• Public

  • Public
  • Network
  • Groups
  • Featured
  • Popular
  • People

"One prong of this strategy is to increase transparency with a host of initiatives, including seeking the participation of the innovativeg0v (gov-zero) project. This team joined the government to create the Public Digital Innovation Space (PDIS) and launched the consensus-building project, vTaiwan and its graphic avatar, Polis, which found a structured way for public forum discussions to inform policy decisions. This digital infrastructure was vital in responding to disinformation, where an unconventional team, including graphic designers and comedy writers inside the government, would create memes directly responding to fake news. The Taiwanese response to disinformation also involves an active role played by the state and raises questions about the appropriate role of governments. One may question why the Taiwanese approach was hailed by the liberal media, while FCU in India has come in for criticism if they both involve state actors responding to online disinformation. There are three differences that are critical here. First, the Taiwanese model of rebutting fake news and creating counter-narratives is in direct contrast to a more authoritarian response that involves censorship and takedown of content in India. Second, the way in which the response evolved in Taiwan was bottom-up, with a citizen and civil society campaign being adopted and further empowered by the government. These concerted efforts can work only in an environment of high levels of public trust."