The Singaporean Government has passed a controversial bill on May 8 by a vote of 72-9, after a two-day debate. The new law is aimed at halting the spread of ‘fake news’ and disinformation that will allow government ministers to police and order the removal of any online content they consider false and against the public interest. Singapore now joins Russia, France, Germany and Vietnam who have recently passed laws against fake news.
The law has attracted mounting criticism from journalists across the world who have expressed anger and frustration at the vast executive powers granted by the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Bill, (POFMA) which they feel threatens to restrict the freedom of media and speech.
The bill which is to come into force very soon imposes criminal penalties for non-compliance which includes fines up to $SG1 million ($1,050,500) and 10 years imprisonment as punishment.
The Bill grants unprecedented and sweeping powers to the police and public officers appointed by the minister to act against anything deemed to be “false” and against the public interest. Now the phrase ‘in the Public interest’ is broadly defined in clause 4, to literally mean that, anything said can be construed and classified as fake and against the public interest by the minister.
The International Commission of Jurists has said the bill “does not provide any real definition of ‘false statement of fact’ and does not clarify what constitutes ‘public interest’.”
Frederick Rawski, ICJ Director for the Asia and the Pacific said that “This bill, if passed, would make the government the sole arbiter of what information is permissible online and what is not, creating a real risk that the law will be misused to clamp down on opinions or information critical of the government”.
“It is not up to the government to arbitrarily determine what is and is not true,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk. “In its current form, this Orwellian law establishes nothing less than a ‘ministry of truth’ that would be free to silence independent voices and impose the ruling party’s line. We condemn this bill in the strongest possible terms because, in both form and substance, it poses unacceptable obstacles to the free flow of journalistically verified information.”
As per Article 7, (b) of the act, a piece of news is deemed to be fake and worthy of action if, and only if it meets the following criteria. First, it should be a false statement of fact. Second, communication of this false news is likely to affect the security of Singapore or be prejudicial to public health, public safety, or affect the friendly relations of Singapore with other countries , or influence the outcome of an election to the office of president, incite feelings of enmity among groups or persons, or diminish public confidence in the state or its functions.
False statements ” can include “any word (including abbreviation and initial), number, image, sound, symbol or other representation, or a combination of any of these”. This could include nearly every form of online expression – written, spoken and visual. Online location means any website, chatroom, or forum or any other thing that is hosted on a computer.
A statement is said to be communicated if it is made available to one or more end-users in Singapore on or through the internet, MMS or SMS. The law it is believed can be applied to closed private platforms such as chat groups and social media groups, including apps with end-to-end encryption, and popular apps such as Whatsapp, Telegram, etc can be affected.
The scope of the bill is wide – various types of “statements” fall under its remit, and a range of persons or bodies can be held liable for violations of its provisions.
Technology giant Google in response to the bill said Singapore’s new law against “fake news” could hurt innovation, a crucial element in the high-tech sector which the government is developing as an economic growth driver.
Singapore ranks 151 out of 180 countries in this year’s World Press Freedom Index.
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