Social media firms put ‘profit above principle’ on news: S’pore minister

Social media firms are hampered by their commercial interests when tackling fake news, Singapore’s law minister said, underlining the need for the city-state’s law against online falsehoods, which critics say stifles free speech.

K. Shanmugam, speaking on Thursday in an interview for broadcast at the Reuters Next conference on Tuesday, defended the city-state’s new law against concern from the likes of Facebook that it is a censorship tool, and fears from rights groups and others that it is used for political gain.

He said the law was necessary because the platforms that often host fake news have business models that depend on “attracting eyeballs”.