TWNIC Releases 2025 Taiwan Internet Report, Spotlighting “Effective Empowerment” in Digital Transition

The Taiwan Network Information Center (TWNIC) on Wednesday released the findings of its 2025 Taiwan Internet Report, a nationwide survey conducted by National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, showing Taiwan’s overall Internet penetration rate reached 88.75%, up 0.36 percentage points from 88.39% in 2024. Fixed Internet penetration stood at 69.77%, mobile Internet penetration at 87.12%, and 5G mobile Internet penetration rose to 40.76%, indicating that as connectivity becomes broadly available, Taiwan’s digital development is shifting from “whether people can get online” to “how well and effectively they use digital tools.”

The survey found Internet use among people aged 70 and above increased from 50.20% in 2024 to 53.80% in 2025, up 3.6 percentage points. However, among those who remain offline, 82.13% said they had no willingness to learn, while the share expressing willingness to learn fell from 8.23% in 2024 to 4.45% in 2025. Practical, everyday services were most likely to motivate future Internet use among non-users, including online medical services (7.86%), government public services (7.56%), and online shopping (7.55%).

The report also pointed to risks associated with widespread digital adoption amid uneven digital literacy. More than four in 10 people in Taiwan have used generative AI, yet fact-checking behavior shows a “high confidence, low action” gap: 57.11% of Internet users said they were confident in their ability to verify whether news or information is true, but nearly six in 10 (58.5%) said they never or rarely proactively fact-check. Similar challenges were observed in short-form video use: the usage rate reached 78.46%, with 58.04% watching daily, and among short-form video users, more than half (56.09%) said they often spend more time watching than originally intended.

TWNIC CEO Jo-Fan Yu said the 2025 report focuses on “Effective Empowerment: Taiwan’s Digital Transition from Use to Mastery,” adding: “As Internet penetration in Taiwan is already high, our next focus should shift from ‘whether people can get online’ to ‘whether they can use it well.’ In the United Nations WSIS+20 discussions reviewing global Internet development, it has also been highlighted that generative AI platforms can produce highly realistic content at lower cost, making information integrity and platform accountability priority issues in global digital governance. Citizens need not only the ability to use tools, but also judgment, fact-checking capability, and risk awareness.”

On generative AI, the survey found 43.19% of people in Taiwan have used generative AI, while 8.54% said they are willing to pay for a subscription service. Among Internet users, 82.74% supported regulating AI through law, and 83.03% supported AI literacy education. Among those with AI experience, the share who could evaluate the quality of AI services rose from 72.51% in 2024 to 79.25% in 2025, and the share who could effectively use AI to complete tasks increased from 58.38% to 66.23%, leaving a gap of about 13 percentage points between evaluation and effective use.

On news consumption, the report showed television news fell from 39.57% in 2024 to 32.02% in 2025, while social media rose to 21.11%, YouTube to 14.67%, and professional news websites or apps to 5.08%. Beyond the 58.5% indicator cited above, the survey also found more than six in 10 (65.91%) said they never or rarely proactively verify information, while those who frequently verify accounted for only 13.60%. More than half (59%) said resources for identifying misinformation online are insufficient.

Short-form video use also underscored time-autonomy concerns. TikTok usage rose to 25.16%, with 11.45% using it daily. Among short-form video users, 56.38% said they often start watching without realizing it, and 36.22% said it causes them to neglect other tasks. TWNIC said that in this new stage of “effective empowerment,” progress cannot rely solely on tool availability, but must be paired with stronger judgment, fact-checking habits, and risk awareness.

The full report is available at: https://report.twnic.tw

Methodology — The survey combined dual-frame sampling using landline and mobile phone lists, complemented by in-depth interviews, qualitative analysis, and historical data. The survey covered Taiwan’s 22 cities and counties and targeted residents aged 18 and above. Fieldwork ran from July 28 to Sept. 1, 2025 (36 days). A total of 1,070 valid landline interviews and 1,072 valid mobile interviews were completed, for 2,142 successful samples. At a 95% confidence level, the margin of sampling error was approximately ±2.99 percentage points.