Disinformation in South East Asia: Governments as the sources
According to the Freedom House, the internet freedom in the south East Asia is generally low, and governmental interference is increasing in recent years. Also, accoring Reporters without Borders, the rankings of all SEA countries in press freedom are lower than 100th. The rankings is worsening too due to the inference from the government. Freedom of expression in this region is worrying.
The g0v.news team interviewed a number of people from different SEA countries in the workshop “combating disinformation”, organized by Taiwan Democracy Foundation and Open Culture Foundation. We seperate them into two groups: one in which government is the major problem and the other rumors are wide-spreaded.
Philippines: Duterte is the source of fake news
In the Philippines, the most unreliable news is often from its President, Duterte. Ellen Tordesillas, Trustee of the investigative journalism organizations Vera Files said that almost 60% of the adult Philippines believes that their government is actively combating fake news. She stressed that this is wrong because the number 1 source of fake news is President Duterte himself. For example, on criticisms that his war on drugs claims the lives of the poor, Duterte said that the rich did not need to sell drugs. According to statistics of Vera Files, in 2017 only, Duterte mentioned for at least 22 times in public the relationship between the poor and shabu.
In addition to incorrect statements on policies, Duterte has made lots of false charges towards female politicians. Former Secretary of Justice, current Senator Leila De Lima has fall victim to Duterte’s personal attack because she criticised policies of Duterte Administration. Duterte lashed out at her private life and called her an “immoral woman”. De Lima was even accused of drug trafficking and was put behind the bars. Naomi Fontanos, the executive director of Gender and Development Advocates Filipinas (GANDA) said that women in the Philippines post on social media with the hashtag #EveryWoman and “I am a woman and I resist” to support De Lima.
Another example is about the first female Vice President of the Philipines Leni Robredo. Leni and Duterte are from different parties and have seen differently on various policies. Except for cracking a joke about Leni’s dress, he also implied that her party was committing fraud in the race of Vice President and she was intended to usurp. Last, Leni resigned from the cabinet. What’s more, Duterte even hired R.J. Nieto, the runner of a website ThinkingPinoy, who support the fake news by Duterte Administration as a consultant at the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Facebook is the most used social media in the Philippines and it contributes to the spread of all kinds of fake news about Duterete. Naomi thinks that this reflects the current situation in the society in the Philippines like Chauvinism and patriarchy. With the help of social media, this situation has gone worse.
A news website based in the Philippines, Rappler, is the victim of it. Rappler has been working closely with Facebook on various projects. For example, in the 2016 Presidential Elections forum, Facebook provided Rappler with Instant Articles feature. The 2016 forum was a success and this brought Rappler to the attention of the public in the Philippines and a stage to then-candidate Duterte
However, as the Duterte’s campaign team and some supporters became familiar with social media marketing, they started to attack Rappler and other news media with fake news. Maria Ressa, the founder of Rappler, investigated how the government uses social media and wrote articles to criticise Duterte and received endless online harassment and threats. In addition to accusing the media of fake news, this year, Duterte even revoked the license of Rappler over foreign ownership rules and banned Rappler reporters from the presidential palace. Paige Occeñola, a reporter of Rappler, said that because the Filipino relies on Facebook heavily so Rappler can only keep the relationship as friend or foe with Facebook. She emphasized that they maintain high standards of their reports.
Why is Duterte still popular despite his controversy?
Paige shrugged, smiled and said she doesn’t know. She said that most people rarely read news from foreign media. Even if they see criticism of Duterte, they would think foreigners are defaming their president. Former reporter Ellen said that “When I was a reporter, I have to do fact check constantly, and the job I do was like doing an investigation report.” She thinks fact-checking is a challenging task. When fake information is proved to be wrong, people refuse to delete it and turn a blind eye. What makes face-checking hard is not only its time-consuming fact but also the government doesn’t want to disclose the information.
Cambodia: Politic control of the ruling party
With the upcoming parliamentary elections in July, independent journalists and human rights organization workers from Cambodia are fretful. When asked about the fake news situation in Cambodia, they expressed directly that the main source of fake news is from the government. The current ruling party, the Cambodian People’s Party, has been in power since 1979. The Hun Sen Administration dissolved the largest opposition party, the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), in November last year. In addition to arresting the leader of CNRP in September for treason and espionage, 118 members of the CNRP were also banned from participating in politics for five years.
The use of social media has made the control of political attack more ubiquitous. The independent reporter said that after Facebook entered Cambodia in 2015, it has become the most popular social media locally. In 2017, Cambodia’s Internet population has reached 10 million and Facebook users have exceeded one million. He said that the social media took the society by storm that people generally lacked media literacy and often share information without confirmation. The ruling party also attack the opponent through Facebook, spread malicious comments and publicize the ruling party’s strategy on national development and peace. He believes that this phenomenon is especially common before the election.
On top of that, the Cambodian government also clamp down on freedom of the press, especially independent media. Last year, Reporters Without Borders also pointed out the hostility of the Cambodian government towards independent journalists has risen significantly since 2016. The independent journalist from Cambodia also said that indeed the government is unfriendly to independent media, who even censored online comments on the grounds of national security. The reporters may violate the law every now and then, which led to a decline of independent media. A Cambodian human rights organization worker said that the current actions of the Cambodian government have seriously harmed human rights and violated the freedom of the press and freedom of speech.
Vietnam: The ruling party controls the society with fake news
“The ruling party is the biggest source of fake news”
Trinh Huu Long, from an NGO Legal Initiatives for Vietnam, stated that after the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, the Communist Party of Vietnam became the only ruling party. The way the government controls the society is through propaganda and the media is under the control of the government. The government presents falsehood or ambiguous information to describe the current situation of politicians and society. For example, they only let people see negative images of the United States, mostly violent incidents, showing one-sided information about other countries and democracies to mislead the public.
Facebook is the most commonly used social media in Vietnam. The Internet population is about 70 million people with more than 50 million Facebook users, which accounts for up to 70%. It shows that many Vietnamese are on Facebook.
Trinh Huu Long said that the government created lots of Facebook fan pages that spread fake information with lots of anonymous accounts sharing the posts. There’s even a cyberspace military unit of Vietnam called force 47 that watch over social networks.
The Cyber Security Law was passed in Vietnam in June this year, which requires technology firms to open offices in Vietnam and store information locally. They even have to hand in user information once the government requires. Trinh said that the Cyber Security Law is currently the hottest topic in Vietnam. According to research by LIV, the entire law shows obvious traces of China’s cybersecurity regulations, especially in the normative parts, such as “violations of national sovereignty and security” and “requires all online users to provide real identity”, “the server must be set up locally, “fulfill requests of relevant authorities”, etc. Although there is no evidence that the Vietnamese government has copied the Cyber Security Law of the People’s Republic of China, it is undoubtedly inspired by it, which has caused much controversy in Vietnam.
Technology companies like Google, Facebook have been in contact with the government but haven’t fulfilled its requirement. Trinh thinks that these companies will not leave Vietnam but the question is how would they negotiate with the government. What worries the Vietnamese more is that Chinese tech firms may take the advantage of it. Trinh says that tech firms from China are glad to work with the Vietnamese government because they care least about user’s privacy, which may lead to greater impact.
Legal Initiatives for Vietnam, an organization where Trinh Huu Long serves as co-CEO, was found in 2014 by a group of activists, including lawyers and reporters. One of the goals of LIV is to run two independent online magazines: Luat Khoa Magazine in Vietnamese and The Vietnamese for international readers. The two media are blocked by the Vietnamese government and they can only reach local readers via Facebook. According to Thinh, the goal of Luat Khoa Magazine is to educate Vietnamese people, empower them to participate in politics and change the status quo. The Vietnamese is to let non-Vietnamese know more about what is happening in the country. Now drastic changes are happening in Vietnam and people are fighting for democracy and freedom of speech. They even gather and talk about social issues in private. Trinh Huu Long said confidently that he thinks changes are about to happen, hoping to get more resources internationally.
Now LIV is based in Taiwan with three full-time employees working in Taiwan. “We want to build an independent, true, independent medium that provides views different from mainstream media, which is a dangerous deed in Vietnam,” said by Trinh. “We choose to stay in Taiwan because it’s safe and we share similar culture and threat, which is China. The Vietnamese witness Taiwan becoming a democratic country successfully, one with a fully functional civil society and this is what the Vietnamese look forward to.” He also says that when he is in Taiwan running the independent medium, he can learn from the political system in Taiwan.
Thailand: National law becomes a weapon to control
Fake news and misinformation about politics and economy in Thailand are not as serious as the rumor about commodity and health spreading on social media.
The executive director of the Foundation for Community Educational Media (FCEM), Chiranuch Premchaiporn, said that there are no fact-checking organizations in Thailand but FCEM promotes media literacy education through speeches and their media Prachatai, hoping to bring information that is different from mainstream media to Thai readers. Although false information is not a serious problem in Thailand, the mainstream media is strictly controlled by the government. Prachatai tries to bring more information to the public and promote citizen participation. The challenge that brought upon them is not fake news but the suppresses from the government. Their website was blocked by the government and was even asked to shut down.
The Thai military government has been stricter on Internet censorship. According to a journalist at public media WIST, more and more people were put behind the bars because of the Lese majeste law and the Computer Crimes Acts. Article 112, the Crime of Disrespect for the Royal Family states that “Any person who defame, insults or threatens the Emperor, the Queen, and of course the heir or the Regent is sentenced to imprisonment for not less than 3 years and not more than 15 years.” A recent famous case is a social activist Pai Dao Din being arrested after sharing an article by BBC about the Thai royal family on Facebook. The Computer Crimes Act was enacted in 2007. During the coup in 2014, many people were prosecuted because of it and the range covers for comments on Facebook to an investigation report. This law was amended in 2016 and the content of the article was vaguer. Some argue that this is an expansion of government supervision and censorship to violate the freedom of speech of the people.
Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, a magazine editor who went into prison for Article 112, was released after seven years’ imprisonment. He suffered from the longest prison sentence for Article 112. According to the Law Reform Group of Thailand, 94 people were prosecuted since the coup in 2014. Before the coup in 2014, more than 10,000 cases accused, and more than two million cases have been accused of lese majeste.
The National Council for Peace and Order, NCPO, controlled by the army regime, was founded in 2014. NCPO claimed that their committees are to stop cybercrime and for website security. Even comments on social media will be taken into examination, which causes more people in jail. According to WIST, after the coup, Computer Crimes Act has been a powerful weapon of the government and Thai media practices self-censorship thereafter.
Singapore: Public hearing and legislation attempt for combating fake news
The Harassment Act was passed by the Singapore Parliament in 2014, which encompass cyberbullying and online harassment a criminal offense, compared to the one of 1997. In 2017, the Singapore government started the discussion on fake news and tried to work on this issue. The Minister of Law stressed that it’s imperative to make the Act of Anti-Fake News. However, in 2018, the Minister of Law only submitted a Green Paper rather than an Act.
The Singapore Parliment also appointed a special committee to hold public hearings and respond to public doubts. The society submitted many opinions to the committee. In the public hearings, representatives who submitted their opinions were invited, including scholars, tech companies, content providers and citizen representatives. However, the public hearing is not what these participants expected. The process of the public hearing is more important than itself. In the discussion of some topics, the governors could even only answer yes or no, resulting in a very limited public hearing.
According to Reuters, the technology companies participating in the public hearings include Google, Facebook, and Twitter. These technology companies expressed their doubts about the legislation. They believe that existing laws in Singapore are enough to deal with fake news and it’s not for the government to judge how to define truth. Reporter of Independent media New Naratif Kirsten Han also said that she believes that legislation is not a good way to combat fake news.
The public hearing revealed the attitude of the Singapore government towards media organizations.
Kirsten Han herself was in the public hearing. A committee member questioned her about the news she wrote, which according to the member, is misleading. Han also told us that her group of four people was questioned in the public hearing for five hours.
Another reporter from New Naratif mentioned in his submission that People’s Action Party, the ruling party, also once produced fake news about the history in the 1960s. In the public hearing, the reporter was not asked about his opinions about fake news, but the history of Singapore. He was even questioned about his background.
After the public hearing, New Naratif’s website was banned from being registered in Singapore. The government stated that New Naratif is political with a foreign fund, which would lead to foreigners engaging in political activities in Singapore and New Naratif is still appealing. According to Han, this special committee is still under discussion and there is no clue what they will do next.
Han said that there’s no independent fact-checking group in Singapore and the government also clamps down on freedom of reporting in mainstream media. There’s no formal media literacy program in the state and people are not encouraged to think critically and question the correctness of the information. Now many civic organizations hold courses and invite people to talk about social issues. They found that fake news is mostly spread through Whatsapp as the elders often share suspectable health information. Han thinks that this a very difficult part to tackle.
The Chinese version of this article can be found here.
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Within the first 48 hours of posting, this article is released under the CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 Taiwan license.
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