This is a summary of the report commissioned by Thomson on AI Disinformation Attacks during Taiwans 2024 Presidential Elections, written by Professor Chen-ling Hung from National Taiwan University.
In the 2024 Taiwanese presidential election, the Democratic Progressive Party won an unprecedented third term with candidate Lai Ching-te securing 40% of votes.
Despite being targeted by foreign disinformation, Taiwan successfully combatted these attacks, showcasing resilience against external interference.
This report examines the role of generative AI in spreading disinformation during the election, and the efforts by citizen groups and newsrooms to debunk it.
It analyses the themes and impacts of AI-generated disinformation on Taiwans internal dynamics and regional relations. The response of Taiwanese media and civil organizations to Chinese disinformation is also discussed.
Finally, the report offers conclusions and recommendations for newsrooms and fact-checking organisations, highlighting the importance of media literacy and potential drawbacks of current strategies in the broader news-public information ecosystem.
Blurring fact and fiction In the 2024 election, disinformation was analysed through second-hand data from news, government documents, and citizen organizations like the Taiwan FactCheck Center, IORG, and Taiwan AI Labs. These groups worked to counter Chinese intervention and AI-generated disinformation. Disinformation was categorised into AI-fabricated content, misleading narratives, and coordinated behaviour.
The AI-generated fake audio and video that appeared in this election mainly targeted politicians and their private lives.
The major themes of misleading narratives include government policies, cross-strait relations, and suspicion of the US. Coordinated behaviours were observed in the behaviour of information, sending mainly a large number of fake accounts systematically creating or disseminating disinformation.
We found that AIs role in disinformation involved blurring fact and fiction, generating vast amounts of false information, and creating sophisticated deepfakes, challenging traditional fact-checking and necessitating new solutions in digital literacy and technology. While not significantly impacting immediate public discourse or political decisions, disinformation influenced long-term discussions on national identity and global geopolitics.
AI s role in disinformation involved blurring fact and fiction, generating vast amounts of false information, and creating sophisticated deepfakes.
Chen-ling Hung, Professor, Graduate Institute of Journalism, National Taiwan University.
Combating disinformation We also examined how Taiwanese media combated disinformation, which involved interviews with five major news organizations: Taiwan Public Television Service (PTS), Central News Agency (CNA), Radio Taiwan International (RTI), Formosa Television (FTV) and TVBS Media.
The public and government-subsidized media like PTS, CNA, and RTI demonstrated a strong commitment to authentic news, using advanced technology and various strategies influenced by different political affiliations.
However, commercial media like FTV and TVBS, in spite of their efforts in maintaining journalistic standards and representing diverse political perspectives, struggled more with disinformation due to political biases and profit motives. These channels, especially their online counterparts, faced challenges in verification processes, vulnerability to AI-generated disinformation, and pressures to align with or oppose certain narratives. This highlights the complex nature of combating disinformation and emphasizes the need for collective action and collaboration among media, government, technology platforms, and the public.
Strengthening internal fact-checking and establishing comprehensive frameworks for information verification and education are crucial for media independence, credibility, and democratic development.
Legal measures, platform collaboration, and civil society efforts This report concludes that Taiwan combated disinformation during the election through legal measures, platform collaboration and civil society efforts.
Despite these efforts, challenges remain in addressing disinformation on digital platforms and social media. The final remarks include recommendations for multi-stakeholders:
Proactive Government Action: Enhance legislation against spreading rumors and fake videos, and develop mechanisms to counter infiltration activities funded by foreign forces.
Accountability for Digital and Traditional Media: Implement fact-checking obligations for mainstream media and close loopholes in online platform regulation.
Strengthening Civil Society: Increase collaboration across sectors to improve the ability of civic groups to counter AI disinformation.
Comprehensive Research: Study the circulation and impact of disinformation on national identity and international perspectives, formulating strategies to mitigate its influence.
The report highlights also the need for continued vigilance and adaptive strategies to protect a nation's democracy and development from disinformation attacks.
-- Play
-- --
The debate Professor Chen-Ling Hung is joined by other experts to discuss the impact of disinformation on the Taiwan election and others in 2024.
Explore our projects across the globe
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
23/07/2026
Evergent (5.A86) will showcase its Agentic Revenue Orchestration Platform for streaming services, sports leagues, pay-TV operators at IBC2026 (RAI Amsterdam, 11...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
David Dvir, 2D founder (left), Sundeep Reddy (center), and Jean-Marc Bouchut (right), both of Zeiss...
23/07/2026
Screen Australia announces new national documentary accelerator program 23 July 2026
Screen Australia has today announced the Above the Line Documentary Accel...
23/07/2026
RT Commercial today announced Honda as sponsor of Today with David McCullagh RT Radio 1, weekdays 9am 11am.
Broadcasting directly after Morning Ireland in ...
23/07/2026
RT News is pleased to announce Barry Gallagher has been assigned as the new journalist covering news from Cork, Kerry and the wider Southern region
Working al...
23/07/2026
Lock in and load up the cloud. GFN Thursday brings fresh updates and new adventu...
22/07/2026
Among other tweaks to coverage, the broadcaster added announce positions in the ...
22/07/2026
The Australian Sports Technologies Network (ASTN) has reported a sharp acceleration in Australia's sportstech sector, with revenue growth rising from 10% in...
22/07/2026
From a retrofitted broadcast bus to packed Match Day Live! events, Bennett detai...
22/07/2026
TMRW Sports has named Brendan Donohue as President, Flag Football, where he will lead the company's professional flag football business in partnership with ...
22/07/2026
Stephen Arnold Music (SAM) designed and produced soundtracks for nine projection...
22/07/2026
Harmonic has announced a $25,000 donation to Global Empowerment Mission (GEM) fo...
22/07/2026
Telemundo has announced it has acquired from UC3 exclusive U.S. Spanish-language...
22/07/2026
The Rest Is Football, hosted by Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, and Micah Richards, ...
22/07/2026
Sports Studio has announced a partnership with TheSoul Group to distribute Free ...
22/07/2026
Daktronics has concluded its 2026 High School Video Summit, a two-day hybrid event combining virtual sessions with hands-on host school visits across the countr...
22/07/2026
FOR-A America will exhibit at the MMCA Show in Pensacola, Florida (July 21-24), marking the company's first appearance at the house of worship AV event. FOR...
22/07/2026
The New York Yankees have selected Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) to connect Ya...
22/07/2026
Calrec will exhibit at IBC 2026 (Stand 8.C47) with demonstrations of its IP-native audio ecosystem built around the Argo console range, and will announce two ne...
22/07/2026
Solid State Logic has announced the appointment of Algam EKO as its distributor for SSL large format consoles in Italy, covering the Live, Broadcast, and Studio...
22/07/2026
FloSports has announced the launch of the FloSports Channel, a free ad-supported streaming channel premiering on Prime Video in the U.S. on July 21. The channel...
22/07/2026
Banana Ball TV (BTV), the broadcast operation of the Savannah Bananas, has insta...
22/07/2026
SiriusXM and Audacy have announced an agreement bringing 42 Audacy sports, news, and talk stations from 29 U.S. markets to SiriusXM. Twenty-three Audacy sports ...
22/07/2026
The collaboration produced more than 500 short-form videos across four cities th...
22/07/2026
At 2,600 sq. ft., the new home of digital content houses a main studio, podcast space, and an auxiliary control room
NFL franchises are accelerating their prod...
22/07/2026
Library now available in Engine Player
Another of Eduardo Tarilonte's popular sample libraries has just been moved over to Engine Audio's Engine Pla...
22/07/2026
All-in-one mic & DSP interface overhauled
Cloudvocal have just refreshed the design of their all-in-one mic, audio interface and DSP processor, introducing ...
22/07/2026
The final boss of the lost dual-op-amp circuit
Electro-Harmonix have just introduced the Deluxe Big Muff Pi 2, which they say offers their latest take on t...
22/07/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Proven managed IP solution helps broadcasters confidently navigate the future of broadcast distribution
LTN announces it has completed successful satellite-to-...
22/07/2026
Today, Chaos announced V-Ray 7, update 4, eliminating the need for asset conversions and tool switching, which slow down media and entertainment pipelines. Arti...
22/07/2026
An AI playground for the Project Indigo camera app
Marc Levoy July 22, 2026
0 Comments
At left is the user interface of our Playground, running on an ...
22/07/2026
Custom Consoles announces the completion of a large technical furniture project for Radio T l vision Suisse (RTS) at the networks recently inaugurated productio...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Culver City, CA, July 21, 2026 3D streaming infrastructure provider Miris today announced glTF intake, including the binary .glb form, to its spatial streamin...
22/07/2026
Documentary Lo Invisible Captured with Blackmagic PYXIS 6K
Brie Clayton July 21, 2026
0 Comments
Camera's versatile design allowed filmmakers to c...
22/07/2026
AAF Bridge converts AAF and XML Timelines to Ableton Live - and back
Jerome Gardier July 21, 2026
0 Comments
A two-way converter for macOS and Windows...
22/07/2026
From Class to Concert: Explore a Student-Led Production of David Bowies Work Thr...
22/07/2026
NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang today visited the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, to commission an NVIDIA DGX GB300 system - bringing one...
This is a summary of the report commissioned by Thomson on AI Disinformation Attacks during Taiwans 2024 Presidential Elections, written by Professor Chen-ling Hung from National Taiwan University.
