- “The threat of deliberate online falsehoods, or more popularly fake news, has to be taken seriously. Other countries have suffered coordinated attempts by foreign state actors or other organisations to manipulate public opinion and influence elections, undermine social cohesion and even incite violence. We cannot discount similar attempts by unfriendly countries or organisations to hurt Singapore and Singaporeans.”—Eugene K. B. Tan, Associate Professor of Law at the School of Law, Singapore Management University, writing for The Straits Times, January 16, 2018.
Due to the real and serious challenges posed by online falsehoods, the Singapore Parliament had appointed a Select Committee to examine and report on:
(1) The phenomenon of digital technology to deliberately spread falsehoods online;
(2) The motivations and reasons for spreading such falsehoods, and the types of individuals and entities, both local and foreign, which engage in such activity;
(3) The consequences that the spread of online falsehoods can have on Singapore society, including to our institutions and democratic processes; and
(4) How Singapore can prevent and combat online falsehoods, including;
(i) The principles that should guide Singapore’s response; and
(ii) Any specific measures, including legislation that should be taken.
The public had been invited to make submissions to the Select Committee on these issues and public hearings have been conducted. There has been much debate on these issues. One of the issues is with regards to further legislation to prevent and combat online falsehoods. The two articles provided below reflect some of the debate regarding this issue.
Should the government enact more laws to prevent and combat online falsehoods?
In about 1000 words, write a persuasive argumentative essay defending your position in order to argue for your particular stance on this issue. Other than providing supporting arguments for the position you take on this issue, you MUST anticipate objections and provide counterarguments to write the paper. Relevant information for you to gather would be:
Formation of Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods
Definition of online falsehood
Issues (political, economic, social, legal or etc.) surrounding the enactment of
additional laws to prevent and combat online falsehoods
Arguments for the enactment of additional laws to prevent and combat online
falsehoods
Arguments against the enactment of additional laws to prevent and combat online
falsehoods