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Prime Minister’s Brother Latest Victim Of Singapore’s ‘Fake News’ Law

from the well-well-well dept

Censorship has always been the name of the game when governments push “fake news” laws. First of all, laws like these allow governments to decide which news is “fake” and which news is “credible.” Those pushing these laws claim they just want to ensure citizens aren’t misled. But, in reality, governments just want more options at their disposal to control the narrative.

Singapore has never been considered a free speech paradise. For that matter, it’s not really high on the list of human rights respecters, despite being a tourist destination. I mean, the country still enforces a death penalty for drug violations, which is even harsher than the punitive practices adopted by the United States, which has never met a Drug War it didn’t love fighting, even though it has yet to rack up a sustained win over the past several decades.

So, when Singapore decided it would get on board the “fake news” train, it was readily apparent the government simply wanted more control over what citizens said, as well as new surveillance powers that would help the government ensure more citizens said what the government wanted them to say.

One of the first deployments of the law confirmed these suspicions. Despite running its own counter-speech website (named “Factually” and I am not even kidding) that gave the government the power to deliver its version of the facts when faced with statements or reporting it didn’t like, it decided to pull the trigger on its “fake news” law to prosecute opposition party leader Brad Bowyer.

Bowyer’s criminal sin was suggesting (with evidence on hand) that the Singapore government had participated in some bad investments — problems that were partly due to the opacity surrounding government contract bidding, which the Singapore government felt its citizens shouldn’t be allowed to examine. Rather than simply use its “Factually” website to address the concerns raised by Bowyer, it also ordered him to post a “correction” of his own on top of his published allegations.

This is, of course, the exact thing laws like these are designed to do. And that’s why they should always be greeted with suspicion and open criticism the moment they’re proposed. (Waiting until the law is enacted to raise concerns just means your concerns will be considered a criminal act.)

This latest use of the “fake news” laws is a bit more unexpected. I wouldn’t exactly call this a show of good faith, but it is rather surprising that the law would be wielded against a close relation to someone in power. Here’s Hannah Fang with the details for Jurist:

The Ministry of Law of Singapore enforced the country’s fake news law Tuesday against Lee Hsien Yang, the younger brother of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, for a Facebook post regarding recent political scandals involving the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP). In the Facebook post published on July 23, Lee Hsien Yang claimed that “[t]rust in the PAP has been shattered,” referring to several recent incidents involving high-profile officials in the government and the PAP.

Under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA), if the Singapore government deems certain online information false or misleading, it has the authority to compel the publisher to insert links to fact-checking statements, to censor the information and to invoke criminal charges. Following the POFMA order, Lee Hsien Yang issued a correction notice on his Facebook on Tuesday.

On one hand, going after the brother of a powerful political figure lets citizens know that no one is immune from the law. On the other hand, it shows a powerful political figure is willing to punish his own sibling because his sibling had the audacity to draw attention to apparent ongoing corruption that likely involves the prime minister himself.

And, according to this report, this targeting of a PM’s brother follows several recent deployments of the law to shut down comments and reporting about ongoing corruption investigations involving several government leaders, with those allegations ranging from misuse of power to secure favorable property rental agreements to engaging in extramarital affairs with other government employees.

What none of this indicates — even given this somewhat surprising use of the law — is that the law’s existence is justified. If the government wants to avoid being implicated in corruption probes, perhaps government employees should stop engaging in acts that resemble corruption. At the very least, they should try to keep it in their pants while on the clock. And if a PM targets a family member, it doesn’t mean the law is good and being deployed honestly. It just means a PM can’t even handle being criticized publicly by the people closest to him. And that’s definitely a problem that can only be made worse by “fake news” legislation.

Filed Under: censorship, corruption, fake news, free speech, lee hsien loong, lee hsien yang, singapore