Cambodia to monitor news and social media to prevent fake news

The government of Cambodia has issued a prakas (regulation) ‘to prevent … the spreading of information whether in the form of text, voice, picture, video or other media that would cause chaos and threaten national security and defence, harm relations with other countries, the national economy, public order, and discriminate against the cultural integrity of the country’, according to The Phnom Penh Post’s Government Beefs up Internet Surveillance. According to a government official cited in the Southeast Asia Globe, the degree was not a crackdown, nor had anything to do with the upcoming elections. However, Free Malaysia Today called it ‘the government’s latest move to control information ahead of a general election in July’. Staff from three government ministries would monitor content, and ISPs will also be required to filter or block any content that violates the law.