ELECTION 2024/'Troll groups' use missile alert debacle to influence election: AI labs

Taipei, Jan. 10 (CNA) "Troll groups" are taking advantage of a national alert issued by Taiwan's defense ministry that mistakenly warned of a Chinese missile flyover in English when it was actually a satellite launch, to influence the country's presidential election, a government-backed research organization said Wednesday.

The troll groups -- clusters of social media accounts acting with a suspicious degree of synchronization -- have collectively disseminated 900 alert-related news articles that were not readily visible on Facebook, to specific online groups, according to a report released by Taiwan AI Labs.

These amplify allegations about election interference undertaken by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government, the report said.

However, Taiwan AI Labs did not elaborate on the nature on the 900 news pieces and whether they are authentic.

The Ministry of National Defense sent a nationwide emergency alert message at 3:17 p.m. informing the public that China's government fired a satellite at 3:04 p.m. Tuesday, which passed over Taiwan. It only later revealed that the trajectory of the satellite took it over southern Taiwan at an elevation of 500 km.

Although the message said "satellite" in Chinese, the English translation of the message was: "Missile flyover Taiwan airspace, be aware."

The MND later apologized, saying the English version was mistaken.

Ethan Tu (杜奕瑾), the founder of Taiwan AI Labs, told a press conference in Taipei on Wednesday that there has been a surge in troll group activities aiming to "mislead the public, criticize the government's cross-strait policies, and deliberately create chaos within Taiwan."

For instance, Tu said, some groups are seeking to exacerbate divisions among Taiwanese people by promoting extreme language and engaging in mutual attacks to prevent rational public discourse.

Narratives from these groups have also become more aligned with China's state-affiliated media as the Jan. 13 election approaches, he pointed out.

In addition, DPP lawmakers Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) and Hung Sun-han (洪申瀚) have recently been the subjects of sex scandals, with footage of the two men they claim is AI generated disseminated with the assistance of such troll groups, according to Taiwan AI Labs.

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