Delta variant hits Taiwan, controversies on vaccines and testing; CCP: DPP creates disorder in HK to plot for independence

What’s Up Last Week?

In this week’s Dokidoki Alert, IORG investigates 7 suspicious narratives. Stay alert.

Last week, aside from the pandemic, CCP propaganda included reproaching the “DPP authority” for “creating disorder in Hongkong to plot for independence.” On June 24^th, Hongkong’s Apple Daily was forced to close. A narrative appeared on Facebook criticising the DPP for “having double standards regarding the closing of Hongkong’s Apple Daily and Taiwan’s CTITV.” According to IORG’s database, there were 47 related Facebook posts between June 21^st and 27^th. The earliest post was found from the Facebook page of KMT Disciplinary Committee. Chinese state media Tong Shuo and pro-China content farm The Reacher echoed the same narrative.

Confirmed cases of the Delta variants in Pingtung County have attracted public attention and resurfaced the debate around universal testing for all inbound travellers (入境普篩). IORG has found 244 Facebook posts of this narrative between June 21^st and 27^th and 6 occurrences of “clustered posting,” sharing content such as articles from the content farm Mission (密訊) and Fong News (溏風報). In our last Weekly, IORG has referenced a report by The Reporter in 2019, exposing Mission’s Chinese connections and its “resurrection” with the new domain pplomo.com after being banned by Facebook in the same year.

Regarding Taiwan-made vaccines, 2 narratives have been identified in this Weekly – “Medigen vaccine production is like a home factory,” “An American-Taiwanese cockroach syndicate is manipulating UBI Asia’s stock for personal gain.” According to IORG’s database, the former narrative originated from a CTI YouTube video, which altered a video from CNN and added Chinese text overlay such as “failure to wear face mask during vaccine inspection,” inconsistent with the original report. This is an example of distorted content, a type of content manipulation. The later narrative originated from a Facebook post by Taiwanese commentator Huang Chih-hsien (黃智賢). The post is built on a previous suspicious narrative that “Blackwater invested in UBI Asia vaccine R&D” and further claims that there is “an American-Taiwanese cockroach syndicate” “manipulating UBI Asia’s stock for personal gain.” Chinese state media Straits Today (今日海峽) shared Huang’s post.

3 claims in CTI video regarding Medigen vaccine production, clarifications from Medigen, editor’s opinion from Cofacts, and fact-checking from IORG. Source: CTI, announcement by Medigen via MOPS, TWSE, 2021/6/27 15:30, Cofacts、CNN. Table by IORG.

Furthermore, the narrative that “dark figures cause high mortality rate in Taiwan” requires further scientific verification. It is IORG’s opinion that both Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) have yet to provide a clear description and verifiable evidence. However, Chinese state media Haiwai Net (海外網) and Global Times (環球網) both reported on Mayor Ko’s statement on June 24^th.

In Weekly No. 2, IORG has introduced the false narrative “Taiwanese pork products tested excessive ractopamine in Hongkong” initiated by Chinese state media Hongkong Wonweipo (香港文匯報), which might cause public concerns regarding Taiwanees pork and have an effect on the August referendums. In this Weekly, another false narrative targeting Taiwanese pork was identified. “Do not eat sick Taiwanese pork” was being spread with an audio file and a picture. This narrative has been verified by Taiwan Fact-check Center as false.

Full version of this Dokidoki Alert Weekly is available in Taiwanese Mandarin. Please visit https://iorg.tw/da/4 for more...

• Topic of Last Week: Delta variant hits Taiwan
• poohSays “DPP creates disorder in HK to plot for independence”
• falseEq “DPP has double-standard regarding the closing of Apple Daily in Hongkong and CTITV in Taiwan”
• Suspicious info “Universal testing is needed to stop delta variant from entering Taiwan”
• waitScience “Dark figures cause high mortality rate”
• distortedContent “CTI: Medigen vaccine production is like a home factory”
• Suspicious info “An American-Taiwanese cockroach syndicate is manipulating UBI Asia’s stock for personal gain”
• False content “Do not eat sick Taiwanese pork”
• Suspicious Messages Editors’ Choice
• IORG Public Advisory

Also…

• IORG Research Method
• IORG China Watch List
• List of IORG Dokidoki Alert Weekly