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🇹🇼 Taiwan /Elections & Politics

Influencer accuses Taipei government Facebook page of inflating engagement

From Liberty Times · () Chinese

Translated from Chinese and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Influencer Four-Quadrant Cat questioned the Taipei government’s reported 9.19 million annual reach and alleged that overseas accounts were used to inflate engagement.
  • Taipei officials said a Facebook maintenance contractor mistakenly targeted Southeast Asia and promised corrective action and a fine.
  • The department defended paid advertising as common practice and accused the Democratic Progressive Party and others of applying a double standard.

A dispute over foreign-language comments on a Taipei government Facebook page has turned into a wider argument about whether public agencies inflate online engagement.

Influencer Four-Quadrant Cat said the city-run “Humans of Taipei” page had attracted numerous Indonesian accounts. The influencer accused the city government of setting up its online network incorrectly and later questioned a 2025 report claiming more than 9.19 million annual impressions from the page.

Chiang Wan-an, your Taipei government page’s online network settings are wrong.

— Four-Quadrant CatThe influencer reacted to foreign accounts commenting on the official Facebook page.

Taipei’s Information and Tourism Department said the overseas interaction resulted from a mistake by the contractor responsible for maintaining the page. The contractor had placed advertising in Southeast Asia, the department said. Officials said they immediately ordered the company to correct the problem and would impose a fine.

Do not apply a double standard, Democratic Progressive Party and interested parties.

— Taipei Information and Tourism DepartmentThe department defended government advertising and criticized its opponents.

The department also defended advertising purchases on official social-media pages as a routine part of maintenance. It said central government agencies and elected representatives also buy online advertising, and challenged the Democratic Progressive Party and other critics to explain whether they considered those campaigns to be inflated traffic or paid online networks.

Four-Quadrant Cat argued that local governments commonly outsource official fan pages to private companies. Contracts can specify monthly post targets, minimum numbers of likes and comments, and required follower growth, the influencer said. When pages attract too little organic attention, contractors may buy advertising or, in the influencer’s allegation, use foreign fake accounts to generate likes and comments. The influencer called for Taipei’s government publicity budget to be eliminated and suggested that Mayor Chiang Wan-an publish policy messages on his own Facebook page instead.

This time, the department admitted that the traffic was inflated by a contractor. What use are those beautiful numbers? They are all fake.

— Four-Quadrant CatThe influencer criticized the reported reach figures and outsourcing arrangement.
About this summary

Originally published by Liberty Times in Chinese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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