47. Countering FIMI and Election Interference in Taiwan: Ben Graham Jones (“Taiwan P.O.W.E.R”)

Ben Graham Jones is an election observer. In his new report “Taiwan POWER” on the 2024 presidential and legislative elections in Taiwan, Jones sets up Taiwan as a model for resilience against foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI).

Jones identifies a set of strengths that's the core of Taiwan’s resilience against FIMI: Purpose-driven, Organic, Whole-society, Evolving, Remit-bound. Jones stresses it’s the bottom-up approach of Taiwan’s civic society that’s made it particularly resilient. 

“What’s interesting about Taiwan is we often consider Taiwan to be patient zero of Chinese information operations, Beijing’s information operations… If we are to move from not just defining the problem, but also defining the solution, I think Taiwan is a place that provides a good deal of inspiration to the wider world.”

Jones points to Chinese PRC influence of political elites, often through tourism, and why countries need to understand the work of the United Front.

We also talk about AI, deep fake, media literacy, and where he stands on the responsibility of social media platforms against false information. 

The Taiwan 2024 elections took place on January 13, 2024. While the ruling DPP (Democratic Progressive Party) won an unprecedented third consecutive term in office, it lost the majority in parliament. Elections take place in Taiwan every two years. They alternate between national and local elections. The next local elections for mayors, city counselors, and village chiefs should be in November 2026.

Taiwan POWER by Ben Graham Jones, commissioned by DoubleThink Lab, was released in August 2024: https://medium.com/doublethinklab/taiwan-power-a-model-for-resilience-to-foreign-information-manipulation-interference-70ea81f859b7

Previous episodes from Ghost Island Media on disinformation:

“Disinformation: Building Digital Resilience” on Dispatch From Taiwan - with voices from Taiwan FactCheck Center, DoubleThink Lab, and Citizen Lab: https://www.usip.org/publications/2024/01/disinformation-building-digital-resilience

“Influence Operations on PTT” with Oddis J.F. Tsai and J.M. Hung (INDSR): https://ghostisland.media/en/shows/taiwan-take/indsr-ptt-influence-operation

“Disinformation” with Puma Shen (Doublethink Lab): https://ghostisland.media/en/shows/taiwan-take/disinformation-doublethink-lab

“China Information Warfare” with Jeremy Hung (INDSR): https://ghostisland.media/en/shows/taiwan-take/indsr-china-information-war

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