Chilling Effects Puns

ChannelNewsAsia

Nusantara

Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia adopt POFMA-like legislation against online misinformation and falsehoods; opposition and activists denounce "chilling effect"

Misinformation is dangerous. Take care before you share.

^^(This ^^is ^^a ^^legally-required ^^notice ^^under ^^the ^^Protection ^^from ^^Online ^^Falsehoods ^^and ^^Manipulation ^^Act)

03.05.2022 09:37AM

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JAKARTA: Over the last week, the governments of Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia have adopted POFMA-like legislation aimed at countering online misinformation, falsehoods, and foreign manipulation on social media.

POFMA stands for the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act, and was enacted in Singapore in 2019.

Under the new legislation, national authorities will be able to respond to fake news or false information through a graduated process of enforcing links to fact-checking statements, censorship of websites or assets on social media platforms, and criminal charges.

>>PM Lee: People can make up their minds on which is which and the truth will come out, I hope. One could hardly ask for greater transparency.

In Malaysia, Brunei, and the autonomous Indonesian province of Aceh, related legislation has also been adopted to expand the scope of censorship rules to cover blasphemy against Islam, pornographic content, and incitement to apostasy.

The Masjlis Persekutuan has welcomed the new legislation, noting that countering online disinformation and foreign manipulation on social media aligns with the Satacila - Six Pillars of National Defence whole-of-society defence concept. Specifically, this legislation falls under the pillars of Social Defence, Psychological Defence, and Digital Defence as outlined in the latest national defence white paper.

>>[*GALLERY: Singaporeans are no strangers to legally-required Tweet and Facebook Post notifications under POFMA

Legal actions can cause people to not exercise lawful rights for fear of potential legal repercussions.

Related Examples:

• Surveillance Programs - “Edward Snowden disclosed in 2013 that the US government's Upstream program was collecting data on people reading Wikipedia articles. This revelation had significant impact the self-censorship of the readers, as shown by the fact that there were substantially fewer views for articles related to terrorism and security.”

Related Quotes:

• “Under observation, we act less free, which means we effectively are less free.” ~ Edward Snowden

Related Remedies:

• Sensitivity to Fairness - Humans are very sensitive to perceived violations of fairness, often leading to reciprocal action and distrust, despite the inherently fickle nature of what is considered fair.
• Inversion - Think through the problem both backwards and forwards.
• Second-Order Thinking - Think further ahead, analyzing both the immediate consequences and the subsequent effects of those consequences, by asking the question: “And then what happens?”

Related Concepts:

• Incentives - Contingent rewards are one of the most powerful drivers of behavior.
• Unintended Consequences - Purposeful action can often produce unexpected and unintended negative outcomes, especially in complex systems.
• Third Rail - “Any issue so controversial that it is ‘charged’ and ‘untouchable’ to the extent that any politician or public official who dares to broach the subject will invariably suffer politically.”
• Prior Restraint - “Censorship imposed, usually by a government or institution, on expression, that prohibits particular instances of expression.”
• Self-Censorship - “The act of censoring or classifying one's own discourse. This is done out of fear of, or deference to, the sensibilities or preferences (actual or perceived) of others and without overt pressure from any specific party or institution of authority.”
• Overton Window - “The range of policies politically acceptable to the mainstream population at a given time.”

Related Resources:

• Chilling Effect