<div dir="auto">Listers,<div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Might be of interest.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Regards</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">---------- Forwarded message ---------<br>From: <strong class="gmail_sendername" dir="auto">Ang Peng Hwa (Prof)</strong> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:TPHANG@ntu.edu.sg">TPHANG@ntu.edu.sg</a>></span><br>Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2019 17:27<br>Subject: [Internet Policy] Singapore to table (aka present in British English) fake news bill Monday<br>To: ISOC Internet Policy <<a href="mailto:internetpolicy@elists.isoc.org">internetpolicy@elists.isoc.org</a>><br></div><br><br>
<div lang="EN-SG" link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72">
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12.0pt">Hi.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12.0pt">The Prime Minister of Singapore a couple of hours ago announced that the government will present the
</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;letter-spacing:.2pt;background:white">Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Bill
</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12.0pt">on Monday. </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><a href="https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/fake-news-laws-be-tabled-monday-hold-online-news-sources-platforms-accountable-pm-lee" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/fake-news-laws-be-tabled-monday-hold-online-news-sources-platforms-accountable-pm-lee</a></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12.0pt">According to the news report, the bill “</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black;letter-spacing:.2pt;background:white">will give the Government the power to compel online news sources
and platforms to show corrections or display warnings about online falsehoods, and — in extreme and urgent cases — take down an errant article.”</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12.0pt">There was a Select (aka special and public) Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods
</span><a href="https://www.parliament.gov.sg/sconlinefalsehoods" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">https://www.parliament.gov.sg/sconlinefalsehoods</a> that had recommended in September 2018 that the Government take action. Although most of the testimonies were public, there were closed door
sessions too and reports about these seem to suggest there were disinformation campaigns targeted at Singapore.<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Facebook came under withering questioning at the Select Committee hearing. (A two-hour video on Facebook (where else) is at
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10155207544022115" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10155207544022115</a>.)<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">A couple of observations:<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<ol style="margin-top:0cm" start="1" type="1">
<li class="m_8834193252754642723MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0cm"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Several of us had pointed out that in Singapore, the group that spreads fake news is the elderly, parents and grandparents. And our kind of fake news
is laughable by Russian standards—eg plastic rice is sold in the supermarket. And parents and grandparents pass on the hoax out of concern. The Bill does not capture this group. It is apparently not aimed at private but public communication.
<u></u><u></u></span></li><li class="m_8834193252754642723MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0cm"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">The power to determine facticity apparently lies with the Government.
<u></u><u></u></span></li><li class="m_8834193252754642723MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0cm"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">The sanctions come across as pretty mild—corrections or warnings. And taking down only in extreme and urgent cases.
<u></u><u></u></span></li><li class="m_8834193252754642723MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0cm"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">The Bill will not cover the case of the videos of the NZ shooting where Google staffers were manually blocking and deleting the videoclips as they were
being uploaded. They were from the live streaming and so were not false even if they were in poor taste.<u></u><u></u></span></li></ol>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12.0pt">Regards,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12.0pt">Peng Hwa ANG<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12.0pt"><img border="0" width="134" height="47" style="width:1.3958in;height:.4895in" id="m_8834193252754642723Picture_x0020_1" alt="id:image001.png@01D31147.941BB3B0"><b>ANG</b> Peng
Hwa (Professor) | Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information | Nanyang Technological University <b>|</b> WKWSCI #02-05, 31 Nanyang Link, Singapore 637718 | Tel: (65) 67906109 GMT+8h | Fax: (65) 6792-7526 | Editor, Asian Journal of Communication |
Web: <a href="http://research.ntu.edu.sg/expertise/academicprofile/Pages/StaffProfile.aspx?ST_EMAILID=TPHANG" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"><span style="color:#0563c1">http://research.ntu.edu.sg/expertise/academicprofile/Pages/StaffProfile.aspx?ST_EMAILID=TPHANG</span></a> Past President
ICA | ICA 69th Annual Conference Washington DC, May 2019</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
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