Taiwan security agency flags rise in Chinese disinformation ahead of local elections
Taiwan’s security agency said China used AI-generated fake accounts and tailored propaganda to influence voters, with disputed items rising 48% to more than 2.5 million.
- Taiwan's National Security Bureau reported this week that China spread more than 2.5 million pieces of false or disputed online information during the first nine months of this year, a 48% increase.
- To influence Taiwan's upcoming local elections, Beijing is ramping up 'grey-zone' tactics, focusing content on energy, food security, and defence policy to sow discord among Taiwanese people.
- Chinese cyberattacks on Taiwanese government agencies averaged 2.58 million daily in the first nine months of 2026, with detected threats surging to 185.6 million in July and 106.4 million in August.
- China has expanded AI technology use to manipulate information, aiming at "affecting voter preferences and election outcomes" while using "online troll armies" to amplify narratives across Facebook, Threads, and YouTube.
- The bureau warned that these operations represent advance intelligence-gathering aimed at interfering in Taiwan's year-end elections, though Beijing has previously denied spreading disinformation or interfering in democratic processes.
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The nine-in-one elections will be held on November 28. National security officials have warned that the current situation has entered the stage of "AI-based united front tactics." The Chinese Communist Party is using AI to divide Taiwanese people into four categories: diehards, friendly factions, wavering factions, and objective factions. It is tailoring narratives and disseminating messages to different groups to exacerbate internal conflicts a…
The Taiwanese authorities accused China of intensifying the use of artificial intelligence to manipulate electoral information, in order to influence the results of the local elections on 28 November.
The nine-in-one elections will be held on November 28. National security officials have warned that this year's elections could be described as an "AI-driven united front," with China using AI to create a large number of fake accounts and accurately analyze target groups to deliver customized messages, thereby exacerbating internal conflicts within the political camp and social antagonism.
In response to the recent elections and related information manipulation, national security officials pointed out that China's cognitive warfare against Taiwan has shifted from creating chaos and amplifying public opinion in the past internet era to a comprehensive "segmentation and precision strike" combined with AI technology. Beijing uses big data to segment its audience, constructing separate kill chains to exacerbate social antagonism, weak…
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