An internet-based propaganda campaign failed to convince voters in Taiwan to pick Beijing’s favorite presidential candidate Saturday, potentially showing the limits of China’s ability to sow discord ahead of the 2024 U.S. election.
An internet-based propaganda campaign failed to convince voters in Taiwan to pick Beijing ’s favorite presidential candidate Saturday, potentially showing the limits of China ’s ability to sow discord ahead of the 2024 U.S. election. Taiwan ’s Vice President Lai Ching-te was elected president on Saturday, as voters ignored warnings from Beijing not to support a candidate it has called a separatist and a “troublemaker,” though his party did lose its legislative majority.
Online propagandists targeted voters with falsehoods in the weeks and months ahead of Saturday’s pivotal election, creating scores of fake accounts and promoting a fictional tell-all book slamming Taiwan’s outgoing president. Voters have been inundated with posts from fake social accounts that often disparage Taiwan’s outgoing president and democracy itself, analysts say, two frequent themes pushed by China’s government. The online influence operation offered a sense of what the U.S
Taiwan Election Propaganda China Beijing Presidential Candidate Voters Online Influence Operation