Taiwanese Being Alerted to Chinese Influence Ops

"Unification would not significantly change lifestyles." Another survey by the Taiwan Information Environment Research Centre in 2023 echoed these findings.

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Taiwan's TikTok users were more receptive to pro-Beijing views than non-users.

For instance, 46.4 per cent of those who used TikTok said they agreed that it was necessary for Taiwan to sign various trade agreements with China for its economy to prosper — compared with just 31.4 per cent of non-TikTok users.

Several Taiwanese teenagers that The Straits Times spoke to, however, shrugged off concerns. They say they are merely watching "fun lifestyle content" — nothing political.

"All the videos on my feed are either of people singing and dancing, or doing funny skits," said 15-year-old Emme Lai. "It's much easier to search for what I want on Xiaohongshu, so I prefer it to Instagram."

But that is precisely what worries scholars like Dr Huang Jaw-nian, an expert in media influence operations. The power of influence comes from subtle messaging found in seemingly innocuous content.

"It seems harmless, but what if that content creator keeps pushing ideas including how Chinese make-up products are better than Taiwanese products, and then use that to talk about how China is better than Taiwan in other ways?" said Dr Huang, who is from Taipei's National Chengchi University.

"That is enough to influence how someone thinks."