<![CDATA[Singapore introduces anti-fake news law to counter falsehoods aimed at 'exploiting' the city's 'fault lines']>
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's government on Monday tabled a long-awaited anti-fake news bill in parliament that is expected to strengthen the city state's ironhanded approach to dealing with online misinformation despite misgivings from free-speech supporters.
Among the measures tabled are penalties of up to 10 years' jail time and S$1 million (US$738,500) in fines for the most severe cases of fake news propagation.
Legal action will be taken when the "deliberate online falsehood" meets two criteria: when there is dissemination of a false statement of fact, and when such action is deemed in the public interest, the law ministry said in a statement.
The law ministry cited a false statement that the government had declared war on its neighbours as an example of a "false statement of fact". It said the bill was not targeting opinion, criticism, satire or parody.
The introduction of the Protection From Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Bill followed rare public hearings last year on the fake news threat.
The eight-day parliamentary select committee hearing at the time faced criticism for the way some officials had appeared overly eager to push through fresh legislation even though some experts had testified it should not be seen as the definitive cure to the problem.
The law, meanwhile, also allows the government to squeeze portals financially if they are found to be repeat offenders.
Digital advertisement operators can be asked to shut off advertisements to these portals.
Singapore's Minister of Law K Shanmugam. Photo: AFP
Prime Minister Lee in comments last week said the measures were necessary to protect the multiracial city state's "enduring fault lines" from being "exploited".
"If we do not protect ourselves, hostile parties will find a simple matter to turn different groups against one another and cause disorder in our society," Lee said.
The Singapore government has emerged as among the fiercest Asian critics of Facebook over its role in the fake news scourge.
In the public hearing last year, the city state's influential law and home affairs minister Kasiviswanathan Shanmugam questioned whether social media giants was able to regulate itself.
Simon Milner, Facebook's vice-president of public policy for Asia-Pacific, in turn suggested during the hearing that Singapore appeared to be in a rush to enact the new laws.
Authorities again crossed swords with Facebook in November, after it refused to take down an online article that contained falsehoods linking the country's banks to Malaysia's 1MDB financial scandal.
The skirmishes have occurred despite Facebook's heavy investment in the city state. The company's Asia-Pacific headquarters is in Singapore and it is building a separate US$1 billion data centre in the country.
The bill introduced on Monday, while directed mainly at individuals and websites involved in fake news dissemination, also includes provisions for social media companies to comply with a binding "code of practice".
In an unrelated ministerial statement on Monday about the government's effort in dealing with hate speech, Shanmugam said the anti-fake news bill was "one step" in dealing with problems on social media.
"We will have to consider what else," he was quoted as saying by state broadcaster Channel NewsAsia.
During the public hearing last year, pro-free speech activists told lawmakers the government already had ample powers in existing legislation to deal with fake news. Instead of a fresh set of laws, they suggested improving media literacy and enacting a freedom of information act.
If parliament passes the bill into law, Singapore will join a small number of countries that have enacted fake news-specific laws " a measure rights group warn could be abused by governments to silence legitimate dissent.
Russian President Vladimir Putin last month signed into law new fines for people found disseminating fake news or insulting authorities online.
Singapore's closest neighbour 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.
Connect with us on Facebook.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
Copyright (c) 2019. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
