Stopping the lies, half-truths and smears

THIS WEEK'S TOPIC: Should Singapore introduce a law to deal with online falsehoods? How else could we stem the scourge of fake news?

John Bittleston Founder & Chair Terrific Mentors International Pte Ltd

THERE has always been "fake news"aka "lies". There has never before been the ability to distribute it as widely as the Internet can. Transparency is good but proliferation of lies is bad.

Commercial fake news can already be handled in court. It seldom is. When it is, sentences are generally light and penalties are more financial than personal.

There should be a law against fake news with, perhaps, a special court to deal with it. If t…