Democracy Under the Rampage of Cyber-Armies

Moderator: Liao Da-chi, Professor of the Institute of Political Science at National Sun Yat-sen University

Featuring:

l  Chou Shi-en, co-founder and CTO of QSearch, co-founder of Meisell, and technical director of the internet celebrity e-commerce platform

l  Lin Cheng-chung, deputy director of the United Daily News Reporting Center

l  Liu Chia-wei, Professor of the Department of Public Administration and Policy at Taipei University

l  Liao Yuan-hao, Associate Professor of the Department of Law at National Chengchi University and Director of the Public Law Center of the College of Law

The core expectation of democracy is that people can make rational choices based on correct information. To realize this expectation, one of the basic engineering projects of democracy in institutional design is media diversity and openness, which is not controlled by the government or any political party, to protect freedom of speech and the space for public forums. Therefore, the media is often referred to as the “fourth power”, responsible for defending the people’s right to know the “truth”.

However, in recent years, the rise of social media on the Internet has greatly changed the way and content of information dissemination. “The public” has become “the minority”, “publicity” has turned into “homogeneity”, and “sensibility” has won over “rationality”. People can easily connect and share different “truths” and unite in the “echo chamber”, seriously undermining democratic society.

What is even more worrying is that governments and political parties with information and resource advantages, seeing the power of social media to “create truth”, are actively intervening and operating, nurturing internet armies to control public opinion and attack dissidents, causing greater harm to democratic politics.

As the Oxford Internet Institute pointed out in its 2020 report: “More and more governments and political parties are using social media algorithms, automatic systems, and big data with ulterior motives to manipulate public opinion on a large scale, which poses a great threat to democratic systems” (Liu Zhixin, 2021, “Truth Manufacturing”). Is there still hope for democracy under the rampage of internet armies?

This forum features Chou Shi-en, co-founder and CTO of QSearch, to analyze the demand side of “truth” operations from the industry’s perspective; Lin Cheng-chung, deputy director of the United Daily News Reporting Center, to share the government’s internet army operations from the perspective of a journalist; Liu Chia-wei, Professor of the Department of Public Administration and Policy at Taipei University, to analyze how the emotional operations of internet armies affect people’s democratic attitudes and propose possible solutions; and Liao Yuan-hao, Associate Professor of the Department of Law at National Chengchi University; to talk about how internet armies alienate and collapse democracy from the perspective of constitutional theory and empirical experience. This session will be hosted by Professor Liao Da-chi of the Graduate Institute of Political Science at National Sun Yat-sen University.

Registration: https://forms.gle/rMBAfwsWmZHrWQV38

Time: Saturday, March 26, 2022 3 PM—5 PM
Venue: Arch Hall, Huashan Creative Park (No. 1, Sec. 1, Bade Rd., Zhongzheng Dist., Taipei City 100)

Main Organizer: Fair Winds Foundation

Co-organizer: The Storm Media

Contact: (02) 2752-1700