New Party Taipei City Councilor Hou Han-ting publicly released a document during the run-up to the 2024 elections that he claimed was an internal Democratic Progressive Party campaign file. Prosecutors have determined the document was forged and have indicted him on three counts — bad news for him and for the KMT-TPP camp's approach to campaign-season revelations.

• Three days before the vote, Hou Han-ting held a press conference to release a document alleging that the DPP planned to paint Ko Wen-je as a "fellow traveler of the Chinese Communist Party."
• After checking with the DPP, prosecutors concluded the document was fake: the party has no "campaign strategy group" of the kind named in the document, the document reference number does not exist, and the text contained simplified Chinese characters and typos.
• The document had been sent to Hou Han-ting via LINE by former legislator Chiu Yi, who said he could not recall where it came from and had at one point thought it looked like a forgery.
• Prosecutors found a LINE message from Hou Han-ting reading "I got lucky and broke it first," and concluded that he released the material first and only made verification calls afterwards.
• The indictment stresses that because politicians wield considerable influence when they spread information through press conferences and social media, they should be held to a stricter standard of verification than ordinary citizens.

Outlook: The case now moves to trial, where Hou Han-ting faces charges under the Public Officials Election and Recall Act and for use of a forged private document, among others. The court will sentence him on the more serious charge.