Formosa News
Date: 2018/12/09
For many of us, checking messages on Line and logging in to Facebook or Instagram is a daily habit. Social media can keep us in touch with friends, but they also expose us to information from well beyond our inner circle. A problem arises when that information is accepted without a fact-check, and when it is sent to other people who also take it as the truth. Last week, the Interior Ministry drafted legislation that tries to fight the rampant spread of fake news in the age of social media. The government argues that fake news can have harmful consequences. Today we’ll look at an instance of fake news that ultimately became fatal. Here’s our Sunday special report.
September 2018. Typhoon Jebi slammed through Japan’s Kansai region, shutting down Kansai International Airport. After the typhoon departed, a storm of another kind began to brew.
During the onslaught of Typhoon Jebi, reports emerged that China had sent coach buses to the airport to rescue stranded travelers. Soon afterward, Taiwan’s representative office in Japan came under fire for not doing the same. Coming under mounting pressure, Taiwan’s head representative in Osaka Su Chii-cherng committed suicide. It was later discovered that the many reports of China’s storm evacuation had not been true. How did these reports come about? [FULL STORY]