Taiwan's election officials say a viral online claim about Chinese-born spouses running for local office is false, a small win for anyone worried about fake political content spreading before the vote.

• A post circulating on social media showed photos of 26 women under a headline claiming they were Chinese spouses running for borough chief across Taiwan.
• Tainan's election commission checked its household registration records and found none of the city's borough chief candidates had ever been registered as residents of mainland China.
• Officials warned that AI now makes it easy to produce convincing fake posts and urged people not to trust unverified claims online.
• The rumor plays on long-running Taiwanese anxiety about Chinese influence in local politics ahead of the elections.

Outlook: Expect more AI-generated false claims and more official denials as Taiwan's local election campaign heats up.