TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan FactCheck Center says Meta’s potential withdrawal of funding could leave the country exposed to election-related disinformation, Nikkei Asia reported Friday.
Founded in 2018 to counter online misinformation, the center says Meta contributed roughly half of its 2025 budget while Google supplied more than 30%. The group relies entirely on private donations to avoid conflicts of interest with the government.
Meta’s support is now in doubt after CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced early this year that the company would end its partnerships with US fact-checkers. It is believed the move was aimed at sidestepping political conflict with the Trump administration, which frames corporate content moderation as censorship.
Taiwan FactCheck Center CEO Chiu Chia-yi (邱家宜) said the center’s contract with Meta could expire in January. She warned that rapidly evolving AI tools are fueling sophisticated disinformation campaigns, putting the center in a “critical situation” if its primary funding dries up.
Taiwan has ranked as the world’s top target of foreign disinformation for 11 straight years, according to Sweden’s V-Dem Institute. The group says most malign content traces back to China, with Hong Kong often serving as a staging ground.
Recent incidents show how quickly false narratives can spread. On Nov. 25, the center debunked an online rumor falsely claiming a Taiwanese official bribed Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae with jewelry when she served as internal affairs minister.
Investigators found that the supposed emails featured unnatural Japanese phrasing and originated from an account with suspicious behavior. The center published a full breakdown explaining why the allegation, said to involve former representative to Japan Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), was fabricated.
Misinformation surged again during Taiwan’s presidential race last year. The center flagged a deepfake video that overlaid AI-generated audio onto old footage of candidate Lai Ching-te (賴清德), who later won the election.
Its work also extends beyond Taiwan’s borders. When Japan began releasing treated wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, the center traced viral images of giant sea creatures to fabricated online sources and concluded the photos were fake.
Once its researchers confirm a hoax, the center alerts Meta and other partners, who compensate the organization for verified fact-check reports. Meta previously worked with fact-checking teams worldwide to stem the spread of misleading content.
The center is now trying to negotiate continued support from Meta but it has received no firm commitment. Chiu said her 14-person staff, mostly veteran journalists, reviews 200 to 300 public submissions a day and lacks the manpower needed to keep pace.
