Taipei court orders Mirror Media to pay Huang Kuo-chang and remove hacker-related reports

The Taipei District Court has ordered Mirror Media’s publisher and two reporters to pay damages over reports alleging that Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Huang Kuo-chang recruited hackers and organized an online network to target political opponents.

The court awarded Huang NT$540,000 and his aide, Cheng Kai-yeh, NT$60,000. It also ordered the removal of the related reports and required the full judgment to appear on the outlet’s website for 30 days. The ruling can be appealed.

Mirror Media published the reports in 2025 after interviewing Wu Cheng-hsun, a former engineer at Taiwan’s Central Broadcasting System who had been indicted in a separate hacking case. The reports also alleged that Cheng told a broadcaster employee that people seeking Huang’s help with exposing wrongdoing had to pay an association, with expenses approaching NT$1 million.

Huang and Cheng denied the reports’ accuracy and sought NT$5 million in damages, along with the removal of written and video coverage. The court’s decision did not end the legal dispute because an appeal remains possible.