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Official Truths in a War on Fake News: Governmental Fact-Checking in Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand
[journal article]
Abstract This article analyses the practice of state-operated fact-checking websites in Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. It is the first empirical study of governmental news corrections in Southeast Asia and covers more than 2,700 official posts published by Malaysia’s Sebenarnya.my, Singapore’s Factually,... view more
This article analyses the practice of state-operated fact-checking websites in Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. It is the first empirical study of governmental news corrections in Southeast Asia and covers more than 2,700 official posts published by Malaysia’s Sebenarnya.my, Singapore’s Factually, and Thailand's Anti-Fake News Center. It finds that correction practices across the sites mainly function to sustain the salience of a supposedly constant and omnipresent fake news threat. Assuming an important role in strategic political communication, official fact checks accompany domestic fake news discourses that prepare the ground for restrictive legislation. At the same time, the analysis did not reveal any propagandistic abuse as the sites refrained from excessively defending governments and accusing political opponents. This finding is qualified regarding Singapore’s Factually that recently changed its approach towards targeting government critics personally.... view less
Classification
Media Contents, Content Analysis
Free Keywords
Malaysia; Singapore; Thailand; fake news; online falsehoods; governmental fact-checking; propaganda; discourse
Document language
English
Publication Year
2021
Page/Pages
p. 340-371
Journal
Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 40 (2021) 2
ISSN
1868-4882
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed