Strengthening Civil Society Against the Weaponization of Anti-Fake News Laws: A Comparison of Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Thailand

Our research questions are on how governments broaden the definition of
disinformation through their practice of anti-fake news laws; the common patterns and mechanisms of governments’ use of anti-fake news laws against civil society actors; civil society responses across countries, and policy recommendations for digital platforms and decision-makers to counter disinformation without abuse of anti-fake news laws.

Our contributions are:
(a) Create the first systematic online tracker of governments’ misuse of anti-fake news laws in the three focus countries, which can be replicated and scaled-up.
(b) Map civil society responses against anti-fake news laws.
(c) Analyse regional patterns and trends and provide comparative insights.
(d) Analyse evolving definition of disinformation and impact of such laws through state practices and civil society responses, mechanisms for improving platform governance on counter-disinformation, and legal and policy checks against abuse of fake-news laws against critical information actors.