Data repoliticization and environmental governance: how civic data activism negotiates state bureaucracy in Taiwan

Illegal factories on farmland represent one of Taiwan’s most persistent environmental governance challenges. This article examines how civic actors Thaubing Footprints confronted this issue through data activism. In 2020, the group used Taiwan’s Presidential Hackathon as an entry point to demand data transparency and to challenge regulatory loopholes on farmland factories. During and after the hackathon, activists integrated datasets from multiple ministries and extended their advocacy into the public sphere to sustain policy pressure. The article conceptualizes this process as data repoliticization. Data repoliticization consists of three mutually reinforcing processes: data reassembly, interpretive contestation, and data arena shifting. Through these processes, civic actors expose inconsistencies across data infrastructures and mobilize them to challenge established practices of environmental governance. This article adopts a document-based qualitative analysis informed by practical experience. Building on this approach, the article analyzes the processes and mechanisms through which civic data activism influences environmental policy. In doing so, it contributes to scholarship on data activism and environmental justice.