Taiwans Civic Hackers: Defending in the Shadows

The war is no longer just a confrontation between military forces. It is also massive disinformation campaigns aimed at destabilizing a society and increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. To defend against the cognitive war waged by China, Taiwan relies not only on its government but also on its civic hackers.

Josh does it “to have an impact.” Chewei is galvanized by hackathons, programming marathons where technological solutions are found for social problems. And Peter wants to introduce the benefits of digital democracy to as many Taiwanese as possible.

Although their number is difficult to assess, Taiwan’s civic hackers are undeniably active and motivated. For about fifteen years, they have been deeply entrenched in the political life of the island, pushing for a turn towards a more digital democracy.

As a sign of the movement’s importance, Taipei appointed one of Taiwan’s most prominent civic hackers, Audrey Tang, to head the new Ministry of Digital Affairs in 2022. By bringing transparency and openness to the government, she also became the first transgender prime minister in Asia.

“The kind hacker,” “the Transparency Minister,” “a new way of governing”: the press was excited. Since then, Taiwan is often described as a laboratory for digital democracy, leveraging technological tools to increase citizen participation.

To explain the vitality of the civic tech community, Peter becomes poignant: “Action is our remedy against anxiety,” he says, with a gray hat on his head. A strong proportion of engineers – like him – is present on the island, creating a fertile ground.

Furthermore, China’s threats to Taiwan’s democratic future galvanize citizen participation. It was during the Sunflower Movement in 2014 that Taiwan’s civic hackers took off and attracted attention.

Fearing democratic setback, young people had blocked the signing of a trade agreement with China by occupying the parliament. Overnight, civic hackers had developed an infrastructure for live streaming the protests taking place inside the parliament.

“They became famous worldwide,” recalls Rosalind Liu, who had participated in the mobilization without any background in computer science. “Many people understood at that moment that even if we are not engineers, we can contribute,” she explains.

The projects of these civic hackers who volunteer their time are not just political. Josh, for example, started getting involved by developing a platform that allows Taiwanese to report their bear sightings while hiking. An approach starting from the grassroots, but this time to prevent unexpected encounters.

“It’s rewarding to see how people more focused on technology can become significant actors by building something constructive for society,” he emphasizes. Today, the engineer invests his free time with vTaiwan, a platform aiming to increase dialogue between the government and citizens.

It is Peter who orchestrates it. Since its inception in 2014, vTaiwan – a creation of g0v – has conducted 30 public consultations using digital tools, mainly through the citizen consultation platform Pol.is. The goal: to create consensus around public policies.

Even though Taiwan is considered a laboratory of digital democracy, its government is not always receptive. For Taipei to follow these modern consultations, the subjects generally need to touch on emerging areas, like digital technologies.

Since the success of Taiwan’s civic hackers, many changes have taken place in Taiwanese democracy. Over the years, Audrey Tang has left the government, hackathons attract fewer participants, and digital democracy tools face some limitations.

But ideas are emerging to ensure succession. g0v launched the Sc001 project to promote civic engagement and digital skills among Taiwanese students. And the brand image of g0v still seems to be attractive.

At the g0v gathering in March, a young graduate walked in for the first time. “It’s been two years that I’ve been following the movement, but it’s the first time I’m here,” says Hung Yino, who wants to participate in a collaborative project on wartime communications.

A reminder that the Chinese threat is still present, and Taiwanese democracy is worth defending – not just by elected officials. “And also, because I thought it looked cool,” he adds with a smile.

“With Lucie Wang” This report was made possible thanks to a grant from the Quebec Fund for International Journalism.