Taiwan’s Community-Driven Response to Information Threats

Organized by: Sasakawa Peace Foundation
　　　　　　　Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology
　　　　　　　Safer Internet Association/Japan Fact-check Center

The threat of disinformation poses a significant challenge for democracies. Government intervention can raise concerns about free speech, while civil society often lacks the resources to formulate strong responses. Taiwan, on the frontline of countering foreign information manipulation, offers valuable examples of effective strategies. Platforms, government agencies, and civil society groups have joined forces through fact-checking, digital literacy initiatives, and rapid response efforts, though challenges remain in ensuring seamless coordination and information sharing.
This symposium, co-hosted by Taiwan's DSET (Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology), the Japan Fact-Check Center (JFC), and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF), will discuss the current state of misinformation countermeasures in both countries. Speakers from Taiwan and Japan will share concrete lessons on building public-private partnerships, driving community action, and collaborating with tech platforms. The symposium will also explore how AI is reshaping the information space and enabling new disinformation tactics, highlight Japan’s current approach to disinformation, and offer ideas for future cross-border cooperation.

Registration

If you would like to participate, please apply from this page by 15:00 on Thursday, July 10 (JST).

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Contact: Sasakawa Peace Foundation Japan-U.S. and Security Studies Unit/Strategy and Deterrence Program
E-mail: unit-event-1@spf.or.jp
Tel: +81-3-5157-5140

For media inquiries:
E-mail: spfpr@spf.or.jp
Tel: +81-3-5157-5395

Description

14:00-14:10 JST	Opening Remarks RADM (ret.)Katsuya Yamamoto, JMSDF Director, Strategy and Deterrence Program / Senior Research Fellow of SPF Dr. Jeremy Chih-Cheng Chang Chief Executive Officer and Director of Economic Security Research at the Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET)
14:10-14:30 JST	「Flooding the Information Pipeline」 Dr.Kai-Shen Huang Director of Democratic Governance Program at the Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET)
14:30-14:50 JST	「Exposing Information Manipulation and Authoritarian Influence, Safeguarding Authentic Political Discourse and Election Integrity」 Mr.Chihhao Yu Co-director of Taiwan Information Environment Research Center （IORG）
14:50-15:10 JST	「The Spread of Disinformation in Japan and our Foundation's Efforts」 Mr.Ryohei Suzuki Hitotsubashi University Ph.D Candidate (Sasakawa Peace Foundation)
15:10-15:20 JST	Short Break
15:20-16:05 JST	Panel Discussion 「Current State and Challenges of Public-Private Collaboration Against Disinformation」 Dr.Kai-Shen Huang（DSET） Mr.Chihhao Yu（IORG） Mr.Ryohei Suzuki（SPF） Moderator Mr.Daisuke Furuta （Japan Fact-check Center） Q&A (Questions and Answers)
16:05-16:10 JST	Overall Comment Mr.Jun Osawa Senior Fellow of SPF
16:10-16:15 JST	Closing Remarks Mr. Susumu Yoshida Senior Executive Director, Safer Internet Association

*The event program and speakers are subject to change.

Speaker

speaker

Dr.Kai-Shen Huang

Director of Democratic Governance Program at the Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET)

Profile

Dr. Kai-Shen Huang is currently a research fellow at the Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), where he is directing the Democratic Governance Program. He specializes in public policy related to ethics in AI, disinformation campaigns, and supply chain resilience. He earned his DPhil in Anthropology from Oxford University in 2020.

Profile

Chihhao Yu is Co-director of Taiwan Information Environment Research Center (Taiwanese Mandarin: 台灣資訊環境研究中心; Japanese: 台湾情報環境研究センター), or IORG, a non-government organization based in Taiwan and specialized in data-driven, AI-assisted monitoring of authoritarian influence and information manipulation in the Mandarin language information environment. Chihhao is also an engineer, designer, and a civic hacker in Taiwan’s g0v (pro-nounced “gov-zero”) community and Asia Pacific’s Facing the Ocean network.

Profile

Ryohei Suzuki is a doctoral student at the Graduate School of Law and International Relations of Hitotsubashi University and is engaged in the project “Enhancing National Cyber Security III” at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation . He is also a member of the Study Group on the Risks in the Information Sphere at the Nakasone Peace Institute. His area of specialization is disinformation and influence operations from an international and comparative politics perspective. At the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, he contributes to the “Disinformation Portal” and the publication of a newsletter on informational and cognitive warfare. Additionally, he is responsible for Doublethink Lab’s “China Index: Japan” and chapters 5 through 7 of the Japanese translation of Larry Diamond’s Ill Winds: Saving Democracy from Russian Rage, Chinese Ambition, and American Complacency (London: Penguin Books, 2019).

Profile

Jun Osawa is a Senior Fellow at Nakasone Peace Institute (2025-). He is concurrently a Research Director at the DENTSU SOKEN Center for Economic Security Research (2025-), Senior Fellow at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (2018-), Director of the Cyber situation Analysis Department at the IT security Center, Information-Technology Promotion Agency (2023-), and board member of the Kajima Peace Institute (2018-). His research interests include national cyber-security, strategic assessment, and North-East Asian international security.
He joined NPI/IIPS in 1995 as a Research Fellow (1995-2009) and served as a Senior Research Fellow (2009-2014, 2017-2025) before taking his current position. His previous positions include: Senior Fellow at the National Security (Council) Secretariat (NSS) (2017-2019); Deputy Cabinet Counsellor at the National Security (Council) Secretariat (NSS) (2014-2016); visiting fellow at CEAP, Brookings Institution (2013); visiting scholar at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (2011-2016); Policy Planning Researcher and Advisor in the Policy Planning Division, Foreign Policy Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2007-2009); and Analyst in the Second Division of the Intelligence and Analysis Service, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2004-2006). Mr. Osawa received his M.A. from Keio University in 1996 and his B.A. from Keio University in 1994.

Profile

Daisuke Furuta is a journalist and the editor-in-chief of the Japan Fact-check Center (JFC). Daisuke started his career as a news reporter for The Asahi Shimbun, Japan’s national newspaper. In 2015, he joined BuzzFeed as the founder and editor-in-chief of the Japan edition. He left BuzzFeed in 2019 and worked as a teaching fellow at Google News Lab. In two years, he trained more than 20,000 journalists and students. He was named editor-in-chief of JFC in September 2022 and launched it the next month. Daisuke is a board member of the Digital Journalist Education Institute (D-JEDI). He is an alumnus of the City University of New York Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism Executive Program in News Innovation and Leadership.