TY - JOUR
T1 - Lesser evil? Public opinion on regulating fake news in Japan, South Korea, and Thailand – A three-country comparison
AU - Cheng, John W.
AU - Mitomo, Hitoshi
AU - Kamplean, Artima
AU - Seo, Youngkyoung
N1 - Funding Information:
The survey in this study was a part of a research project funded and conducted by Mitomo Lab at Waseda University. An earlier version of this paper was presented under the title ‘The lesser evil? Public opinion towards regulating fake news in three Asian countries’ at the International Telecommunications Society (ITS) Europe 2020 Conference held online on 14–17 June 2020 (Cheng, Mitomo, Seo, & Kamplean, 2020). We would like to express our gratitude for all the comments we received in the conference. We would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments, and Dr Nicholas A. R. Fraser for proofreading the manuscript of this paper.
Funding Information:
The survey in this study was a part of a research project funded and conducted by Mitomo Lab at Waseda University . An earlier version of this paper was presented under the title ‘The lesser evil? Public opinion towards regulating fake news in three Asian countries’ at the International Telecommunications Society (ITS) Europe 2020 Conference held online on 14–17 June 2020 ( Cheng, Mitomo, Seo, & Kamplean, 2020 ). We would like to express our gratitude for all the comments we received in the conference. We would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments, and Dr Nicholas A. R. Fraser for proofreading the manuscript of this paper.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2021/10
Y1 - 2021/10
N2 - This study quantitatively examines and compares public opinion on regulating fake news, and factors affecting the opinion in three Asian countries: Japan, South Korea, and Thailand. Based on the third-person effect, it is hypothesised that the perceived harm of fake news on society increases people's support for fake news regulation. In parallel, according to the lesser evil principle, it is also anticipated that people will be less supportive of regulating fake news if they are aware that there are other non-regulatory counter fake news solutions such as fact-checking. Using original survey data collected from the three countries (n = 5218) and multi-group SEM, it is found that while the first hypothesis holds for all three countries, the second one holds only for Japan and South Korea (the two mature democracies), but not for Thailand (the semi-democratic country). This finding implies that the lesser evil principle also applies in Asian countries, but only in mature democracies where freedom of speech is protected.
AB - This study quantitatively examines and compares public opinion on regulating fake news, and factors affecting the opinion in three Asian countries: Japan, South Korea, and Thailand. Based on the third-person effect, it is hypothesised that the perceived harm of fake news on society increases people's support for fake news regulation. In parallel, according to the lesser evil principle, it is also anticipated that people will be less supportive of regulating fake news if they are aware that there are other non-regulatory counter fake news solutions such as fact-checking. Using original survey data collected from the three countries (n = 5218) and multi-group SEM, it is found that while the first hypothesis holds for all three countries, the second one holds only for Japan and South Korea (the two mature democracies), but not for Thailand (the semi-democratic country). This finding implies that the lesser evil principle also applies in Asian countries, but only in mature democracies where freedom of speech is protected.
KW - Fake news
KW - Fake news regulation
KW - Lesser evil
KW - Multi-group SEM
KW - Public opinion
KW - Third-person effect
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U2 - 10.1016/j.telpol.2021.102185
DO - 10.1016/j.telpol.2021.102185
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85107644998
VL - 45
JO - Telecommunications Policy
JF - Telecommunications Policy
SN - 0308-5961
IS - 9
M1 - 102185
ER -
