Fake News Legislation in Hong Kong: The Limitations of Current Laws to Counter the Fake News Wildfire

Abstract

Hong Kong government is planning to legislate a new law that can fight against digital wildfire fake news. Hong Kong has faced two waves of fake news digital wildfires in the past few years: The 2019 social unrests in Hong Kong and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. The city has witnessed how fake news can undermine social trust and social cohesion, causing large-scale damage to both societies and governments. Fake news brings substantial damage to society due to the erosion of the credibility of governments, rule of law, and the democratic system’s human security. The government’s announcement of legislation has received criticisms and objections. One of the main objections is that the current laws are sufficient to combat against fake news, hence new legislation is not necessary. Yet, our study shows the contrary. We studied laws that have been used by the prosecution to deal with publication and speech related public-order crimes, which are within the Hong Kong National Security Law, the old common law offence Outraging Public Decency, and Crime Ordinance. The study results show that those laws are either outdated or applicable to deal with current fake news problem. Therefore, we argue that a contemporary fake news legislation is indeed needed, but the government should study thoroughly about how the new law can strike an equilibrium between civilian’s freedom and public safety. Keywords: Fake news; Public-order crimes; Criminal liability; False information; Freedom of speech.