Fake news prevention has a new touchstone

Will other governments doff their hats to Singapore’s draft legislation on DOF?

Fake news on social media platforms has become the fuel for ensuing electoral battles the world over, including in India where campaigning has reached a feverish pitch.  

However, the fight against Fake News has got a new dimension from the most unlikely of quarters and it has nothing to do with elections.

Singapore introduced the draft ‘The Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Bill Monday in Parliament inviting widespread debate and attention from media, the platforms and proponents of free speech alike.

But more importantly, what will be interesting to see is how other governments, that have been caught up with similar exercises but with abundant caution, will react to the proposed law in Singapore.

Laws in the making

There are at least 43 countries that currently have some kind of rules or legislation that tackle fake news or disinformation in some form or the other, according to the Poynter Institute. But at best most of these efforts are still work in progress given the high potential to infringe on free speech even while the confusion as to what constitutes fake news itself prevails.

Quite understandably, unlike the proposed Singapore law, very few of these efforts rely heavily on punitive measures to combat fake news. They rather talk about matters like better education on what fake news is, more transparency, developing tools like AI and fact-checking.  

If legislated into an Act, which usually is the norm for most bills introduced in the Singapore Parliament, the DOF Act will perhaps be the most stringent across the world.

Among other things, those who spread falsehoods online with a malicious intent to harm public interest could face up to 10 years in jail. 

Individuals can be directed to put up corrections on their posts and could be fined up to $20,000 and jailed up to 12 months if they refuse to do so.

Furthermore, internet and social media platforms like Facebook will be mandated to act swiftly against the spread of fake news by displaying corrections with the posts or removing them.

Failure to do so could result in fines up to $1 million.

While, the proposed stiff action is typical of the city-state, which at times has been dubbed totalitarian in several respects, for the first time, social media platforms will be held responsible for direct action on fake news.

Behaviour vs Content

Platforms like Facebook have been reluctant to take on the mantle of ethical editors sitting in judgement on content. And hence they tend to take into consideration the apparent malicious behaviour of platform users.

This is evident from Facebook’s action Monday when it took down 687 pages in India associated with the Indian National Congress and 15 other pages, accounts and groups, that had engaged in coordinated behaviour in India and linked to individuals associated with an Indian IT firm, Silver Touch, which according to reports were linked to the BJP.

Not surprisingly, the Singapore-based Asia Internet Coalition that includes the likes of Apple, Facebook, Google, Amazon, LinkedIn among others, expressed its disappointment soon after the tabling of the proposed bill.

“We are deeply disappointed by the lack of meaningful opportunities for public consultation during the drafting process of this bill,” Jeff Paine, Managing Director, AIC said expressing concern that the proposed bill provides full discretion to the Singapore government over what is considered true or false and that the level of overreach poses significant risks to freedom of expression and speech and could have severe ramifications both in Singapore and around the world.

Critics have lambasted the bill as it defines public interest broadly, and even ministers could intervene to prevent media and other organizations from putting up content.

The draft bill comes after six months long deliberations by a Select Committee of the Singapore parliament on Deliberate Online Falsehoods (DOF), which at the end of presented 22 recommendations proposing far-reaching measures by the Singapore government to combat Fake News.

Consultation vs Legislation

Now, the question is whether other governments like India, which have till now resorted to a consultative process with the likes of Facebook and WhatsApp to explore ways to combat fake news, will sit up and consider similar measures as the Singapore government.  

Facebook has over 300 million users in India while over 200 million people use its WhatsApp service in India. 

While it has engaged the platforms to get them to be more sensitive to fake news on their sites, it has also put into circulation its own draft legislation, The Information Technology [Intermediary Guidelines (Amendment) Rules] 2018, for public comment and consultation.

Currently, as per a recent clarification by the Ministry of Electronic and Information Technology (MeitY) has takedown powers under Section 69A of the IT Act and can ask platforms to remove content that it considers a threat to National Security, Sovereignty and Integrity of the country, Defence of the country, Friendly relations with foreign countries, Public order or Incitement to any of the above.

However, compared to the proposed law in Singapore, the Indian rules appear very soft and do not specify the punishment. At best it is a list of dos and don’ts for the intermediaries as the title of the proposed amendment states. 

(This article first appeared on NewsPlus App)