05 November 2018
Guidelines on how to spot fake news are being developed by the government to teach people about media literacy and defend themselves against online falsehoods. These guidelines will help educators, trainers, and teachers teach students to spot fake news and perform fact checking.
The national framework for media literacy is being developed by the Ministry of Communications and Information with the National Library Board, the Infocomm Media Development Authority and the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore.
A select parliamentary committee report that detailed 22 recommendations on how Singapore should deal with online falsehoods and their dire ramifications.
The committee has called for increased efforts to nurture an informed public and promote a culture of fact checking.
According to Minister for Communications and Information S. Iswaran, an informed public is the first and most important line of defence against fake news.
Mr Iswaran said that as part of the effort to educate people, we need to gain an understanding of trends and technologies, Internet usage patterns, and the opinions and concerns of citizens.