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posted by Fnord666 on Saturday October 05 2019, @04:47PM   Printer-friendly
from the fake-news dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Rights groups, tech companies, academics and journalists opposed the law, which they say threatens free speech.

A "fake news" law, decried by academics, activists and tech giants, has gone into effect in Singapore, despite warnings that the measures could be used to stifle dissent and free speech in the South East Asian island country.

The law, which was passed by Singapore's parliament in May but took effect on Wednesday, gives government ministers powers to order social media companies to put warnings next to posts authorities deem to be false, order some content to be removed and in some cases block websites deemed to be propagating false information contrary to "public interest".

In April, shortly before the bill passed, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, said the legislation was an "essential part" of fighting fake news and hate speech. 

[...] Over 170 academics signed a letter saying the legislation had been fast-tracked without proper input from "key civil society actors."

The law is "likely to have a chilling effect on freedom of expression and academic freedom in Singapore", they said.


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Username on Sunday October 06 2019, @03:00PM

    by Username (4557) on Sunday October 06 2019, @03:00PM (#903370)

    Personally I think the fair compromise is to not block or remove ANY content but put up the big fat warnings next to it. Honestly when there's a big ol' sign saying some info is suspect.. well, the Fox news types might even take it as some badge of courage or something but at least people won't be drawn in unsuspecting.

    Whenever I see censorship of a meme, like the removal of the share button, or "fact checks" below an image when posted, the only thing it tells me is that the left is afraid of the message because it has some core truth to it. For instance the gretchen thumberger (sp?), that mentally ill swedish girl the altleft had at a global warming conference, meme where she is eating some probably vegan gluten free non-gmo meal in front of some copy pasted starving africans. They wont let you share it on facebook, and if you save it and reupload, it gives some fake factchecks. All because they don't want people to notice rich eurohippies are "fighting" global warming by trying to take poor peoples food sources away.

    Anyway, SG is just one tiny country, one city. Good testing ground for legal restrictions of online slander, lies or deceptions. Big tech is currently trying to sway the 2020 election through the restriction of memes and right wing personalities and posting of fake factchecks. Like googles effort to hide any search results of Ben Shapiro, Steven Crowder, chick from liveaction, etc. Even if their name is in quotes or direct title of the video. Then facebook posting of some persons anecdotal evidence or outright conjecture as facts. I sometimes think it would benefit society is government took active steps to stop this bs from happening.

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