TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Taiwan's National Security Bureau (NSB) has refuted claims on Wednesday (Dec. 6) of illicit surveillance being sold online, which included sensitive information on political figures from both the ruling and opposition parties.
Amidst rising concerns as the nation prepares for its upcoming elections, officials warned that such disinformation is rampant on the internet.
The false information purportedly revealing a list of monitored individuals, including legislators and high-ranking officials within the Executive Yuan, was distributed anonymously via an online forum.
Images accompanying the post showed alleged documentation of the surveillance requests targeting figures across party lines, including military and political personnel.
The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) responded, stating that the true identities of those under communication monitoring would not be disclosed through those documents.
Suspicions have been raised that the circulated documents were digitally altered, potentially as an effort to influence the impending elections.
National security officials drew parallels between this incident and similar accusations of unlawful surveillance disseminated by anonymous accounts in early 2021 on social media platforms. The spread of such fake information happened swiftly, with some media outlets reporting the allegations without proper verification.
Officials cautioned that the propagation of this false data may have underlying political motives designed to disrupt internal political stability and public order, especially on the eve of elections.
They urged the public not to be swayed by these falsehoods and to refrain from sharing the misinformation.
