PREFACE Information manipulation has become an issue of growing political and human rights concern. In Asia, fake news has been increasingly used as an instrument to influence public behaviors, polarise societies, exacerbate ethnic conflicts, draw support of religious ideologies, manipulate election results and incite public fear, hatred and violence. In the age of social media, the easy production of user-generated contents, the anonymity of social media accounts, the rapid distribution of online information and the many-to-many communication structure of the Internet made social media platforms breeding grounds of fake news. According to We Are Social report 2019, 2.2 billion people in East, Southeast and South Asia use the Internet with penetration rates at 60%, 63% and 42%, respectively. Among the Internet users, social media use by those aged 13 or above is 82% in East Asia, 78% in Southeast Asia and 31% in South Asia. Even though internet penetration and social media usage in South Asia is much lower than East and Southeast Asia, it is rising fast making the three regions as host to the largest number of social media users worldwide. With such massive use of social media, fake news has become a significant challenge and is being prioritised as a problem to be solved. Apart from revising or enacting new laws, governments, civil society groups, technology companies and private entities are looking at fact-checking, media literacy programs and algorithm adjustments as possible solutions to fake news. However, these measures to date have largely been seen as ineffective and on many occasions infringing on freedom of expression. To navigate fake news in Asia and seek sustainable solutions to combating disinformation, Asia Centre, in collaboration with 12 partners, namely Faculty of Communication Arts, Chulalongkorn University; the Thai Media Fund; School of Media, Languages and Cultures, University of Nottingham, Malaysia; NSHM Knowledge Campus-Kolkata; Media Studies and Journalism Department, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh; The Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats; International Center for Not-for-Profit Law; Law Faculty, University of Jember; International Republican Institute; HIVOS; the Friedrich Naumann Foundation; the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy; as well as individual researchers and interested parties, convened the International Conference on Fake News and Elections in Asia in Bangkok, Thailand on July 10-12, 2019. In these two days, a total of 13 panels, 46 presenters and over 80 participants discussed historical backgrounds of ethnic, political and religious violence, as well as the current phenomena of digital disinformation in Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Estonia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand, United Kingdom and the United States. The discussion highlighted the role and effectiveness of fake news legislation and if it empowers the governments to silence critics and induces media self-censorship. Non-legal measures such as media literacy and fact-checking were also touched upon in the conference.

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