While the Asia-Pacific region is home to a wealth of constructive traditions and practices, it is also confronted with the conundrum of how to protect freedom of expression at the same time as tackling hate speech which is rampant today. A morass of laws of a prohibitive and inhibitive kind are emerging, entrenching censorship and self-censorship, especially in the face of more authoritarian trends, rather than a broader range of actions to respect a diversity of opinions and to counter incitement to hatred.
That legalistic panorama overplays the claim of national security, fake news, misinformation and disinformation ("information disorder") to enact a vast panoply of laws which fail to comply with international standards. The litany of laws invites vigilance: the computer crimes law, online falsehood law, anti-fake news law, electronic transaction law, telecommunications law, internet gateway law, cybersecurity law, emergency decree, martial law, and national security/internal security law. To these can be added the ominous provisions of the Criminal Code in some settings, such as on sedition, lese majeste and criminal defamation.
