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Singapore tells Facebook to correct post under new fake news law

reuters.com

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Re: Singapore tells Facebook to correct post under new fake news law

#71

Post by ponyfleisch »

latch wrote: post #22
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Should people be allowed to say and write lies in a "real" democracy? Yes. In democracy, the public are the arbiters of truth. Particularly political truth. Free speech doesn’t mean consequence-free speech. Cooling-down periods, mandatory preservation and disclosure requirements, et cetera are both prudent and commonplace. Court-supervised anti-fraud statute, which punishes for the harm done by the lie, not the spe…

Isn't there a litany of examples where the government has the power to decide and enforce truthfulness? Stuff like health claims and protected designation of origin.

Ironically, i come across quite a lot of outrageous health claims in Singapore. Cancer-curing smoothies for example.

Re: Singapore tells Facebook to correct post under new fake news law

#72

Post by AceJohnny2 »

diveanon wrote: post #53

Why am I not surprised that it is Singapore doing this. That country is an authoritarian nanny state disguised as Disney Land. I have visited many times and have lots of friends there. Nobody cares about freedom of the press because they are well paid and comfortable. They have truly figured out how to placate the masses.

> That country is an authoritarian nanny state disguised as Disney Land.

(1993) "Disneyland with the Death Penalty", by William Gibson:

https://www.wired.com/1993/04/gibson-2/

Re: Singapore tells Facebook to correct post under new fake news law

#73

Post by azernik »

dehrmann wrote: post #62
diveanon wrote: post #53

Why am I not surprised that it is Singapore doing this. That country is an authoritarian nanny state disguised as Disney Land. I have visited many times and have lots of friends there. Nobody cares about freedom of the press because they are well paid and comfortable. They have truly figured out how to placate the masses.

Singapore strikes me as another outcome of a China-like single-party state. It's somewhat authoritarian, somewhat free. It's big on national unity, but unlike China, fully acknowledges the distinct cultures there. It's a very unique place.

I have heard a China expert claim that this is the long-term goal of the Chinese Communist Party - a rich, authoritarian state with economic and (non-political) personal freedoms.

Re: Singapore tells Facebook to correct post under new fake news law

#74

Post by archibaldJ »

ulfw wrote: post #63
diveanon wrote: post #53

Why am I not surprised that it is Singapore doing this. That country is an authoritarian nanny state disguised as Disney Land. I have visited many times and have lots of friends there. Nobody cares about freedom of the press because they are well paid and comfortable. They have truly figured out how to placate the masses.

It's interesting to see people in the west often lauding Singapore for that and vilifying China if they do the same.

I've lived in Singapore for more than half of my life and met expats there from all walks of life. And I would tell you Singapore is very well integrated with western values, both in terms of the cultures and the social-political aspects of many things (other than weed and cocaine, etc; but you can certainly get your hand on some lsd if you know the right contacts). Anyway the point is that Singapore is very westernised and very, very clean in the conservative way - it's like a little Sydney without all the underground and neo-liberalism - and that's why the west love it (i.e. in general, especially the Rights - I've not known a self-declared Left that could stand staying in Singapore for more than a week). There is just a tremendous amount of logistics transactions happening everyday there.

I've just moved back to China now and I would have to say that China does the opposite of embracing western values. They go with, well, "the Chinese way". https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21602206

Re: Singapore tells Facebook to correct post under new fake news law

#75

Post by xuki »

robomartin wrote: post #47

I have a lateral question about Singapore. Everything I have read about the country says that it is one of the best in the world for business and, in particular, startups. Yet some of the commentary here leads me to believe there's a dark side to the reality of this nation. Anyone with first hand knowledge care to comment on this? I am puzzled because it so happens we might have to do some business in Singapore and a…

As long as you don't go against the government, it's pretty close to perfect. It's a different system, and it works. Many people think a country needs to follow Western's steps to be a good country, but maybe there are more than one way to govern? For a normal person, living in Singapore would pretty be the same as living in any other metropolitan.

Re: Singapore tells Facebook to correct post under new fake news law

#76

Post by pirsquare »

ShorsHammer wrote: post #16
mochialex wrote: post #3

This is how fake democracy works.

Would you say that Singapore's elections are faked? And the results invalid?

Singaporean here - I don't think they are faked. It's just that we don't have strong opposition party. Many opposition parties here spent majority of their time complaining every single decision the government makes instead of making actual contribution to the society.

Re: Singapore tells Facebook to correct post under new fake news law

#77

Post by kortilla »

throwaway864231 wrote: post #19
gruez wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Follow up question: should a real democracy have a Ministry of Truth?

What I find interesting is how the discussions change based on who is involved. For example, everyone seems to agree that ISIS videos should be removed.

Not because of falsehoods

Re: Singapore tells Facebook to correct post under new fake news law

#78

Post by Barrin92 »

wolco wrote: post #67
_2d30 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure Singapore's government falls under a military dictatorship by any means. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_Singapore

It's a unitary state.

so is France, Spain and the United Kingdom. A military dictatorship is a form of government in which the civil authority is subject to the military authority. This is not true in Singapore, the military answers to the elected government, just like in most other modern states.

Re: Singapore tells Facebook to correct post under new fake news law

#79

Post by ulfw »

trickstra wrote: post #5
mochialex wrote: post #3

This is how fake democracy works.

Should people be allowed to say and write lies in a "real" democracy?

When it comes to politics what is and what isn't a lie is often not a binary decision but a nuanced one. Depending on different viewpoints what is and what isn't a lie is not clear.

Re: Singapore tells Facebook to correct post under new fake news law

#80

Post by input_sh »

guywithahat wrote: post #42
riffic wrote: post #37

Journalists need to look at alternative platforms, such as those under the control of their own organization. The Fediverse is a good place to be.

I second this, I’ve been using it more and I really enjoy it. The only thing I would recommend people avoid is the original mastodon instance, since to combat losing market share they’ve been banning instances which sort of defeats the point of the fediverse. But gab and qoto.org are both good imo. You sort of get the close community of a smaller social network but since there’s a large programmer population they ten…

There are various ways I could describe this, but good isn't one of them.

> Gab is an English-language social media website known for its far-right user base.[8] The site has been widely described as a "safe haven"[9] for extremists including neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and the alt-right.[10]

> The site was launched in 2017 and claimed to have almost 1,000,000 registered user accounts by July 2019.[11] It primarily attracts far-right and alt-right users who have been banned from other social networks.[12][13][14] The platform populace is mainly populated by users who are "conservative, male, and Caucasian".[15] As of 2018, the site's most-followed users included high-profile far-right figures such as Richard B. Spencer, Mike Cernovich, and Alex Jones.[13][15] Gab recognizes far-right websites such as Breitbart News and InfoWars as competitors, according to a March 2018 financial filing.[16][17]

Any other Mastodon/fediverse instance is better than this.

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