The correction label was published at the bottom of the original post without any corrections to the original text.
Facebook said on Saturday that a corrective label had been issued on a user’s post as requested by the city-state’s government, but added that a balanced approach should be taken to a new ‘fake news’ law, which covers statements that are communicated in the city even if they are published abroad.
On Friday, the Singapore authorities said that they requested Facebook “to publish a correction notice” on a 23 November post, published by Australian citizen Alex Tan running on the States Times Review blog, which contained allegations about the arrest of a supposed whistleblower and election fraud.
The microstate’s government, which is expected to announce general elections within months, had declared that the allegations were “false” and “scurrilous” and ordered the user to correct the post on his own. Upon Alex Tan’s refusal to obey, the authorities launched an investigation against him.
According to Facebook’s ‘transparency report’, it often blocks content that national governments allege violate local laws, with nearly 18,000 cases globally in the first half of the year.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
