S’pore goes on offensive to defend ‘fake news’ law

Bloomberg

Singaporean diplomats are taking the lead in defending a two-month-old fake news law, challenging international media outlets it says are publishing misleading claims on the contentious legislation.
Since the law was enacted in October, authorities in the Southeast Asian city-state have invoked it four times against critics and once against Facebook Inc, which was required to attach a government-issued “correction” to content deemed to contain falsehoods. Government officials have also countered critical media coverage of the law, known as the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act.
Foo Chi Hsia, Singapore’s High Commissioner to the UK, stated the Economist had misrepresented the law, writing in a December 21 letter to the editor that it “should be looked at in the same context as our belief in the right of reply, which in our view enhances rather than reduces the quality of public discourse.“
“Readers can see both and decide for themselves which is the truth,” she wrote. “How does twinning factual replies to falsehoods limit free speech?”
Earlier in December, Singapore’s ambassador to the US, Ashok Kumar Mirpuri, disputed a Washington Post story that cited critics saying the law could have a “chilling effect on online free expression.” In the letter, obtained by Bloomberg, he also criticised Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, who was quoted in the story.