to clarify false information on matters of public interest (Lee 2017). In 2018, the Myanmar Ministry of Communication and Transportation created a social media monitoring team (Situ 2018). In 2017, the MCMC in Malaysia launched an online portal called Sebenarnya.11 The website contains fact checks and enables the public to verify news (Hassan 2017). The government of Vietnam launched its Anti-Fake News Center in January 2021 (Diep 2021). The army of Vietnam also has an online information warfare unit called Force 47, which consists of thousands of soldiers who, in addition to their normal duties, are tasked with setting up, moderating and posting on pro-state Facebook groups, to correct “wrong views” online. According to a Reuters review of provincial-level state media reports and broadcasts by the army’s official television station, Force 47 has since its inception in 2016 set up hundreds of Facebook groups and pages, and published thousands of pro-government articles and posts. (Pearson 2021) The Indonesian Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies (Kominfo) has undertaken a variety of initiatives on mis- and disinformation. This includes a war room which uses both humans and AI tools to detect content (Basu and Tay 2020). A task force to deal with “fake news” was also created in Laos in 2021 (Thanabouasy 2021). Sri Lanka’s Media Center for National Development also contains a fact-checking unit. This department falls under the Ministry of Mass Media. There has been some criticism of state-backed task forces. For example, Facebook took the following actions against Force 47 in Vietnam: After being approached by Reuters this week, a Facebook source said the company had removed a group called “E47”, which had mobilised both military and non-military members to report posts they did not like to Facebook in an effort to have them taken down. The source said the group was connected to a list of Force 47 groups identified by Reuters. A Facebook spokesperson confirmed that some groups and accounts were taken down on Thursday for “coordinating attempts to mass report content.” A company source said the action was one of Facebook’s largest takedowns initiated under its mass reporting policy. (Pearson 2021) Concerns about the Thai government’s approach (and the approach of other Asian governments) have been raised by the Office of the United Nations I N FO R M ATI O N D I SO R D ER IN THE GLOBA L SOUTH High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): In Thailand, the Anti-Fake News Center of the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society and the Technology Crime Suppression Division of Royal Thai Police are conducting joint operations to address social media content deemed to be “disinformation” in the COVID-19 context. There are concerns that people raising legitimate issues of public interest related to COVID-19 are also being targeted, and such action may create an atmosphere of self-censorship. One example is a Thai artist arrested on 23 April for posting concern about the apparent lack of screening measures in Suvarnabhumi airport upon his arrival from abroad on 16 April. He was released on bail and has since been indicted. (OHCHR 2020) In Pakistan, pro-government “fact checkers” have engaged in online harassment of journalists who have criticized the government, and these journalists’ reporting has been labelled “fake news” (Jahangir 2021b). INTERNET SHUTDOWNS AND WEBSITE BLOCKS Tackling fake news and hate speech has become a common reason that governments advance for shutting down the internet and blocking certain websites. A report by Access Now records that 196 internet shutdowns took place worldwide in 2018, with Asia and Africa being the most affected regions. “Fake news” or “hate speech” was the third most common justification provided by governments (Taye and Access Now 2018). For example, in 2018, the Sri Lankan government blocked access to Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Viber in the aftermath of anti-Muslim mob violence (Goel, Kumar, and Frenkel 2018). In December 2018, mobile operators were instructed by the telecoms regulator of Bangladesh to shut down high-speed mobile internet services until midnight on election day. The reason given was “to prevent rumors and propaganda surrounding the vote” (Reuters 2018). In 2018, in Tripura, India, the government blocked SMS, mobile internet, and data services for twenty-eight hours. A news article from The Economic Times reported that the director general of police sought the blocking of these media following an incident where a person was lynched by a mob who suspected him of being a child kidnapper (Singh 2018). A 2020 article by Human Rights Watch observed the following in relation to Myanmar: Asia – 2 1 6