3 ms·

this makes me feel uneasy. > "The law also imposes penalties on those found to be purveying fake news through the use of false online accounts. Individuals can

this makes me feel uneasy. > "The law also imposes penalties on those found to be purveying fake news through the use of false online accounts. Individuals can be fined up to 100,000 Singapore dollars ($73,000), jailed for up to 10 years, or both, while companies can be slapped with fines of up to SG$1 million." SG is a small country which can easily be policed, so this probably works for them. I wonder how they deal with meme and parody accounts. (will making fun of people this way now be criminalized?)

lsiebert 7y ago
Simple, don't use fake accounts? Or if you are a company, don't astroturf. As for Parody, looks like you are fine. https://singaporelegaladvice.com/law-articles/singapore-fake-news-protection-online-falsehoods-manipulation/ https://singaporelegaladvice.com/law-articles/singapore-fake...
mozey 7y ago
Easy, parody and satire doesn't pretend to be the truth?
- arethuza 7y ago
  It can be very difficult to tell the difference between 'truth' and parody online - (AKA Poe's Law) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law e.g. I do find myself wondering in some discussions on HN whether people honestly believe what seem to be rather extreme views or are simply parodying those views.
  - rat9988 7y ago
    If there is a difficulty to tell the difference between the truth and the parody, then the parody should tone it down.
    - arethuza 7y ago
      What about something like: "Angus man who tried to fly drone into Perth Prison claimed Romanian circus stole his chihuahua" Without using Google - truth or parody?
      - TeMPOraL 7y ago
        In absence of punishment for fake news, I'd assume it's parody. The presence of such punishment would let you think, "they didn't label it as parody so either they have lots of money to burn on fines, or it might actually be true".
        arethuza 7y ago
        https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/perth-kinross/1007095/angus-man-who-tried-to-fly-drone-into-perth-prison-claimed-romanian-circus-stole-his-chihuahua/ https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/perth-kinross/100... Also a creative writing challenge based on combining this with some other headlines: https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2019/10/creative-writing-challenge.html https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2019/10/creativ...
        TeMPOraL 7y ago
        In this case it turns out to be true. But (absent fake news punishment) in general, you can assume that such a funny-sounding headline is completely bullshit, because legitimate news only hits such headlines by accident, whereas there are tabloid and celebrity gossip sites that produce such headlines on a daily basis.
    - mvdwoord 7y ago
      In some (if not most) cases it would have my preference the truth would tone it down. ;)
    - michaelt 7y ago
      What about parody that a reasonable person would recognise as such, but a small number of fools might not? For example [1] or [2] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m5qxZm_JqM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m5qxZm_JqM [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWfKdKWJEkM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWfKdKWJEkM
  - TeMPOraL 7y ago
    It's less difficult when jokes are labeled as such. So I guess satire in Singapore will be fine, but will have to be unambiguous about what it is. It sounds similar to how in civilized places you're supposed to make it clear to the viewers that an ad is an ad.
- hgfdytrwsx 7y ago
  Bad parody is easy to distinguish.
ValentineC 7y ago
> I wonder how they deal with meme and parody accounts. (will making fun of people this way now be criminalized?) The Singapore Law Minister has come out and said that parody and satire don't fall under the "fake news" law [1]. Note, however, that this particular law was rushed through parliament despite much criticism. Ministers are empowered to issue correction orders (which must be complied with immediately), and affected parties (which may include parody and satire) are required to spend time and money to go through the court system to dispute the order. [1] https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/fake-news-law-satire-erroneous-shanmugam-mlc-11903898 https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/fake-news-law...

lsiebert 7y ago

Simple, don't use fake accounts? Or if you are a company, don't astroturf. As for Parody, looks like you are fine. https://singaporelegaladvice.com/law-articles/singapore-fake-news-protection-online-falsehoods-manipulation/ https://singaporelegaladvice.com/law-articles/singapore-fake...

mozey 7y ago

Easy, parody and satire doesn't pretend to be the truth?

arethuza 7y ago
It can be very difficult to tell the difference between 'truth' and parody online - (AKA Poe's Law) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law e.g. I do find myself wondering in some discussions on HN whether people honestly believe what seem to be rather extreme views or are simply parodying those views.
- rat9988 7y ago
  If there is a difficulty to tell the difference between the truth and the parody, then the parody should tone it down.
  - arethuza 7y ago
    What about something like: "Angus man who tried to fly drone into Perth Prison claimed Romanian circus stole his chihuahua" Without using Google - truth or parody?
    - TeMPOraL 7y ago
      In absence of punishment for fake news, I'd assume it's parody. The presence of such punishment would let you think, "they didn't label it as parody so either they have lots of money to burn on fines, or it might actually be true".
      - arethuza 7y ago
        https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/perth-kinross/1007095/angus-man-who-tried-to-fly-drone-into-perth-prison-claimed-romanian-circus-stole-his-chihuahua/ https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/perth-kinross/100... Also a creative writing challenge based on combining this with some other headlines: https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2019/10/creative-writing-challenge.html https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2019/10/creativ...
        TeMPOraL 7y ago
        In this case it turns out to be true. But (absent fake news punishment) in general, you can assume that such a funny-sounding headline is completely bullshit, because legitimate news only hits such headlines by accident, whereas there are tabloid and celebrity gossip sites that produce such headlines on a daily basis.
  - mvdwoord 7y ago
    In some (if not most) cases it would have my preference the truth would tone it down. ;)
  - michaelt 7y ago
    What about parody that a reasonable person would recognise as such, but a small number of fools might not? For example [1] or [2] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m5qxZm_JqM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m5qxZm_JqM [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWfKdKWJEkM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWfKdKWJEkM
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  It's less difficult when jokes are labeled as such. So I guess satire in Singapore will be fine, but will have to be unambiguous about what it is. It sounds similar to how in civilized places you're supposed to make it clear to the viewers that an ad is an ad.
hgfdytrwsx 7y ago
Bad parody is easy to distinguish.

ValentineC 7y ago

> I wonder how they deal with meme and parody accounts. (will making fun of people this way now be criminalized?) The Singapore Law Minister has come out and said that parody and satire don't fall under the "fake news" law [1]. Note, however, that this particular law was rushed through parliament despite much criticism. Ministers are empowered to issue correction orders (which must be complied with immediately), and affected parties (which may include parody and satire) are required to spend time and money to go through the court system to dispute the order. [1] https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/fake-news-law-satire-erroneous-shanmugam-mlc-11903898 https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/fake-news-law...