Re:Google halts political ads in Singapore as election looms...
by drak0n1c on Wednesday December 04, 2019 @03:33PM
(#21706606)
Even with a fully private corporate-owned media industry, banning political advertisement can very well not be politically neutral.
If the most dominant media (visible above-the-fold by default on phones, computers, TV) predominately favors a specific political party - then the opposing and third parties will lose the ability to have their say heard via ads.
> In an election with the media totally dominated by the state, alternative parties would have no ability to educate and inform the voters of Singapore in the run up to the elections if we are not able to use Google’s advertising platforms...
The situation is markedly different from the one in the USA, where the media is not state owned. Therefore banning political advertisement in the USA is politically neutral, whereas banning political advertisement in Singapore obviously aids the incumbent People’s Action Party and is not politically neutral.