The Control Yuan recently issued a statement titled “Government’s Negligence in Addressing National Security Risks and Child Protection on TikTok and Other Social Media Platforms; Control Yuan Urges the Executive Yuan and Relevant Agencies to Review and Improve.” The release called for improvements in Taiwan’s digital platform governance, pointing to fragmented laws, weak safeguards for minors, and insufficient mechanisms to regulate algorithmic harms.
Against this backdrop, Dr. Kai-Shen Huang, Director of the Democratic Governance Program at the Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), was interviewed by TaiwanPlus on August 19. He offered an in-depth analysis of TikTok’s design and security risks in Taiwan and outlined policy recommendations.
Huang highlighted two main risks posed by TikTok: design harms, such as addiction and exposure to inappropriate content; and security risks, including large-scale data collection and algorithmic manipulation linked to geopolitical strategies. With youth adoption rates particularly high in Taiwan, these problems are especially acute.
He suggested three policy priorities: first, to establish and strictly enforce age and privacy standards for minors; second, to allow independent researchers access to platform data in order to effectively measure harms; and third, to strengthen digital literacy education within the school system while providing parents with better monitoring tools.
On the national security front, Huang warned that TikTok presents a structural problem: it conducts massive behavioral data collection while being controlled by a company ultimately subject to a jurisdiction that regards Taiwan as a strategic target. This creates risks along two channels—algorithmic recommendation systems that could amplify pro-China narratives and weaken Taiwan’s social resilience during crises, and the potential use of device, signal, and social-network data for intelligence or infiltration operations.
When asked why Taiwan’s regulatory approach appears more lenient than that of the U.S. or EU, Huang pointed to legal and political factors: Taiwan’s strong sensitivity toward free speech, concerns about backlash from younger users, and a lack of institutional and legal capacity comparable to Western counterparts. He noted that Taiwan has so far relied mainly on targeted cybersecurity measures rather than comprehensive restrictions.
Finally, Huang emphasized that Taiwan must reinterpret free speech as a duty-bearing right. Free speech, he argued, should not only protect individual expression but also safeguard the information environment necessary for meaningful public debate. He called for a layered regulatory approach, clear rules against incitement, foreign interference and covert manipulation; greater algorithmic transparency from platforms; default protections for minors; and legitimate data access for researchers. Beyond regulation, he underscored the need to strengthen public education and fact-checking networks, and urged the government to engage more proactively with society to build overall resilience.
DSET Policy Commentary “Taiwan’s TikTok Liberal Paradox”: Taiwan’s TikTok Liberal Paradox – Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology
