Charles Mok discusses the challenges with laws around misinformation, fake news, and harmful content globally. He notes that determining what is fake news or misinformation is difficult, as is deciding who should make that judgment. Laws introduced in Germany to stop hate speech have been copied by authoritarian regimes to censor dissent. Similarly, India's new IT rules give the government broad powers to censor content deemed unlawful on social media. Attempts to regulate disinformation raise issues around freedom of expression and the risk of increased censorship. Overall, the presentation cautions that establishing authorities to determine disinformation is problematic and enforcing such rules is not straightforward.

1. Charles Mok | Tech for Good Asia | 7th HKIGF | Sep 15 2021
Misinformation, Fake News and
Harmful Content Laws in the
World
“They may sound the same, look the same, yet they’re not the
same, but they can be just as misguided.”

2. What fake news?
• Whose fake news?
• Purveyors of fake news usually believe
they are the victims of fake news
• Who to judge?
• Government?
• Court?
• Everyone?
• Fact-checkers?
Fake news

3. There can be severe
consequences

4. • Original intention was to stop
hate crime against immigrants,
and Nazi sympathisers.
• What a pandora’s box.
Made in Germany?
A case of unintended
consequences
https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/11/06/germany-online-crackdowns-inspired-the-worlds-dictators-russia-venezuela-india/

5. • From “free” countries
(France, UK, Australia,
Canada) to “partly free”
(Kenya, India, Singapore,
Malaysia, Philippines) and
“not free” (Honduras,
Venezuela, Vietnam,
Russia, Belarus) and more
to come
The accidental
German export
http://justitia-int.org/the-digital-berlin-wall-how-germany-created-a-prototype-for-global-online-censorship/

6. https://www.legco.gov.hk/research-publications/english/2021in14-measures-to-tackle-disinformation-in-selected-places-20210623-e.pdf

7. https://www.legco.gov.hk/research-publications/english/2021in14-measures-to-tackle-disinformation-in-selected-places-20210623-e.pdf

8. https://www.legco.gov.hk/research-publications/english/2021in14-measures-to-tackle-disinformation-in-selected-places-20210623-e.pdf

9. • India’s new Information Technology Rules, announced
in February and enacted on May 26:
• Give the central and local governments power to
discretionarily categorize certain posts, tweets and
other content as "unlawful," and to force telecoms and
online services to take o
ff
ending opinions down.
• Forces online platforms and telecoms to obey
takedown orders regarding content and posts
deemed "unlawful," without specifying conditions
— de facto state censorship of speech and
expression.
• Requires messaging apps like Facebook's
WhatsApp to provide information about the "
fi
rst
originator" of problematic messages.
• Mandates "signi
fi
cant social media intermediaries"
-- Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and others -- to
appoint an Indian resident as a chief compliant
o
ffi
cer, who the clause says will be criminally liable
for violation of the rules — a government-held
hostage to enforce takedown orders.
India taking it further
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/pranavdixit/india-threatens-twitter-jail
https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Comment/Indian-leaders-fail-to-understand-danger-of-new-IT-rules

10. https://nationalpost.com/opinion/np-view-justin-trudeau-liberals-pose-
a-direct-threat-to-free-speech-in-canada https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2021/08/identify-and-disrupt-bill-australia-passed/

11. Disentangling Disinformation: Not as Easy as it Looks
….and that is to put it very mildly
1. Disinformation is not always simple to identify.
2. Tasking an authority with determining disinfo has serious downsides.
3. Enforcing rules around disinformation is not an easy task.
By Jillian York, EFF, https://www.e
ff
.org/deeplinks/2021/07/disentangling-disinformation-not-easy-it-looks

12. Consultation? What consultation?
Meanwhile, in Hong Kong

13. • “At its most basic, the rule of law
is a tool to protect citizens
against their Government – to
ensure it does not treat them
unfairly, or arbitrarily deprive
them of their rights. But what is
the point of this system of
protection if it can then be
undermined by a government
unwilling to respect people’s
human rights?”
Rule of Law should
protect people, not
government
Anna Dannreuther, https://eachother.org.uk/explainer-rule-law/

14. Every country’s own Ministries of
Truth?
Charles Mok
@charlesmok
facebook.com/CharlesMokO
ffi
ce/
linkedin.com/in/charlesmok/
Becoming 1984?