SINGAPORE -The proposed law against fake news was passed on Wednesday (May 8) after a marathon two-day debate in Parliament.

At the end of Wednesday’s session which stretched past 10pm, the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Bill was passed with 72 Members saying “yes”, all nine Members from the opposition Workers’ Party (WP) saying “no”, and three Nominated MPs (NMPs) abstaining.

The Members who voted for it included all the People’s Action Party MPs present in the House, and several NMPs. The three NMPs who abstained were Anthea Ong, Walter Theseira and Irene Quay, who had failed in their effort to make some amendments to the Bill.

WP chief Pritam Singh, whose party had strenuously objected to the law for giving ministers too much power, called for a division in which each MP’s vote was recorded.

During the debate, Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam set out the rationale for the proposed law, which has come under fire from some segments for giving ministers powers to decide first what falsehood was, and how to tackle it.

Under the law, a minister decides whether to act against a piece of falsehood on the Internet, and can order that it be taken down or ask for corrections to be put up alongside it.

The WP’s position is that the courts, and not ministers, should be the arbiter of falsehoods. It also took issue with the definition of falsehoods and public interest and accused the Government of creating a self-serving law that can be abused to quash critics.

In response, Mr Shanmugam said it is impossible to guarantee that the courts can decide in “a matter of hours” whether something is a falsehood and how to tackle it.

He also referred to one of the principles set out by a parliamentary Select Committee last year, which stated that the measures need to be taken in a matter of hours to achieve the aim of stopping falsehoods going viral.

The Bill, more than a year in the making since public consultation started in January last year, has been one of the most scrutinised pieces of legislation in recent years.

More than 30 MPs spoke about it over two days of debate.

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