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Definitely the government shouldn’t be able to stop criticisms, but for outright lies, wouldn’t libel or slander laws apply?
by throwaway864231 7y ago
Definitely the government shouldn’t be able to stop criticisms, but for outright lies, wouldn’t libel or slander laws apply?
- JumpCrisscross 7y ago> for outright lies, wouldn’t libel or slander laws apply? That would require the slandered party (a) prove it’s false and (b) demonstrate harm. There is also good reason for most slander and libel law withholding many remedies from public figures and politicians. In this case, a department of a single-party city-state issued a takedown notice against allegations of election tampering. It is as illegitimate as it is Streisand-effect inducingly stupid.
- hogFeast 7y agoUncoincidentally, members of the PAP have a reputation for being rather aggressive in suing people for libel. I think somewhere you have to accept that certain statements aren't true or false. What has changed recently is the willingness of people to view the statements of others as "lying" as opposed to having a different opinion. Unf, when the plaintiff is the government this becomes even more tricky (and I think a reasonable person would conclude that the PAP have used the legal system to supress criticism...I love Singapore, I love LKY...but it is what it is).
- markdown 7y agoThat would require knowing you made the post, and since most fake news is generated by anon FB pages, who do you sue? The answer is nobody. You have no recourse unless you're in the US or one of the few other states that Facebook will listen to.