TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — TPP Chair Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) won a defamation lawsuit Monday against Mirror Media over reports accusing him of organizing an army of internet trolls and selling sensitive information obtained through hackers.
During an investigation into the hacking of Radio Taiwan International’s website, Mirror Media interviewed suspect and engineer Wu Cheng-hsun (吳政勳) and published a series of reports alleging that Huang maintained an army of hackers. Huang subsequently sued the publication, seeking NT$5 million (US$157,703) in damages, the removal of related materials, and publication of the ruling on Mirror Media’s website for 30 days, per UDN.
Citing Mirror Media’s reporting, DPP lawmaker Lin Chu-yin (林楚茵) suggested in October 2025 that Huang was at the helm of an army of hackers, adding that the DPP legislative caucus had reported the allegations to the Control Yuan. DPP lawmaker Wu Szu-yao (吳思瑤) lamented that there were no mechanisms to punish at-large legislators for misconduct.
The court ruled Monday that Mirror Media and the journalists responsible for the reports must pay NT$360,000 and NT$180,000, respectively, while NT$60,000 must be paid to Huang’s then-assistant, Cheng Kai-yeh (鄭凱燁), per Tai Sounds. The court also ordered Mirror Media to remove the related materials from its website and publish the verdict for 30 days.
Mirror Media said in a statement that it had repeatedly verified the information Wu provided before publishing the reports. It argued that because a news organization does not operate like a judicial fact-finding body, it should not be required to prove with absolute certainty that the claims in a report are true.
Mirror Media said in a follow-up statement that it would appeal the ruling, citing the need to uphold press freedom.
During court proceedings, Wu changed his account, claiming that he had told reporters what they wanted to hear so Mirror Media would report his allegations concerning RTI, per ETtoday. He testified that, as far as he knew, Huang did not maintain hackers to steal sensitive information or obtain personal information by hacking household registration agencies.
Wu also said Huang had not recruited hackers in the name of exposing corruption and that Wu himself was not a hacker. In its defense, Mirror Media said it had conducted due diligence in verifying Wu’s information, pointing to a recording of his interview as evidence, per ETtoday.
Commenting on the ruling, Huang said the damage had already been done, per Newtalk. He said Taiwan’s media environment must improve or democracy could suffer.
Huang has also prevailed in lawsuits brought by Mirror Media over his description of the outlet as “gutter press” and other criticisms, per Liberty Times.
In one such case, the court ruled that, given the controversy surrounding Mirror Media’s reporting on the corruption case involving TPP founder Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), Huang’s comments, though unpleasant, were protected speech.
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