◎ Jiang Rongxian
The U.S. midterm elections are here. Recently, the two parties have turned on each other in a fierce battle. It was thought that the biggest offensive and defensive issues in the election would be the economy and cost of living, coupled with artificial intelligence regulation and energy impact. However, various AI-generated fake news and crazy short videos are overwhelming the attention of voters.
In addition, the hide-and-seek game between TV stations and regulatory agencies continues to play out. Due to repeated pressure from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in order to avoid trouble with their TV licenses, TV stations dare not broadcast many contents on TV, and only dare to broadcast them in full on YouTube, allowing voters to marvel after dinner. This has been criticized by the political arena and the media as the most ironic "freedom of speech in the digital age" in 2026.
Taiwan's NCC's problems are most obvious during election years. During the election, every ticket, every license change, and every personnel list will be interpreted as a political move; once personnel are blocked, the agency will shut down. NCC members are still facing personnel review and vacancies. The Executive Yuan emphasized that the NCC is an independent agency and should not suspend its operations. Opposition legislators emphasized that they will strictly review to ensure that the nominee is not a thug of the ruling party. The NCC cannot only convince supporters of the ruling party that it is an independent agency. It must also allow supporters of the opposition parties, middle voters, and media with different positions to accept its supervision decisions.
During every election period of Taiwan NCC, every ticket, every license change, and every personnel list will be interpreted as a political move. (File photo)
In fact, what Taiwanese people have always been most dissatisfied with the NCC is not its administrative efficiency, but whether it can maintain political neutrality and supervise all media fairly.
The author observes from actual cases in recent years that voters’ expectations for NCC can be summarized into four points:
1. Content supervision should use the same ruler
In November 2020, the NCC decided not to renew the license of Zhongtian News Channel. At that time, a survey by the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation found that about two-thirds of the people did not believe that the NCC was free from political interference. At this personnel review meeting, opposition legislators still questioned the NCC's fines for reporting on Hallyu, but did not treat programs that praised other politicians in the same way.
But on the other hand, the NCC has also punished Sanli, TVBS and Zhongtian at the same time for violating the principle of fact verification. It can be seen that the dispute is not about a single case, but whether the standards can be seen and compared. Regarding the content and punishment during the election, the decision-making criteria should be made public and compared with similar cases in previous years, and the full text of the punishment letter and the committee members' dissenting opinions should be made public.
Public reaction to the controversy over Zhongtian TV station’s license withdrawal. (Taken from Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation)
2. Personnel cases should not become election bargaining chips
The opposition party claimed that the Executive Yuan suppressed NCC nominations during the 2025 general recall, so that regardless of the professionalism of the four nominees, they were all rejected in November. This time, the Executive Yuan nominated 7 people in July, and the NCC had zero members for the first time since its establishment on August 1. The review was just over a month before the nine-in-one vote. As a result, nominations were late, the review was urgent, and the election was close. The personnel case was almost destined to be politicized. How to avoid a zero-member vacuum before the election will test the wisdom of politicians.
3. Communication data cannot be abused
Whether telecommunications data is used for political analysis is the most sensitive issue for voters, because the digital footprint of telecommunications can almost clearly grasp the profiles of specific people participating in certain activities. As long as the mobile phone is turned on, it will continue to exchange signaling data with the base station. Under the cross-reference of the AI algorithm, even if the data is de-identified, it can still accurately depict the group profile of specific rally participants. This is the deepest concern of voters about digital Big Brother, and it can easily lead to public doubts about personal information. Telecommunications regulations clearly stipulate that location and signaling data shall not be used for political parties or election analysis; however, the NCC was unable to impose sanctions due to insufficient quorum of members. Therefore, cases involving personal data and electoral fairness should be listed as priority areas that can still be handled when the number of committee members is insufficient.
Under the cross-comparison of AI algorithms, even if the data is de-identified, it can still accurately depict the group profile of participants in a specific gathering; schematic diagram. (AFP)
4. People’s livelihood business cannot be dragged down
After the deadlock among NCC members, more than 700 cases have been pending for review, including radio and television license renewal and program content review. The previous statement that the new iPhone may not be launched later did not come true, which undermined the credibility of the agency. In fact, modern technology supervision must implement the separation of "technical administration" and "content supervision". Radio and television license renewal and program decisions and penalties need to be controlled by a collegial system. However, standardized services such as equipment inspection and telecommunications fraud should be directly authorized to permanent civil servants and professional institutions. The NCC’s top priority is to build institutional resilience and regularly publish a data dashboard of blocked cases on a monthly basis, replacing political rhetoric with transparent governance.
According to the observations of political scientists, policy analysis institutions and mainstream media, the biggest obstacle in Taiwanese politics in recent years has been partisan polarization and the ensuing congressional deadlock. Insightful people worry that this polarization is not just about differences in policy ideas, but has evolved into a tribalistic confrontation, making it difficult to reach consensus on many major issues related to national development for a long time. In particular, when veto politics become normalized, public trust in the neutrality of government institutions ultimately declines significantly.
Take the United States, which has a history of 250 years, as an example. The two parties also had different opinions on climate change and energy policy 20 years ago. After years of dialogue, they have reached a consensus on pragmatic approaches such as emphasizing energy independence and clean energy transformation. To put it in vernacular terms, there is no unsolvable policy knot in the world.
The two parties in the United States also had different opinions on climate change and energy policy 20 years ago. After years of dialogue, they have reached a consensus on a pragmatic approach that emphasizes energy independence and clean energy transition. The picture shows the voting situation in the US midterm elections. (AP)
Contemporary social media is exacerbating the fragmentation of social information. Voters only receive information that is consistent with their own positions, further deepening hatred and distrust of the opposing camp. Such consequences are by no means what the public wants to see. The NCC that voters expect is an agency that can still operate during the election season, has predictable disciplinary standards, and is an agency that can be accepted if the opponent is in power after the election. Only by legalizing both shutdown prevention and weaponization prevention can the NCC get out of the predicament of the election cycle.
