
Facebook adds corrective label on user's post under new Singapore fake news law - 9nGQluzmnq3M
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-singapore-fakenews/facebook-issues-first-correction-notice-at-singapores-request-idUSKBN1Y4043
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poilcn
So, Singapore bureaucrats decide what is fake and what is the ultimate truth.

What is facebook going to do after it bends to multiple state actors whose
ultimate truth would contradict each other? Each country would have it's own
corrective label like some western media do?

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ub
Isn't this what Sacha Baron Cohen asked for in his speech? That there be state
mandated rules on what's fake vs not. I don't think this issue has any good
solutions - damned if you do, damned if you don't. The only 'okay' way to
solve for this is to crowd-source a variety of opinions on the issue and show
what else people are saying about it - not as the ultimate truth, but rather
to broaden people's perspective on it that there are different ways to look at
the same issue.

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dharma1
I've always wondered how Wikipedia has solved this... Isn't it essentially the
same problem?

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jeswin
Wikipedia built a culture in which editors who lean towards truthful
informative are encouraged, and a userbase which values that. This is only
possible with non-profits having strong voluntary and academic participation.
Nobody will dedicate quality time for a closed for-profit network like
Facebook.

But I feel that the bigger problem is that people want fake news. Most people
have a hard time living their everyday lives; fake news which supports their
choices and viewpoints is a release, and it makes them feel good. And networks
do a good job of surfacing similar content once they gauge one's interests.

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shadowgovt
The sheer volume of user-generated traffic on Facebook suggests that plenty of
people are willing to dedicate quality time to it.

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nl
I believe this is the post:
[https://www.facebook.com/SingaporeHerald/posts/2400459390172...](https://www.facebook.com/SingaporeHerald/posts/2400459390172238)

For me it isn't showing any notice, but I'm not based in Singapore.

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sebastiangraef
Nothing with my Singapore VPN location either.

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cow9
This is what it looks like:
[https://imgur.com/a/yLD5sLn](https://imgur.com/a/yLD5sLn)

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thundergolfer
A clear example of how speech on Facebook has everything to do with power and
money and nothing to do with the principled defending of speech because (as
Zuck said) “The ability to speak freely has been central in the fight for
democracy worldwide".

Facebook might have actually had its hands tied here, but the point is that
content on Facebook is subject to the influence of power and money, _not_ the
influence of principles.

At least the notice is "X says Y is false" rather than "Y is false".

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sojmq
What exactly are Zuck's options in this situation?

If anything this shows he's right: look at what happens when you have no
freedom of speech.

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wavefunction
Freedom of speech has nothing to do with private platforms that are subject to
market effects. Zuckerberg's claims that corporations can and will guarantee
free expression is obviously not true.

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nrp
Freedom of speech as a legal concept certainly impacts platforms. Platforms
can choose to enforce their own rules that are more restrictive than strictly
what the law requires, and in doing so they are making market-based choices.
However, they can’t choose a set of rules _less_ restrictive than what is
legally allowed in a jurisdiction and expect to still be able to do business
for long. You could claim that’s a market decision too, but it’s one driven by
laws around freedom of speech.

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timonoko
What is this secret channel governments use to reach Facebook? And why only
some governments can do it? Germans have won dozens of court cases against
Facebook, for example in election meddling, while in smaller countries there
simply is no legal entity called "Facebook" you could sue in local courts. I
just wish Germans would win one case in European Union election meddling, then
we would have EU-wide legal precedence.

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dplgk
Does Facebook have an office in Singapore? How is FB "legally required" to do
something because of Singapore law?

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ylyn
Yes.
[https://opencorpdata.com/sg/201004959C](https://opencorpdata.com/sg/201004959C)

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9nGQluzmnq3M
Discussion about Singapore making the request:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21661958](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21661958)

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dang
Also
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21626540](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21626540)

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hiccuphippo
I wonder if the government of Singapore has created a Ministry of Truth to go
on Facebook and mark posts as fake.

