Media experts, religious groups to testify on first day of deliberate online falsehoods hearing

SINGAPORE — The Select Committee studying how Singapore can tackle the spread of deliberate online falsehoods will begin a series of public hearings from Wednesday (March 14) at the Parliament House.

Seventy-nine individuals and organisations – including local and foreign experts, media organisations, tech companies, telcos, community groups and members of the public – have been invited to give oral evidence, making this the highest number of witnesses invited by a Select Committee in Singapore.

The committee also received the highest number of written representations by a Select Committee – 164 submissions – over one-and-a-half months.

Before this, a Select Committee convened in 1988 to scrutinise two bills to allow for group representative constituencies had held the record of 99 written representations.

A Select Committee studying proposed amendments to the Companies Act in 1987 saw 47 witnesses giving oral evidence – the highest number of oral testimonies to date.

Over eight full-day public hearings this month before the 10-member committee chaired by Deputy Speaker of Parliament Charles Chong, witnesses will share their views on, among other things, perpetrators’ motives for spreading such falsehoods, the impact on Singapore’s institutions and democratic processes, and how the Republic can combat this phenomenon.

Experts in various fields including media, sociology and law, as well as representatives from religious groups, will kick off the hearing on Wednesday.

Foreign experts, particularly those from Eastern European countries like Latvia and Ukraine, are also expected to share their views later this week. Some will be testifying via video conferences.

Two sessions will be held in private on Friday morning (March 16) as they “concern matters of national security and international relations”, according to a schedule published on Parliament’s website.

The number of representatives who have accepted the invites to give evidence has not been finalised.

The hearings will be held over three tranches and are expected to conclude by March 29. This is also the highest number of days set aside for public hearings by a Select Committee.

“This is an indication of the importance of the issues at stake, and the (committee’s) commitment to consult widely,” said the committee in a statement on Tuesday.

Members of the public may witness the hearings from 11am on Wednesday (March 14) and 10am on all other days (March 15, 16, 22, 23, 27, 28 and 29). Visitors to Parliament House must be properly attired and have their identity cards or passports to exchange for a pass.

Apart from Mr Chong, the committee comprises seven Members of Parliament (MPs) from the People’s Action Party, one Workers’ Party MP and one Nominated MP.

It was formed in January after Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam, who is also a committee member, tabled a motion in Parliament on the need to convene the team. All 80 members of the House voted in favour of it.

The committee will present a report to Parliament after the public hearings. Past committees have taken about five to six months following the hearings to submit their reports.