Singapore cracks whip on online Fake News

Singapore has passed a legislation namely “Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Bill”. The Bill’s express objective is, among other things, to “prevent the electronic communication in Singapore of false statements of fact” and to “suppress support for and counteract the effects of such communication”. Singapore’s Parliament passed the Bill in a vote of 72 to 9.

The Bill joins similar legislative developments in the UK and Australia to regulate harmful or violent online contents. Now, as the Bill is passed, internet intermediaries, digital advertising intermediaries, mass media service providers and ISPs need to be proactive and have robust processes in place to respond to directions promptly.