Singapore urged to make new laws to tackle spread of fake news
Parliamentary committee says new rules are needed because social media companies are ‘generally not acting against’ online falsehoods
A Singapore parliamentary committee said on Thursday the government should consider legislation to ensure technology companies rein in online fake news and those responsible for it are punished.
The committee, set up to make recommendations on fighting “deliberate online falsehoods”, said measures were needed as companies such as Facebook, Google and Twitter “have a policy of generally not acting against” content known to be false.
“I think there is increasing recognition on all sides that there has to be responsibility on the part of tech companies and that governments have to intervene to ensure that responsibility,” Law Minister Kasiviswanathan Shanmugam, a member of the panel, told reporters.
He said the government’s response to the recommendations had to be “urgent and serious”.
Global tech companies have expressed concern about Singapore’s plans to bring in new laws to tackle fake news, saying sufficient rules are already in place.
In a statement on Thursday, Google said it took “the issue of false information seriously” and looked forward to working with the Singapore government to address the issue.