S’pore takes step to regulate fake news
What is particularly disturbing is the huge divide of opinions, including violent action to stop the other party from presenting their points of view.
The opposing view is often labelled fake news with even the courts being questioned if they rule against the prevalent views.
Is free speech turbo-charged by social media promoting hate and divisions that increasingly verge on violence and social breakdown?
Australian philosopher Tim Dean has recently questioned whether free speech has failed us?
As he rightly points out, “Free speech is not an absolute good; it is not an end unto itself. Free speech is an instrumental good, one that promotes a higher good: seeking the truth.”
The real problem is that if we do not have facts, we cannot have rational debate on what is truth.
The rule of law works on the principle that if there is dispute in society, it is resolved civilly either through the courts or through the political process. But once violence is involved, the rule of law breaks down.
As Professor Dean says, “free speech only fulfils its truth-seeking function when all agents are speaking in good faith: when they all agree that the truth is the goal of the conversation, that the facts matter, that there are certain standards of evidence and argumentation that are admissible, that speakers have a duty to be open to criticism.”
If however, one side blocks out the opposing view through intimidation, insults, threats, violent action and the wilful spread of misinformation, then civil discourse disappears, as does the rule of law.
This is clearly the age not of information but of anger. As a result of financial capitalism, huge inequalities have been allowed to fester, breaking down rational discourse, engendering distrust of the establishment and old order, and pushing hate and divisions.
Should we allow social media to turbo-charge this process, not of healing but polarisation?
The Singaporean government has taken the bold step of regulating fake news through the Protection from
Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma), which came into effect this month. Under the act, the Singapore government can take action on false information on the Internet, either ordering that it be taken down, corrected or order technology companies to block accounts that are spreading untruths.
A wise friend told me that we are actually living in a fractured generational divide. The old wants to maintain the old order of stability. The young thinks that this is rigged against them and want to change the system that they will inherit. But something is seriously wrong when school children think that it is right to throw petrol bombs and that it is cool to beat up policemen and anyone that they think stand in their way.
For even reputable channels such as the BBC to start glorifying such action, one wonders whether fake news has truly won.
Tan Sri Andrew Sheng is writing on global matters from an Asian perspective. The views expressed here are the writer’s own.