While gossip, rumors, and false information have always existed, in this day and age of technology where information can spread to millions in minutes, recent events in the past few years have highlighted how dangerous fake news can be. So much so that over in Singapore, the country’s government has passed a law against fake news which many have deemed as controversial.Known as the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Bill, this law is meant to give the government power to act swiftly to down posts that are deemed to be fake. According to Singapore’s Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam, he claims that this law is not about giving the power to the ruling political party, but rather it will be used in instances where waiting on the courts to respond might be too late.
According to Shanmugam, “There is no profit of any sort including political profit in trying to allow these lies to proliferate and damage our infrastructure of fact. It will damage our institutions and frankly no mainstream political party will benefit from it. It will damage any party that wants to considers itself mainstream and credible. You’ve seen what happens in the US you’ve seen what happened in the UK the centre gets hollowed out, it’s the extremes that benefit.”
While the proposed benefits are clear, it is controversial as some have viewed it as the government giving itself the ability to silence their critics and the opposition. Similar laws have also been passed in other countries suc has Malaysia, Russia, and Vietnam.
Filed in . Read more about Legal. Source: straitstimes