Slashdot: Facebook Bows to Singapore's 'Fake News' Law, Posts 'Correction'

Facebook Bows to Singapore's 'Fake News' Law, Posts 'Correction'
Published on December 01, 2019 at 11:04AM
An anonymous reader quotes the BBC: Facebook has added a correction notice to a post that Singapore's government said contained false information. It is the first time Facebook has issued such a notice under the city-state's controversial "fake news" law. Singapore claimed the post, by fringe news site States Times Review, contained "scurrilous accusations". The note issued by the social media giant said it "is legally required to tell you that the Singapore government says this post has false information". Facebook's addition was embedded at the bottom of the original post, which was not altered. It was only visible to social media users in Singapore... Critics say the law threatens freedom of expression. Amnesty International said it would "give authorities unchecked powers to clamp down on online views of which it disapproves". But Singapore's law minister said free speech "should not be affected by this bill", adding that it was aimed only at tackling "falsehoods, bots, trolls and fake accounts". The government has argued that the law safeguards against abuse of power by allowing judicial reviews of its orders. Singapore had first ordered the page's editor to correct the post, but as an Australian citizen he'd refused and promised (on Facebook) that he would "not comply with any order from a foreign government".

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