Google has highlighted that Singapore's fake news law will hurt innovation and growth of the "digital information ecosystem", adding that the intensity of the debate over the law has highlighted the need for a full and transparent public consultation. The law allows ministers, instead of courts, to be arbiters of falsehoods and take down content, apart from also pushing platforms to share a "correction" countering what the ministers may deem to be false. Singapore passed a fake news law on May 9th, looking to address "coordinated inauthentic behaviour". The full statement that a Google spokesperson sent MediaNama reads as follows: Misinformation is a challenging issue and we are working hard to address it. The intensity of the debate over the last few weeks has highlighted the need for a full and transparent public consultation. We remain concerned that this law will hurt innovation and the growth of the digital information ecosystem. How the law is implemented matters, and we are committed to working with policy makers on this process.” What Singapore's Fake News law enables Under the law, any minister can issue a correction direction or a stop communication direction via a competent authority, if a falsehood is being spread and if the “the Minister is of the opinion that it is in the public interest to issue the Direction”. The minister may appoint under Section 6 of the law, a Competent Authority (CA) who issue instructions on behalf of the minister. It can be group of people forming a…
