The China Post
Date: January 8, 2017
By: James Lo

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The Taiwan Media Watch Foundation (台灣媒體觀察基金會) has called on the government to preserve freedom of the press and not to write invasive regulations into the law, despite widespread fabricated information in the public discourse.

Taiwan has been the victim of fake news recently including a variety of falsified stories from mainland Chinese netizens as well as a scandal involving award-winning writer Chen Hsuan-ju (陳宣儒) and her fabricated identity of Tanaka Mika.

As a result of such incidents, a number of legislators have suggested amending current laws to empower the government to screen, filter and control the flow of fraudulent information on the internet.

But the media watchdog released a statement on Friday stating that the government should refrain from writing such regulations into law, as they would infringe upon the public’s right to freedom of speech.    [FULL  STORY]