Taiwan president fined for Facebook post

(Financial Times) -- Ma, who won re-election to a second term earlier this year, was on Wednesday ordered to pay T$500,000 (US$16,666) by the island's Central Election Commission for posting a message to his Facebook campaign page on the day of the election.

The message, which quoted Ma's speech from a day earlier urging supporters to vote for him, was deemed to violate Taiwan's rule barring candidates from campaigning on the day of the election. His opponent Tsai Ing-wen was fined T$300,000 for not having signed some of her campaign material.

The February elections were notable partly for the greatly expanded use of social media by both campaigns. Ma's campaign slogan, "Taiwan, Bravo!" is, in Chinese, a reference to Facebook's 'Like' button. Tsai's Google+ page, meanwhile, became a platform for discussion between her supporters and Chinese netizens.            Read Here