From Anti-"Fake News" To Anti-"Disinformation":Research On The Legal Regulation Of Disinformation

With the development of network technology,fake news has gone far beyond the scope of traditional media and portals,and is rampant in global social media.Countries all over the world are faced with the evil impact of fake news and are trying to find effective ways to curb its spread.Promulgating a special anti-fake news bill and adopting legal regulation measures are one of the main methods adopted by various countries.However,from the context of traditional media to the context of social media,the concept of fake news is no longer sufficient to explain the complexity of the communication status of social media.As a result,there is an extension from “fake news“ to “disinformation“ conceptually,and there is also a change from “anti-fake news“ to “anti-disinformation“ in legislation to regulate fake news.According to incomplete statistics,there are currently 10 countries in the world that have clear regulations or written laws regulating false news or disinformation.However,most of the bills proposed by countries since 2019 are aimed at combating disinformation.The object of legal regulation has changed from false news to disinformation.In many laws,the《Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Bill 》(POFMA)passed by Singapore in May 2019 has attracted more global attention and more controversy.The bill is longer in length,larger in volume,and specific in terms,and has far-reaching influence among similar laws.Malaysia,which belongs to the same country as Singapore in history,abolished the《Anti-Fake News Act 2018》,which provided lessons for Singapore’s legislation to regulate disinformation.The paper takes Singapore as an example to discuss the reference significance of Singapore’s legislative experience for the regulation of disinformation.In particular,Singapore and China are geographically close,culturally connected,and has close economic exchanges.For China,which is also confronted with the problem of disinformation,Singapore’s experience in regulating disinformation can provide some reference value for China.Based on an “ all-aspect,all-process and multi-level “ analysis of POFMA’s legislative process,regulatory measures,legal practice and external evaluation,this paper explores the controversial points and existing problems of POFMA in combination with the current hot spots that are widely concerned by the international community.During the COVID-19 pandemic,Singapore promptly issued POFMA directives,quickly dispelled rumors and corrected disinformation,and was hailed as a positive model in terms of openness and transparency in response to the epidemic.This paper focuses on the legal practice and effectiveness of the bill during the epidemic,and summarizes the experience of Singapore in regulating disinformation: First,a relatively complete legal system;Second,the law enforcement is transparent,the establishment of a hierarchical punishment mechanism,the third is to strengthen information disclosure and emphasize the role of education.However,a single method cannot solve the problem of disinformation,and no country has established a long-term regulatory system.Especially after the global experience of the “infodemic”,the author believes that strengthening international cooperation and coordination,building a coordination mechanism,and establishing a long-term regulatory system integrating legal,administrative,technical,and educational means are the future directions for curbing disinformation.