[Politics] Meta Suffers Large-Scale Account Suspension; TPP Plans to Propose Digital Platform User Protection Act
bella@@ 央廣 新聞5h ago
Meta's social media platforms have recently experienced a large-scale, unannounced account suspension incident, impacting influencers, politicians, media outlets, and general businesses. Taiwan People's Party Chairman Huang Kuo-chang questioned today (17th) the Ministry of Digital Affairs' passive and inactionable stance towards large multinational platforms. TPP Legislator Hung Yu-hsiang stated that the party caucus plans to promote legislation for the rights and interests of users of large digital platforms, requiring platform operators to establish mechanisms for timely appeals and human review, along with penalties.
Meta's Facebook, Instagram, and Threads have successively reported accounts being suspended without warning, with the reason often cited as "user is under 13 years old." Affected individuals include influencers like Pa Chiong and Holger, former legislator Chen Po-wei, former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je, and official accounts of media outlets such as CNA and PTS News.
The TPP held a press conference on the 17th. Chairman Huang Kuo-chang stated that Meta's social media platforms have significant market influence in Taiwan. Unannounced account suspensions are equivalent to stopping citizens' freedom of speech and interrupting businesses' marketing services. He criticized the lack of transparency in the suspension reasons and Meta's appeal mechanism, as well as the unpredictable recovery time, with users only receiving canned responses.
TPP Legislator Hung Yu-hsiang pointed out that disputes over arbitrary Meta account suspensions are not new. The Ministry of Digital Affairs has only responded by forwarding information to Meta and stating that it cannot directly intervene or forcibly restore accounts, indicating administrative passivity and inaction.
Hung Yu-hsiang urged the Ministry of Digital Affairs to establish a dedicated reporting zone for large platform account suspensions, consolidating cases of unexplained suspensions for the government to systematically reflect to Meta. He also called for the Executive Yuan's Consumer Protection Committee, the Fair Trade Commission, and the Ministry of Digital Affairs to form a task force to investigate from the perspectives of consumer protection, unfair trade, and information opacity, demanding Meta propose improvement measures.
Hung Yu-hsiang stated that the TPP caucus will also promote legislation related to "Protection of Rights and Interests of Users of Large Digital Platforms." This includes requiring platforms to provide specific reasons for restrictions, suspensions, or deletions of accounts; for general accounts, appeals should be responded to within 7 days; for paid advertisers or paid users like Meta Verified, human review should be conducted within 48 hours; after an account is suspended, platforms should also retain data for a certain period, allowing users to retrieve their data. He said: "(Original sound) That is to say, even if an account is suspended, the platform still has the obligation to store data for a period, for example, 180 days, allowing users to download related transaction data such as videos, messages, or fan page content, unless it involves requests from judicial authorities, such as major exceptions like child sexual exploitation."
Hung Yu-hsiang also mentioned that the legislation is considering referencing external dispute resolution mechanisms from the EU, Australia, Japan, etc., with third parties providing fair certification and resolution. It also requires large digital platforms to regularly publish transparent reports and include administrative and continuous penalty provisions.
Hung Yu-hsiang emphasized that the purpose of this legislation is to address opaque platform suspensions, lack of appeal channels, and consumer rights issues, thereby protecting the digital rights of Taiwanese users. The TPP will hold public hearings with experts and scholars and is expected to propose relevant legislation soon.
Source Link: https://www.rti.org.tw/news?uid=3&pid=215071
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