ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship Crackdown on Freedom of Expression on Grounds of Combating False Information: Introducing the Anti-False Content Bill SIM Card Registration Act: Threatening the Right to Free Expression, Especially for the Most Vulnerable During the 18th Congress from July 2019 to 2022, On Oct. 10, 2022, President Marcos Jr. signed the several bills were introduced to empower authorities SIM Card Registration Act into law. The Act obliges to issue content takedown orders, “rectify” false or all persons to register their SIM cards using their misleading content, or to block websites without identification details and sign up for social media judicial oversight and procedural safeguards. 25 accounts using their real names.28 The deadline was One of them, known as the Anti-False Content bill, originally Apr. 26, 2023, but the government extended prescribed offences which could be penalised by up it to Jul. 25 just one day before that. While the law to 20 years’ imprisonment and a maximum fine of is intended to curb the problem of online scams, 26 PHP 1 million ($20,000). Among other things, the human rights observers have expressed concerns bill prohibits the posting on one’s personal account, that data collected under the law could be used to or on a “fictitious” or anonymous website, of content further persecute perceived state enemies, including known or believed to contain “information that is journalists and human rights defenders.29 Requiring false or that would tend to mislead the public.” people to register their SIM cards can also contribute The provision of services or funds to assist in the to the digital divide and it creates an additional step creation or publication of such content is likewise in acquiring a mobile connection. This can pose a penalised. challenge, particularly for people who already face 27 barriers to accessing mobile networks, such as those in rural or remote areas with limited infrastructure.30 “ The threat of [farmers, fisherfolk, and people in the countryside] losing their access to their SIM and other social media is a direct attack [on] their right to be heard, be informed and communicate. - Danilo Ramos, Chairperson of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas 220 Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia