Plurality in Czechia
Two countries far apart teaching each other how to prepare for false news: that is the kind of relationship that has grown between Czechia in Central Europe and Taiwan. In Czechia, Audrey Tang's name comes up mainly in this context. Plurality, the book by Tang and E. Glen Weyl, on the other hand, seems to be hardly read in Czechia yet.
In short
The research for this article found no Czech translation of Plurality. Hardly any Czech-language reporting on the book or on Weyl was found either [1][2].
What stands out are the contacts with Taiwan that have continued since the president of the Senate visited Taiwan in 2020. Within them, Tang is mostly described as a partner for discussing measures against disinformation [5][6].
For example
The Senate president's visit to Taiwan (2020). According to Czech Wikipedia, in September 2020 a delegation led by the president of the Senate, Miloš Vystrčil, visited Taiwan, joined by the mayor of Prague, Zdeněk Hřib. China's foreign minister Wang Yi called the visit "zradu" (a betrayal) [3].
In a later conversation, Tang mentioned that the Senate president had said "我是臺灣人, I am a Taiwanese" in Taiwan's Legislative Yuan. Tang also said that for this and other visits, a "traveling bubble" was made available, running the quarantine system together with people [4].
The Chamber of Deputies president's visit to Taiwan (2023). In an interview, Markéta Pekarová Adamová, president of the Chamber of Deputies, named Foreign Minister Joseph Wu and "ministryní pro digitalizaci Audrey Tang" (digital minister Audrey Tang) as the people with whom disinformation was discussed "nejvíce asi" (probably the most) during the visit. The topic was mainly false reports related to the invasion of Ukraine. Pekarová Adamová also said that cooperation had begun between Czechia's National Cyber and Information Security Agency (NÚKIB) and Taiwan's Ministry of Digital Affairs [5].
A meeting with a Prague think tank (January 4, 2022). At a meeting with Tang, Jakub Janda of the European Values Center for Security Policy (EVC) in Prague described a fellowship plan: sending disinformation experts from Central and Eastern Europe to Taipei for a few months at a time, and inviting Taiwanese experts to Prague or Vilnius [6].
In more detail
The book and translations
The only copy of Plurality found in the Czech union catalog SKC was the English original (2024), held by the library of the Faculty of Arts at Charles University (a provisional count by this site, October 2026). Weyl and Eric Posner's earlier book Radical Markets is also held only in the English original (2018 and 2019). Neither book was found in the National Library catalog (NKC) [1].
Among the 160 copies (forks) of the book's original repository on GitHub, there is no Czech translation (a provisional count by this site, October 2026). Czech is also absent from the list of languages on the book's official site, plurality.net [2]. Czech-language Google News also returned 0 results for "Glen Weyl" and "Radical Markets".
The catalog also lists a 2014 working paper co-written by Michal Fabinger and Weyl, published by CERGE-EI (the Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education) at Charles University in Prague [1]. → Book editions and translations
Contacts with Taiwan
According to Czech Wikipedia, Prague and Taipei signed a partnership agreement between the cities in January 2020 [3]. The year before, in 2019, Tang pointed to Hřib in a conversation with Duncan Hewitt ("this is Zdeněk Hřib") and called him "the Prague pirate". Hřib is a Pirate Party politician. Hřib's delegation visited the Social Innovation Lab in Tang's office, and Tang said: "We shared with each other this way of listening and skill with constituents." [7]
About the Senate president's 2020 visit to Taiwan, the Chinese embassy in Czechia issued a statement calling it "hrubé porušení národní suverenity Číny" (a gross violation of China's national sovereignty). Vystrčil had countered that Czechia has agreed with China that it has the right to its own "One China" policy. At the time, within Czechia too, Prime Minister Babiš and President Zeman opposed the visit (as reported by e15) [8].
Vystrčil made a second visit to Taiwan in June 2026. According to ČT24, Beijing again strongly condemned it. Prime Minister Babiš also openly criticized the visit, saying it would damage trade ties and relations with China [9].
Countering disinformation
At the 2022 meeting, Janda said that many governments in Central Europe are relatively slow and bureaucratic in responding to disinformation. Tang replied, "It's mostly about the tempo, right?" Tang rephrased the form of cooperation as "a community of practice … on disinformation defense education" [6].
In 2020, in another conversation, Tang brought up the Czech Masks4All movement. Because it did not insist on where a mask comes from, accepting even an old T-shirt or anything else, Tang said, adding "I think", that Czechia "largely succeeded" [10].
One of Tang's remarks reported in the Czech press was, for example, that Taiwan's government agencies recorded 23 times the usual number of cyberattacks (a ČTK wire story, iROZHLAS, August 3, 2022) [11].
Community Notes and bridging
Community Notes, in which users add notes to posts, were reported in Czechia mainly as Meta dropping outside fact-checking (checking whether information is true) and moving to them.
Petr Gongala of Demagog.cz, a project that has checked Czech-language posts in partnership with Meta, told iROZHLAS that this move (in the United States first) was "krok zpátky" (a step back) [12][13]. Gongala did accept that Community Notes are said to be "v něčem demokratičtější" (in some respects more democratic). Gongala also said that they suit content about political opinions, but that the community's response to plainly false information and deepfakes (fake videos and the like made with AI) often comes too late [12]. → Community Notes
An opinion piece in HlídacíPes (June 2026, Milan Čech) put forward propojovací algoritmy (bridging algorithms, algorithms that connect) as the "Tchajwanský model" (Taiwanese model): a mechanism that highlights only views that win support across opposing camps. The piece also calls for de-anonymizing the public digital space. That is the author's own proposal, and it is not linked to the book Plurality [14]. → Bridging
Civic tech and participatory budgeting
Czechia has Rekonstrukce státu, an anti-corruption NGO started in 2013, which later also joined efforts on digitalizing the state [15]. There is also Česko.Digital, a group of IT volunteers who help with digital projects [16]. → Civic tech
According to Czech Wikipedia, participatory budgeting, in which residents vote on how part of a budget is spent, began in 2012–14 in four municipalities, including Nelahozeves and Příbor [17]. Prague 1 ran it for the first time in 2025: 504 residents voted on a pot of 4.5 million koruna, with each person given four votes for and two against [18]. No source was found, however, linking these to Tang or the book.
What is debated
- Contacts with Taiwan are a political issue. The 2020 and 2026 visits to Taiwan drew protests from the Chinese government and criticism within Czechia. The arguments over sovereignty and "One China" were reported as the claims of the Chinese embassy, Vystrčil and the prime minister respectively [8][9].
- Opinions on Community Notes are divided. Demagog.cz sees the move to Community Notes as a step back, while accepting some of their merits [12].
- Thin sources. None of the Czech-language sources found this time discusses the book or the ideas of Plurality head-on. Respekt, Seznam Zprávy and others could not be searched in full text and were not checked.
Where it fits in Plurality
What the Czech sources talk about is not the book's theory but part of Taiwan's practice. At the center is countering disinformation, which involves Taiwan's digital democracy, Community Notes and bridging.
Almost the only person from the book who appears is Audrey Tang. E. Glen Weyl is not found in Czech-language reporting. The spread in Czechia, one can say, began not with reading the book but with political contacts with Taiwan.
Articles on other countries and regions:
- Plurality in Poland · Plurality in the German-speaking world · Plurality in Lithuania
- Plurality in Taiwan · Plurality in Ukraine · What editions and translations of Plurality exist?
Further reading
- Tang's meeting with EVC (English, transcript, CC0) — https://github.com/audreyt/transcript/blob/main/2022-01-04-Meeting-with-EVC.md
- Czech Wikipedia, "Česko-tchajwanské vztahy" (in Czech, encyclopedia) — https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%8Cesko-tchajwansk%C3%A9_vztahy
- Interview with Pekarová Adamová (in Czech, article) — https://www.top09.cz/co-delame/medialni-vystupy/pred-cestou-na-tchaj-wan-jsem-celila-nekolika-cinskym-kyberutokum-rika-adamova-30614.html
- iROZHLAS, "Meta přechází od factcheckingu ke Community Notes" (in Czech, article) — https://www.irozhlas.cz/veda-technologie/technologie/meta-prechazi-od-factcheckingu-ke-community-notes-je-krok-zpatky-varuje_2501072034_edr
- HlídacíPes, "Demokracie 2.0" (in Czech, opinion) — https://hlidacipes.org/demokracie-2-0-vize-systemove-zmeny-a-pravidla-budoucnosti/
Sources
- Queries in the Czech National Library (NKP) catalogs NKC and SKC (2026-10-02) — https://aleph.nkp.cz/F/?func=find-b&find_code=WRD&local_base=SKC&request=Weyl%20Glen [CC0]
- List of forks of pluralitybook/plurality — https://github.com/pluralitybook/plurality/forks [CC0]
- Czech Wikipedia, "Česko-tchajwanské vztahy" — https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%8Cesko-tchajwansk%C3%A9_vztahy [CC BY-SA 4.0]
- 2020-11-03 Interview with Kate O'Flaherty (transcript) — https://github.com/audreyt/transcript/blob/main/2020-11-03-Interview-with-Kate-O’Flaherty.md [CC0]
- TOP 09, "Před cestou na Tchaj-wan jsem čelila několika čínským kyberútokům, říká Adamová" (2023-04, repost of an Aktuálně.cz interview) — https://www.top09.cz/co-delame/medialni-vystupy/pred-cestou-na-tchaj-wan-jsem-celila-nekolika-cinskym-kyberutokum-rika-adamova-30614.html
- 2022-01-04 Meeting with EVC (transcript) — https://github.com/audreyt/transcript/blob/main/2022-01-04-Meeting-with-EVC.md [CC0]
- 2019-12-10 Duncan Hewitt visits (transcript) — https://github.com/audreyt/transcript/blob/main/2019-12-10-Duncan-Hewitt-visits.md [CC0]
- e15, "Vystrčil porušil cestou na Tchaj-wan suverenitu Číny, vzkázalo čínské velvyslanectví v Česku" (2020-09-05, ČTK) — https://www.e15.cz/domaci/vystrcil-porusil-cestou-na-tchaj-wan-suverenitu-ciny-vzkazalo-cinske-velvyslanectvi-v-cesku-1372999
- ČT24, "Čína nemůže Česku určovat, s kým se přátelit, řekl Vystrčil na Tchaj-wanu" (2026-06-01, ČTK) — https://ct24.ceskatelevize.cz/clanek/domaci/vystrcil-dorazil-s-delegaci-na-tchaj-wan-setka-se-s-tamnimi-predstaviteli-374089
- 2020-06-16 Nick Aspinwall visits (transcript) — https://github.com/audreyt/transcript/blob/main/2020-06-16-Nick-Aspinwall-visits.md [CC0]
- iROZHLAS, "Tchaj-wan očekává intenzivnější čínský nátlak, čelí dezinformacím i kybernetickým útokům" (2022-08-03, ČTK) — https://www.irozhlas.cz/zpravy-svet/tchaj-wan-taiwan-cina-natlak-dezinformace-utoky_2208031737_har
- iROZHLAS, "Meta přechází od factcheckingu ke Community Notes. ‚Je to krok zpátky,' varuje koordinátor Demagogu" (2025-01-07) — https://www.irozhlas.cz/veda-technologie/technologie/meta-prechazi-od-factcheckingu-ke-community-notes-je-krok-zpatky-varuje_2501072034_edr
- Czech Wikipedia, "Demagog.cz" — https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demagog.cz [CC BY-SA 4.0]
- Milan Čech, "Demokracie 2.0: Vize, systémové změny a pravidla budoucnosti" (HlídacíPes, 2026-06-17) — https://hlidacipes.org/demokracie-2-0-vize-systemove-zmeny-a-pravidla-budoucnosti/
- Czech Wikipedia, "Rekonstrukce státu" — https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rekonstrukce_st%C3%A1tu [CC BY-SA 4.0]
- Czech Wikipedia, "Česko.Digital" — https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%8Cesko.Digital [CC BY-SA 4.0]
- Czech Wikipedia, "Participativní rozpočtování" — https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participativn%C3%AD_rozpo%C4%8Dtov%C3%A1n%C3%AD [CC BY-SA 4.0]
- Praha 1, "Obyvatelé Prahy 1 rozhodli: Známe vítěze prvního ročníku participativního rozpočtu" (2025-04-17) — https://www.praha1.cz/obyvatele-prahy-1-rozhodli-zname-viteze-prvniho-rocniku-participativniho-rozpoctu/
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