Thailand proposes initiative against fake news in Southeast Asia

Thailand is proposing that tech companies set up centres in each ASEAN member nation to curb the flow of fake news and fake accounts.
Thailand proposes initiative against fake news in Southeast Asia ảnh 1Illustrative image (Source: internet)

Hanoi (VNA) - Thailand is proposing that tech companies set up centres in each ASEAN member nation to curb the flow of fake news and fake accounts.

The initiative came after a meeting between Takorn Tantasith, secretary-general of Thailand's National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, and representatives from tech firms, including tech giants such as Facebook, messaging app operator Line Corp, Amazon and Netflix.

Takorn said Thailand has proposed that OTT companies set up a centre to verify news. Such centres will work as a shortcut for governments to flag misinformation more easily to providers of over-the-top (OTT) service, thus providers can remove inappropriate contents in line with the direction of authorities.

According to Takorn, the above-mentioned coordination and verification centres will also support a plan by Digital Economy and Society Minister Puttipong Punnakanta to prioritise anti-fake news efforts and regulate content on websites and social media.

In July, Puttipong said that he would set up a fake news centre to take down fabricated and wrong news on social network.

The proposal was made in the context that the ASEAN Telecommunication Senior Officials' Meeting is scheduled to take place this week in Bangkok to set out regional general principles, including tax policies, to manage OTT platforms.

Recently, other Southeast Asian governments have also taken efforts to stricter manage online content as well as applied strong measures to deal with fake news.

Singapore passed an anti-fake news bill in May, forcing online media platforms to correct or remove content the government considers to be false.-VNA
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