, and to support Taiwanese civil society organizations, hoping to obtain reliable information on promoting equality ability to make a positive contribution.

Lin Wencheng mentioned that Taiwan is the country that receives the most frequent intrusions from overseas fake news, ranking first in the world. These fake news mainly come from China, and of course there are also fake news from within Taiwan. Taiwan has considerable experience in dealing with fake news. In the future, we hope to have more cooperation with organizations related to the prevention of false information in the EU.

Ye Dahua said that the European Union is the leader in digital governance-related policies. After Taiwan's self-declaration, multiple electronic media and news channels began to rise. Under the competition of news media companies, problems such as false information, disordered speech, and privacy violations have also arisen. Taiwan Civic groups refer to the Data Protection Directive issued by the European Union to voluntarily supervise the media.

Subsequently, citizen groups also began to independently initiate fact-checking mechanisms, which were then integrated into the "Taiwan Fact-Checking Center" and established partnerships with companies such as the European Union, Facebook, and Google.

False information is not only the dissemination of false information, but also the cognitive warfare of mixed controversial information. Media literacy education is even more important. The Taiwan government is actively promoting media literacy education in middle and high school campuses.