｜ ｜ Continual Improvement: Keeping Up with International Trends IV. Freedom of Speech and Cognitive Warfare Regarding this issue of democracy, the philosophy accepted by the most people is: Treat the ills of democracy with more democracy. The so-called “counterspeech doctrine” posits that the proper response to negative speech is to counter it with positive expression. But with today’s flood of misinformation, more and more people have begun to doubt this principle. This is because the technological infrastructure of the current information ecosystem, especially the Internet and social media platforms, has inherent characteristics (such as algorithms) that are conducive to the systematic spread of false information. Therefore, the idea that quality democracy can be achieved by simply believing in the free marketplace of speech is quite impossible. We enjoy a high degree of freedom of speech today. On the one hand, we must cherish the value of freedom and carefully take care of its existence. On the other hand, we must understand that the impact false information can have on society lies not only in “external damages” to personal welfare, and public disorder, but also “internal harm” like a deepening of social divides and the breakdown of trust between people. Contradictions and conflicts exist in a democratic society and should not be feared. However, if the contradictions and conflicts are amplified to such an extent that there is no way to mend them, the democratic system will not be able to function, and people will lose confidence in democracy. Herein lies the challenge disinformation poses to democracy. We must become more vigilant of disinformation and actively try to overcome it so that Taiwan’s democracy can move forward at a steady pace. Puma Shen Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Criminology, National Taipei University Author Puma Shen. Provided by: Puma Shen Taiwan FactCheck Center website Source: November 1, 2021, https://tfc-taiwan. org.tw/. 160 Chapter 5 So-called “cognitive warfare” is a part of information warfare. Some people call it “thought control warfare”, while others call it “public opinion warfare”. No matter what we call it, the main purpose of such tactics is to change the perception of the enemy, causing internal conflicts and using the characteristics of disinformation to break down existing networks and deepen hateful thoughts. Since democratic countries have diverse cultures and room for free speech, they are particularly vulnerable when it comes to cognitive warfare. Some social conflicts already exist. With today’s social media landscape creating echo chambers coupled with major companies and political parties purchasing ads on social media, it is very easy to escalate these conflicts. Therefore, when hostile countries carry out inten- sive attacks with unlimited budget, the social divide and hatred between people could intensify hundreds of times, so we must be careful. The Threat of Cognitive Warfare Against Democracy Ever since research on the cognitive warfare Russia employed against the US began, Taiwan, a testing ground for China’s warfare tactics, has also faced the constant threat of controversial information spread from China. Controversial information is not necessarily false information, but the way it is presented, often with biased reporting, can influence the audience’s understanding of things. As a country that protects freedom of speech, if 161