A tale of two pandemics: Fake news and COVID-19

Robert Brian Smith; Nucharee Nuchkoom Smith

A tale of two pandemics: Fake news and COVID-19

Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences -- formerly Kasetsart Journal (Social Sciences), Volume 043, Issue 3, July 2022- September 2022, Pages 677-682

ISSN: 2452-3151(0125-8370)

DOI: doi.org/10.34044/j.kjss.2022.43.3.19

Robert Brian Smith^a, Nucharee Nuchkoom Smith^b,*

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^aSchool of Law, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales 2351, Australia

^bDepartment of Law, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Management Sciences, Kasetsart University (Chalermphrakiat Sakon Nakhon Province Campus), Sakon Nakhon 47000,Thailand

^*Corresponding author, e-mail: nucharee_nuchkoom.s@ku.ac.th

Abstract

Whilst fake news has been around since the time of Aesop and, COVID-19 has been around for over two millennia less, they joined ranks in 2020. This paper looks at the interface between fake news and governments’ responses to the COVID-19. It compares the approaches of Australia, Singapore and Thailand. Australia relies on a non-legislative approach, where the major digital service providers sign an industry code of practice that must meet the Australian Communications and Media Authority guidelines. As of mid-2021, Twitter, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Redbubble, TikTok, Adobe, and Apple have signed the industry code of practice. In addition, online advertising that does comply with the requirements of the Therapeutic Drugs Administration can result in sanctions and financial penalties. Australians need to check for the required information on the appropriate government website. Singapore is one of a small number of countries that has specific anti-fake news legislation. Its fact-checking site does not appear to be widely used. Thailand uses its more overarching cybercrime legislation, which does not define fake news. It has developed a comprehensive social media monitoring organization to identify fake news. In addition, it has a website that citizens can check whether news on social media is correct or not. This site has proven extremely popular with several million hits since it commenced operation in late 2019. The paper examines the efficacy of each of the approaches in controlling the twin pandemics.

Keywords

COVID-19 pandemic, cybercrime, fact-checking sites, fake news, hate speech

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A tale of two pandemics: Fake news and COVID-19

Abstract

Keywords

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