Nearly 30 civil society, arts and community groups express concerns over draft fake news law

The bill, which aims to provide the government with powers to act against online falsehoods to protect public interest, intends to give ministers the authority to determine what is an online falsehood and what action to take against what they deem to be online falsehoods.

We are members of the arts community and civil society who wish to express our shared concerns about the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Bill, which would grant excessive discretionary powers of censorship to the executive branch of government. The Bill applies to all kinds of online communication—a single text message in a private conversation qualifies. Orders can be issued regardless of the knowledge or intent of the person making the communication.

The “public interest” requirement is also inadequate because it is satisfied as long as the Minister is of the opinion that the statement is against the public interest. The court cannot question this judgment. In reality, this subjective requirement would barely constrain a Minister’s actions in any way.

POFMA is just for the benefit of PAP.

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