5/27/22, 7:10 PM Faster facts: The rapid expansion of fact-checking – News in Asia Singapore’s fact-checking project Factually is arguably the most established and perhaps the longest-running government initiative in Asia. 5 Founded in 2012 by the Ministry of Communications and Information, its dedicated webpage has been publishing articles to clarify what it deems ‘widespread or common misperceptions’ since, particularly about government policies and other matters concerning the public interest. 6 Coupled with a controversial new law called the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act, introduced in late 2019, the government’s heavy-handed measures have faced many critics. 7 But with the spread of potentially life-threatening falsehoods about Covid-19, many Singaporeans also support these state-led initiatives. Thailand In November 2019, the Thai government launched the Anti-Fake News Center to monitor and flag a wide range of online content, raising concerns over censorship. A representative from the centre – the only survey respondent from a government-run organisation – said more than 400 people are involved in their fact-checking across the country. Given its track record for stifling criticism of the state and monarchy, government involvement in Thailand is contentious. In September 2020, the country took legal action against Facebook and Twitter for ignoring the government’s requests to take down certain content. It is not clear how much ‘fake news’ flagged by the project was involved in the litigation. 8 Meanwhile, Twitter announced a month later that it had identified more than 900 accounts linked to the Thai Royal Army that were engaging in ‘information operations’ targeting ‘prominent political opposition figures’. 9 India In India, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) within the Information and Broadcasting Ministry began an operation called PIB Fact Check in December 2019. While its reach and impact remain to be seen, India has the most vibrant community of independent fact-checking organisations in Asia, with more than a dozen outlets certified by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN). Many of them had been operating for years before this new governmental player came into the picture. Malaysia A government portal called sebenarnya.my, launched in 2017, has reportedly been the only well-known, dedicated fact-checking effort in Malaysia until recently. The website, which is run by the Ministry of Communication and Multimedia, has proven to be popular 10 : one media researcher found online traffic to sebenarnya.my’s Facebook page surged more than sixfold in 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic. 11 In addition, the 53-year-old government-owned news agency Bernama founded a fact-checking unit called MyCheck in March 2020. It now has one editor and four fact-checking reporters. According to their survey response, the unit enjoys editorial independence from the rest of the news operation. Vietnam Vietnam’s Anti-Fake News Center launched in January 2021, dealing in the first instance with Covid-19 misinformation. Much like the Thai centre with the same English name, this initiative is a large-scale state operation. In Vietnam, all media organisations belong to the state. Although one major news daily, Tuoi Tre, has been publishing fact-checking stories regularly for the last four years, the media environment does not allow politically sensitive matters to be investigated by journalists. While there have been some grassroots efforts – for example 1856AA, a Facebook page in Vietnamese that launched in October 2020 to verify social media content – the new government initiative is likely to dominate the field given restrictions on press freedom. Indonesia, Taiwan and China Not all journalists consider cooperating with the authorities counterproductive to the journalistic mission of fact-checking initiatives. Respondents to the fact-checking survey indicated that, depending on the circumstances, working with the government may be necessary and helpful in some situations. https://newsinasia.jninstitute.org/chapter/faster-facts-the-rapid-expansion-of-fact-checking/ 4/13