Users, Technologies and Regulations: A Sociotechnical Analysis of False Information on MIMS in Asia

Abstract

This chapter identifies three understudied but crucial macro factors that affect the problem of false information on mobile instant messaging services (MIMS) in Asia. First, Asia has a predominant and rising “mobile-first, mobile-centric” user demographic that may be particularly vulnerable to false information. This is largely due to poor digital literacy skills, and an unconscious and continued entrenchment of digital illiteracies afforded by mobile devices, such as the routinising narrow information-seeking and information verification practices. Second, the rise of super-apps (especially those with instant messaging functions) in Asia may worsen the microtargeting of false information, especially under the region’s weak data and privacy protection regimes. Furthermore, as super-apps become more deeply embedded in people’s lives, people’s increased reliance on and trust in these platforms may make them less critical of the information that they receive. Third, relying on legislation to combat false information poses both legitimacy and practical challenges to governments in Asia, leading to unintended and paradoxical outcomes that compromise the effectiveness of such solutions.