90 percent of suspended social media accounts restored: MODA

Taipei, June 17 (CNA) Taiwan's Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) said Wednesday that Meta promised to "proactively identify and restore" social media accounts it recently wrongly suspended, adding that nearly 90 percent of the accounts had been restored as of 4 p.m.

The ministry also instructed Meta to restore a list of nearly 100 accounts, mostly belonging to media organizations and public figures, before 6 p.m. Wednesday.

In a press release, MODA said that on Monday it asked Meta's Taiwan office to restore accounts that were wrongly suspended late Sunday due to a technical issue that caused Meta's system to mistakenly identify users as being under 13 years old.

Between 3,000 and 4,000 accounts were suspended, including about 200 belonging to media organizations and public figures, as well as thousands of individual users, MODA said.

Meta later promised to proactively identify and restore all affected accounts across its platforms, including Facebook, Threads and Instagram.

Meanwhile, Meta said its existing appeal mechanisms remain available for users whose accounts are still suspended.

MODA said the suspended accounts often attract significant attention and tend to receive reports from other users, making them more likely to be flagged by Meta's system.

The ministry said accounts are currently being restored, including those belonging to media organizations such as the Central News Agency, Public Television Service and Formosa Television.

Restored accounts of public figures include former President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), former legislator Chen Po-wei (陳柏惟), Kuomintang (KMT) New Taipei mayoral candidate Lee Shu-chuan (李四川), the KMT Youth League, former Taiwan People's Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), and TPP Taipei City Councilor Huang Ching-yin (黃瀞瑩).

In May, Meta rolled out new international online safety measures for young users, including an age-verification mechanism designed to identify users under 13.

However, due to a technical issue, the system mistakenly suspended accounts worldwide regardless of region or demographic group, MODA said.

The ministry said it would continue monitoring the situation and urge Meta to safeguard the rights of Taiwanese users and prevent similar errors from occurring in the future.

TPP Legislator Hung Yu-shiang (洪毓祥) said at a press event Wednesday that the Consumer Protection Committee, the Fair Trade Commission and MODA should establish a task force under the Executive Yuan to intervene, protect consumer rights and ensure fair trade.

Hung added that the TPP will propose a digital platform users' rights protection bill that would introduce the right to refuse automated replies, require human review and protect users' right to retrieve information after accounts are suspended.

The bill will also introduce a third-party dispute resolution mechanism, require annual reports and impose additional fines for repeated violations, Hung said.