Political Cartoons Singapore: Fighting Fake News with new legislation
From South China Morning Post:
Singapore introduces anti-fake news law to counter falsehoods aimed at ‘exploiting’ the city’s ‘fault lines’ -
The proposed law steps up existing powers the government has to compel news outlets to display corrections or disclaimers about falsehoods in published content.
Malaysia passed a similar anti-fake news law in controversial circumstances – just months before last year’s polls. The new government led by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has since pledged not to use the law after its attempt to repeal it was throttled by opposition senators. In Thailand, a tough
cybersecurity law passed by the military government has been used against critics of the regime.
A falsehood is defined as a statement of fact that is false or misleading.
It does not cover opinions, criticisms, satire or parody, which the public can continue to upload and share.
The Bill lists several definitions of public interest: Singapore’s security; to protect public health, public finances, public safety or public tranquility; Singapore’s friendly relations with other countries; to prevent influence on the outcome of an election or a referendum; to prevent incitement of feelings of enmity, hatred or ill will between different groups of people; or to prevent a diminution of public confidence in public institutions.
In another writeup, IMDA explained the danger of fake news:
Comments