A Taipei court has rejected former DPP lawmaker Kao Chia-yu's defamation claim against US-based professor Chen Shih-fen, a loss for Kao and a win for online political commentary.

• Kao sued for NT$1.5 million over Facebook posts saying she had "backstabbed" the DPP; the court threw out the case entirely.
• The fight traces back to Taiwan's 2023 #MeToo wave, when a string of harassment and cover-up scandals hit the DPP.
• Kao had said on a talk show that unreported harassment cases run 100 times higher than reported ones; Chen framed that as an attack on her own party.
• Kao insists she meant society at large, not the DPP, and says she has corrected the record repeatedly.
• The court has not yet released its reasoning, and Chen owes nothing.

Outlook: Kao can appeal, so the case is likely to continue in a higher court.