Select Committee verifying information received, will release report later this year: Janil

SINGAPORE – The parliamentary Select Committee studying deliberate online falsehoods agrees a "multi-faceted approach" is needed and that no single institution has the sole responsibility of determining the truth, but is taking its time to analyse the materials submitted, said Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information Janil Puthucheary on Monday (June 25).

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the East-West Center's International Media Conference, Dr Janil, a committee member, said its report – which will cover ways Singapore can combat online falsehoods – will be released later this year.

In the meantime, it is verifying and checking the information received, and looking at various competing ideas.

"We're analysing the material that was presented to us, the considerations that were put before us, the arguments that were made in front of us… we are ploughing through a lot of material, that's what's taking so long," he said.

The 10-member committee chaired by Deputy Speaker of Parliament Charles Chong held eight days of public hearings in March. It heard from 65 witnesses including local and overseas experts, as well as technology and media giants such as Facebook, Twitter and Google.

At Monday's conference, Dr Janil was part of a keynote panel on fake news with Professor Cherian George from the Department of Journalism at the Hong Kong Baptist University, Facebook Head of Public Policy for ASEAN, Malaysia and Singapore Alvin Tan, and Singapore Press Holdings editor-in-chief Warren Fernandez.

Dr Janil said that if any laws were introduced, they would be targeted at the "egregious end of the spectrum", where the misinformation could affect issues related to race, religion, national defence and security.

"But our key intent is to preserve, as much as possible, the opportunity for that type of discourse which we feel is very important for the resilience of our society," he said. This includes satire, commentary and comedy.

Legislation will have to be part of the multi-faceted approach, he said.

Laws require "correct calibration" to ensure that there will be trust, an increased space for discourse while taking down most egregious cases, Dr Janil told more than 300 journalists and media professionals from around the world at the conference, which was jointly hosted by think-tank Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and the Singapore Management University.

Prof George said any legislation should not only apply to opponents of the state, but governments too. Given its power, any misinformation from the state could have a more serious impact on society, he said.

"Unfortunately… Asian governments, including Singapore, have a particularly bad record of writing laws that are narrow, that are proportionate and that are fair. So this is why… we need to not give any government a blank cheque and scrutinise whatever bills that are tabled," he added.

Prof George said he was "disappointed" that the submissions made by SPH, Mediacorp and the Singapore Press Club to the select committee had suggested regulating social media platforms, but did not ask for more autonomy and independence to deal with deliberate online falsehoods.

"I think you do need additional freedom, you do. It's shocking that in Singapore – unlike most parts of Asia – it's people outside the press that are telling the press, please, have more freedom. For some reason the press doesn't want to echo that," he added.

Facebook's Mr Tan noted difficulties faced by the social media company in having a universal policy to handle certain information, given the different laws across countries.

The social media giant has 2.2 billion users from over 200 countries.

But Dr Janil disagreed, noting that it is "a solvable problem from an engineering perspective". Global companies often engage with local laws, such as on tariffs, and still find some uniformity in their policies, he added.

Agreeing, Prof George said the Internet giants like Facebook should not be let off the hook too easily with such claims, adding that more can be done.

Citing an example of how there are more moderators working for Facebook in Germany than Myanmar, he said: "The truth is, Facebook as a commercial company, takes more seriously the problems that occur in markets where they are making more money from."

"We are going to be dependent on Facebook for a long time. But we should not be satisfied with platitudes from Zuckerberg and his representatives," he said.

Mr Tan disagreed with the characterisation and said Facebook has invested significantly in the problem.

US OFFICIAL DEFENDS EFFORTS TO PROMOTE PRESS FREEDOM

How do the United States' efforts to promote media literacy abroad square with its president's denunciation of reports by established news outlets as fake news?

An American official faced tough questions at the East-West Center's International Media Conference on Monday (June 25) as she defended her country's efforts on this front.

After delivering a speech on the US' efforts to tackle disinformation at home and abroad, the questions came thick and fast at American Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Michelle Giuda.

Moderator and managing editor of USA Today, Ms Donna Leinwand Leger, asked if there were inherent contradictions between how US President Donald Trump denounced media he disliked as fake news, and the US State Department's efforts at promoting press freedom.

Others asked about the credibility of Ms Giuda's department, when President Trump could be a source of disinformation himself.

Ms Giuda disagreed with the latter assertion. The "credibility issue and our transparency speaks to the degree with which we value our relationship with the press", she said.

"The President has been very clear in calling out unfair and inaccurate news when he sees it, as it's his right to do, as it's the right of every single US citizen. So it's a debate we can have, it's out in the public, and now it's up to the American people to decide, it's for the news to now report on... We're having a conversation about it, it's a healthy dialogue about it," she said.

The White House continues to hold press briefings and conferences, and journalists still have access to the US government and are not inhibited in any way, she said.

On whether Mr Trump's actions undermine the media, Ms Giuda said it was up to the American people to "decide whether or not it impacts their understanding and trust in news".

Freedom of speech and of the press is enshrined in US laws, and Ms Giuda said: "As long as they are having a debate around that and the American people are the ones making the decision at the end of the day, we are in good shape."