On April 23, Reporters Without Borders released a new investigative report revealing the Chinese Communist Party’s more covert methods of infiltrating Taiwan. A network marketing company mixes entertainment content, false information, and political narratives through seemingly politically affiliated Facebook fan pages, influencing public opinion in Taiwan and creating a subtle cognitive warfare model that is difficult to detect by outsiders.
Reporters Without Borders found that the borderless group, a Chinese network marketing company controlling hundreds of such fan pages, based in Qinhuangdao, Hebei Province, intermittently embeds narratives aligning with Beijing’s official stance in their posts, planting doubts about Taiwan’s policies in the minds of users. Such content often appears suddenly, sometimes released after political tensions escalate; subsequently, the page reverts to pushing lifestyle-related content, making these influence operations hard to detect.
For example, the Facebook fan page “50+ Healthy Life” appears harmless, targeting older readers with traditional Chinese language health and wellness advice.
However, shortly after the U.S. joined Israel in launching a war against Iran, this fan page published a lengthy analysis suggesting that Tehran did not need to defeat Washington militarily, but should hurt the U.S. psychologically. This narrative closely matched that of the Chinese state media and the post was later deleted.
The investigation report points out that “50+ Healthy Life” is not the only lifestyle Facebook fan page in Taiwan to suddenly shift its ideological stance. During the 2024 presidential election in Taiwan, these pages, originally focused on health, hobbies, and inspirational quotes, began spreading politically tinged messages, raising concerns about collaborative influence operations from the Chinese Communist Party.
According to the analysis of the Chinese Communist Party’s cognitive warfare operations on Taiwan in 2025, the National Security Bureau listed the borderless group as one of the collaborators in China’s attempt to launch cognitive warfare in Taiwan. The company operates accounts on platforms like Facebook, Threads, and X, focusing mainly on “non-political or soft topics” and intermittently inserting political messages.
Reporters Without Borders’ latest investigative report reveals that the borderless group is not the sole manipulator of Chinese online influence operations. In recent years, Meta has repeatedly thwarted online actions from China while combating “coordinated inauthentic behavior” – involving fake accounts and misleading content that systematically manipulates public discourse.
In March, Meta’s latest report indicated the removal of a group spreading pro-Beijing narratives, attacking Taiwan’s ruling party, with clear intentions to “create internal divisions” on social media accounts.
An anonymous Taiwan cybersecurity policy official informed Reporters Without Borders that these actions have successfully caused divisions within Taiwanese society. What is more worrisome is that “China’s disinformation campaign has led some Taiwanese to believe that democracy equals chaos; therefore, authoritarian rule might be an acceptable alternative.” These embedded operations within everyday content are becoming increasingly difficult to detect.