Singapore Fake News Law: POFMA



POFMA no. 79: 5 Nov 2024


POFMA order issued over 40 social media posts on drug trafficking, executions in Singapore
By Nadine Chua, The Straits Times, 5 Nov 2024

Targeted correction directions under Singapore’s fake news law have been issued to tech giant Meta after several individuals reposted falsehoods on drug trafficking and executions on its platforms.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said on Nov 5 it was aware of 10 Facebook and 30 Instagram posts containing the false statements made by the Transformative Justice Collective (TJC), an activist group urging the abolition of the death penalty.


MHA did not name the individuals who reposted the falsehoods on Oct 23 and Oct 24.

The TJC posts contained false statements relating to the scheduling of executions in Singapore and the prosecution of drug trafficking charges, said the ministry.

TJC was required to insert a correction notice under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) about its posts, stating that they contained false statements. It complied by Oct 6.


Referring to the 40 reposts, MHA said: “By reposting the TJC posts, those individuals had chosen to communicate falsehoods that they knew or should have known contained false statements.”

MHA hence instructed the Pofma Office to issue targeted correction directions to Meta Platforms, requiring the tech firm to alert users who have seen the reposts that they contain false statements.


The clarification sets out the falsehoods and facts for the public to examine, without requiring the original posts to be removed, said MHA.

“Readers can read both the original posts and the facts, and decide for themselves what is the truth,” it added.

This comes after anti-death penalty activist Kokila Annamalai, 36, was referred to the Pofma Office for investigation for defying an order to carry a correction notice in her social media posts about the legal processes for death row inmates.


MHA said on Oct 31 that Ms Kokila chose not to comply with the correction direction issued on Oct 5 despite repeated reminders.

She also did not challenge the correction order in court, even though she is entitled to do so if she believes she did not put out any falsehoods.

Under Pofma, individuals found guilty of failing to comply with a correction direction without a reasonable excuse can be fined up to $20,000, jailed for up to a year, or both. Individuals convicted of communicating a false statement of fact can be fined up to $50,000, jailed for up to five years, or both.








POFMA no. 78: 11 Oct 2024


Targeted POFMA order for Meta and X after activist fails to comply with previous correction direction
Activist Kokila Annamalai was issued a POFMA order on Oct 5 for posts she had made on Facebook and X.
Channel NewsAsia, 11 Oct 2024

Two social media platforms have been issued with targeted correction directions under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) after an activist did not comply with a POFMA order issued to her last week.

Activist Kokila Annamalai was issued the order on Oct 5 for posts she had made on Facebook and X.

The posts falsely stated that “the government schedules and stays executions arbitrarily and without regard for due legal process, and that the State does not bear the legal burden of proving a drug trafficking charge against the accused person”, said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday (Oct 11).

An article on the government fact-checking website Factually explained further why the assertions made by Ms Annamalai were false.


Under the order, Ms Annamalai was required to put up a correction notice on the two posts but she has not done so.


The targeted correction order requires Meta and X to alert users who have seen the posts that they contain false statements, it said.

It also requires the platforms to provide users with the link to the article on Factually, said the ministry

MHA said it would refer Ms Annamalai to the POFMA Office for "investigations into her non-compliance with the correction direction that was issued to her on Oct 5".




POFMA no. 77: 9 Oct 2024

FACTUALLY: Corrections regarding false statements concerning the legal processes for Prisoners Awaiting Capital Punishment and treatment of anti-death penalty activists

Regional anti-death penalty network issued POFMA order over false claims
By Wong Pei Ting, Correspondent, The Straits Times, 9 Oct 2024

The Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (Adpan), a Hong Kong-founded network of organisations and individuals advocating for the death penalty to be abolished in the Asia-Pacific, has been issued a correction order under Singapore’s fake news law.

It was over falsehoods contained in its Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn posts on Oct 3 about Singapore’s legal processes for death row prisoners and the treatment of activists who speak up against the death penalty.

The posts were put up a day before drug trafficking convict Mohammad Azwan Bohari was scheduled for execution. Azwan was convicted and sentenced to death on Feb 11, 2019, for possessing not less than 26.5 grammes of pure heroin.

The social media posts by Adpan claimed, among other things, that the burden of proof placed on Azwan was unjust, that sentencing in Singapore is arbitrary, and that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had ignored ongoing legal battles by going ahead with executions.

The posts also stated that the authorities have targeted one of Adpan’s member organisations, Singapore-based activist group Transformative Justice Collective, for speaking out against the death penalty, along with others who participated in vigils.

In its statement on Oct 9, MHA said the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) direction was to address two false statements of fact.

These are that the state carries out executions without regard for due legal process, and that the Government targets, silences and harasses the Transformative Justice Collective and other individuals for speaking against the death penalty.



In addressing the first claim, MHA said Azwan was accorded due legal process “at all stages”. It went on to list appeals and legal applications relating to his case, starting with the appeal following his conviction that the Court of Appeal had dismissed on Oct 24, 2019.

After his two bids for clemency failed, Azwan was given notice on April 12, 2024, that his execution would be scheduled on April 19.

MHA said that at that point, Azwan was involved in only one pending court application. He and other death row prisoners had sought a declaration that the policy of not assigning counsel under the Legal Assistance Scheme for Capital Offences (Lasco) for post-appeal applications was unconstitutional.

Lasco is a scheme run by the Supreme Court that offers free legal counsel for those charged with capital offences, regardless of nationality.

However, MHA said the Lasco application did not seek a stay of execution, and it was only on April 16 – three days before the execution date – that Azwan filed a criminal motion to the Court of Appeal seeking a stay of execution. The appellate court then ordered a stay of execution on April 17, pending the Lasco application’s outcome.

The High Court later struck out the Lasco application on May 20, with the Court of Appeal later stepping in to dismiss the subsequent appeal of this application on Sept 9.

Ten days later, on Sept 19, Azwan and 30 other death row prisoners filed an application challenging the constitutionality of certain provisions introduced under the post-appeal applications in Capital Cases Act 2022.

But MHA pointed out that this was a civil application which had no bearing on Azwan’s conviction or sentence. The application also did not seek a stay of execution, it added. Azwan was thus given notice on Sept 30 that his execution was scheduled on Oct 4.

Again, three days before his scheduled execution on Oct 1, Azwan filed another application for a stay of execution, citing the pending civil application and his intention to file a “review application” against his conviction, MHA said.

Pointing out that the appellate court dismissed this application on Oct 3, MHA said the court had stated, in its judgment, that Azwan’s “intended review application (had) no prospect of success whatsoever”, and that nothing was raised to call into question the correctness of the applicant’s conviction and sentence.

On the claim that it silences dissent around the anti-death penalty cause, MHA said action is taken against organisations and individuals who spread false information about the death penalty, where it is in the public interest to do so. This is what has been done in the case of the Transformative Justice Collective.

The group was issued with several Pofma correction directions as its false statements “cast serious aspersions on the Government and the criminal justice system, and could undermine public confidence in public institutions”, MHA said.

MHA also stated that the orders did not contain a requirement for the text of the group’s original posts to be removed or altered. “Readers can still read the falsehoods, and consider the Government’s clarifications alongside it,” it said.

With the Pofma order, Adpan will now be required to carry a correction notice on its Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn posts.




POFMA no. 76: 5 Oct 2024


Activist group issued POFMA order over false claims on legal steps for death row prisoners
The Straits Times, 6 Oct 2024

Activist group Transformative Justice Collective (TJC) has been issued a correction order over statements made concerning the legal processes for prisoners awaiting capital punishment and the prosecution of drug trafficking charges in relation to Mohammad Azwan Bohari.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Oct 5 said it has instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) Office to issue correction directions to TJC and one Kokila Annamalai; and for a targeted correction direction to be issued to TikTok Pte Ltd.

The false claims were made in a TJC article published on its website on Oct 2, and on the group’s Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X accounts the same day.

Kokila posted the claims on her Facebook page on Oct 2, and on X the next day.


MHA said they had falsely claimed that the Government schedules and stays executions arbitrarily and without regard for due legal process, and that the State does not bear the legal burden of proving a drug trafficking charge against the accused person. “An execution will only be scheduled when a prisoner has exhausted all rights of appeal and the clemency process in relation to his or her conviction and sentence,” said the ministry.

Azwan was convicted and sentenced to five years’ jail and five strokes of the cane for trafficking methamphetamine and diamorphine, and for consumption of methamphetamine and morphine, and possession of cannabis, cannabinol derivatives and diamorphine in 2009.

He was released from prison in October 2014.

MHA said he was arrested for drug trafficking again on Oct 17, 2015 and underwent trial in the High Court where he was accorded due legal process.

“After the trial, on Feb 11, 2019, Azwan was convicted and sentenced to death for possessing not less than 26.5g of diamorphine (i.e. pure heroin) for the purpose of trafficking.

“This is almost two times the amount that would attract the death penalty as stipulated in the Misuse of Drugs Act 1973, and would have been sufficient to feed the addiction of about 320 abusers for a week,” said MHA, which added that his appeal against his conviction and sentence was dismissed by the Court of Appeal on Oct 24, 2019.

Azwan’s applications for clemency were denied by the President on March 23, 2020 and on June 15, 2022.

MHA said since his appeal was dismissed in October 2019, Azwan has been a joint applicant with other death row prisoners in three legal proceedings, all of which were dismissed by the High Court or the Court of Appeal.

The ministry said that he had one pending court application, which did not seek a stay of execution, on April 12, 2024 when he was notified of his execution, which was scheduled for April 19.

After failing in earlier legal proceedings, he was notified that his execution was scheduled on Oct 4. On Oct 1, he filed another application for a stay of execution, which was dismissed by the Court of Appeal.

“It is clear from the full facts provided above that it is false and misleading to suggest that executions are scheduled or stayed arbitrarily by the State.

“In fact, the postponement of the first scheduled execution occurred due to Azwan’s own act of filing a last-minute application to seek a stay of execution,” MHA said.


The ministry added that the prosecution always bears the legal burden of proving its case against an accused person beyond a reasonable doubt.

At Azwan’s trial, the prosecution called witnesses to prove the trafficking charge, and also presented his statements to officers from the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB), where he admitted that all the drugs were meant for sale.

MHA said that Azwan did not dispute that the drugs that were found in his possession belonged to him, but denied that they were all for trafficking.

The High Court found his claims at trial were contradicted by his own detailed admissions in his statements to officers from CNB, and was satisfied that the prosecution had proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt.


“TJC will be required to carry correction notices on its website and alongside its Facebook, Instagram and X posts, and create a new TikTok post containing a correction notice.

“Kokila will similarly be required to carry the correction notice on her Facebook and X posts. TikTok will also be required to communicate a correction notice to all end users in Singapore that had accessed the TikTok post,” said MHA.

TJC, a Singapore-based group urging abolition of the death penalty, was previously issued two correction orders in August 2024 over false claims on the treatment of death row prisoners.





POFMA no. 73: 26 Aug 2024


POFMA correction order for blogger Leong Sze Hian over post on housing grants
By Ng Wei Kai, The Straits Times, 26 Aug 2024

Blogger and financial adviser Leong Sze Hian has been issued a correction directive by the Government under Singapore’s fake news law over false statements he made on housing grants.

Mr Leong had stated in a Facebook post on Aug 21 that there is no means testing for grants given for the purchase of resale Housing Board flats.

He said: “Why are we giving more help to arguably, richer people, to buy more expensive resale flats, relative to poorer people who may only be able to afford BTO (Build-To-Order) flats?”

His statement on housing grants for eligible first-time home buyers of resale flats is false and misleading, said the Ministry of National Development (MND) in a statement on Aug 26.

Minister for National Development Desmond Lee had instructed the Pofma (Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act) Office to issue a correction direction for this post, it added.

This means Mr Leong will be required to insert a notice against his original post, with a link to the Government’s clarification.



HDB’s resale grants for families who are first-time buyers comprise the Enhanced CPF Housing Grant (EHG), CPF Housing Grant (CPF HG) and Proximity Housing Grant.

Both the EHG and the CPF HG are means-tested, MND said.

The EHG is progressively tiered so that lower-income buyers receive more support.

“This will ensure that those in need will receive more help. With the recent enhancements, first-timer families can receive up to $120,000,” the ministry said.

Only eligible first-time home buyers of resale flats with monthly household income not exceeding $14,000 qualify for the CPF HG, and they may receive $80,000 if buying a two-room to four-room resale flat, or $50,000 if buying a five-room or bigger resale flat, it added.


MND said: “HDB’s housing grants provide direct and targeted support to first-time home buyers to afford their homes, with more support for lower- to middle-income households.”

The public can refer to the article “Corrections regarding Means-testing of HDB Resale Grants in Facebook post by Mr Leong Sze Hian on 21 Aug 2024” on Factually – the government website for debunking disinformation – for the facts of the case, it said.

In 2019, Mr Leong was sued by then Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong for sharing an article from Malaysian news site The Coverage on his Facebook page, which falsely linked Mr Lee to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad corruption scandal.

In 2021, he paid Mr Lee $262,327.22 for defamation, after raising the amount through crowdfunding. The amount comprised $133,000 that High Court Judge Aedit Abdullah had ordered Mr Leong to pay in damages, including aggravated damages, and a further $129,327.22 in costs.




POFMA no. 72: 26 Aug 2024


WP politician Yee Jenn Jong issued correction direction over statements on MND’s role in AHTC saga
By Ng Wei Kai, The Straits Times, 26 Aug 2024

Former Non-Constituency MP Yee Jenn Jong has been issued a correction direction under Singapore’s fake news law for statements on the long-running Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) saga.

The case concluded in July, when AHTC and Sengkang Town Council dropped their claims for damages and costs in civil suits against the leaders of the Workers’ Party (WP). Mr Yee is a WP member who has previously served as party treasurer and was most recently fielded in the 2020 General Election contesting Marine Parade GRC.

The suits had charged that WP leaders, including party chief Pritam Singh and chairwoman Sylvia Lim, breached their fiduciary duties as town councillors.

Protracted legal proceedings eventually found that WP town councillors did not owe AHTC fiduciary duties, among other findings, but also that the town councillors were negligent in allowing conflicts of interest to persist at AHTC.

Mr Yee on July 25 and 27 published posts on his Facebook page about the Ministry of National Development’s (MND) basis and motivation for actions taken against AHTC.

In his post, Mr Yee said the comments were his personal ones as a ringside observer because he never held any appointment in AHTC nor was he involved in any of the decision-making.



These statements are as follows:

First, that MND was wrong to call in external auditors.

Mr Yee’s reasoning was that it was Action Information Management’s (AIM) termination of the Town Council Management System (TCMS) on insufficient notice and handover issues with the previous PAP-controlled Aljunied Town Council that led to AHTC’s failures in reporting to MND and its audit findings. The WP had won Aljunied GRC from the People’s Action Party (PAP) in the 2011 General Election.

The PAP-owned AIM became a source of controversy due to its dealings with town councils.

Second, that MND’s decision to withhold grants from AHTC, call in external auditors, and call for an independent panel were politically motivated and not based on legitimate concerns.

Third, that MND withheld grants from AHTC in order to put pressure on it to appoint an independent panel or face potential bankruptcy.

Fourth, that MND had decided on the independent panel members.

National Development Minister Desmond Lee has instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) Office to issue Mr Yee a correction direction, MND said.

On the first statement, MND said Mr Yee’s claim that the ministry was wrong to call in external auditors was false.

MND had called for further audit checks by the Auditor-General’s Office (AGO) in 2014 and accounting firm KPMG in 2016 because AHTC’s own auditors had flagged many issues with its financial and accounting systems, raising serious questions about whether public funds were properly applied, it said.

It added: “MND therefore had legitimate and sufficient basis to call in the external auditors.”

MND added that AHTC’s auditors – Foo Kon Tan Grant Thornton – had submitted a disclaimer of opinion for AHTC’s financial statements for two consecutive years between 2011 and 2013.

“Such disclaimers of opinion by auditors are highly unusual and serious matters,” MND said.


Foo Kon Tan Grant Thornton highlighted several failures on AHTC’s part, including failing to transfer $12.46 million into its sinking fund.

A special audit conducted by the AGO in February 2014 found that AHTC had several lapses in governance and compliance with the Town Councils Act (TCA) and Financial Rules.

It also found that until AHTC addressed these weaknesses, there could be no assurance that its accounts were accurate and reliable, or that public funds were properly spent, accounted for and managed.

AHTC then appointed KPMG as its independent accountant to identify its non-compliances with the TCA, MND said.

On Mr Yee’s statements regarding AIM, MND said: “There is no reasonable basis to suggest that AIM’s termination of the TCMS contract on insufficient notice or handover issues had caused all the TC’s process and system weaknesses.”

Mr Yee had said in a Facebook post on July 25 that AIM had the ability to deny a town council the use of the computer software in opposition-run wards with very short notice.

He added: “With information failure, AHTC started to fail reporting to MND and with their audits. Other issues could also have been related to a poor handover between the outgoing PAP TC and the WP TC.”

In response, MND said several of AHTC’s lapses were inherent to AHTC rather than due to AIM’s termination of the TCMS or handover issues in 2011.

MND said that based on KPMG’s findings, the root causes of AHTC’s lapses related to its governance framework and policy management, accounting practices, and the accounting system used to record and account for the town council’s transactions, among other things.

In December 2014, AHTC said its failure to report its service and conservancy charge arrears to MND was due to it not being able to use AIM’s TCMS.

MND noted, however, that AHTC had submitted its monthly arrears reports for 19 months from October 2011 to April 2013 without using AIM’s TCMS.

MND also noted that AHTC asked for extensions to use AIM’s TCMS on two occasions, which AIM agreed to.

“Given that both requests for extension were acceded to and AHTC did not request any further extension, there is no basis for alleging that the TCMS was terminated on insufficient notice,” it said.

On the statements that MND’s actions were politically motivated and that it had withheld grants to pressure AHTC to appoint an independent panel, the ministry said these are also false.

It said: “If left unaddressed, this falsehood calls into question the integrity of MND and other agencies which were involved in looking into the matter of AHTC.”

MND added that it acted because of the many audit concerns raised by AHTC’s own auditors and the AGO, and was fulfilling its statutory responsibility under the TCA by doing so.

MND noted that it had disbursed all withheld grants in April 2016, before the independent panel was formed in February 2017.

It is also false that MND decided on the panel members, the ministry said.

Mr Yee had, in his July 27 post, said: “The panel members have to be appointed from a shortlist given by the Government.”

MND said AHTC had appointed Senior Counsel Philip Jeyaretnam to chair the panel in 2017, and allowed him to decide on the other two members as appropriate, or pick one from a shortlist by AHTC and the other from an HDB shortlist.

It added that the panel did not take any direction or instruction from the Housing Board, MND or any other person, and that it was independent and impartial, and as an agent for AHTC was supposed to act in its best interests.

Mr Yee has put up correction notices on his Facebook posts.




POFMA no. 71: 11 Aug 2024


2nd POFMA order issued to activist group in August 2024 over false claims on treatment of death row prisoners
By Ang Qing, The Straits Times, 11 Aug 2024

A Singapore-based activist group urging abolition of the death penalty has been issued its second correction order in August over false statements about the treatment of death row prisoners here.

On Aug 11, Minister for Home Affairs K. Shanmugam instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) Office to issue a correction order to Transformative Justice Collective for social media posts on Aug 6.

This comes after the group was issued an order on Aug 8 under Singapore’s fake news law concerning posts on a Singaporean who was executed on Aug 2.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Aug 11 said professional networking platform LinkedIn also has to put up a correction notice on a post on its platform by self-styled whistle-blower Julie O’Connor, who shared the group’s Aug 6 claims.


MHA said the Pofma direction was made to address two false statements of fact in the Aug 6 social media posts concerning executions in Singapore, which could erode public trust in the Government and the judiciary.

First, the group had falsely claimed that the executions of two Singaporean death row prisoners on Aug 2 and Aug 7 were scheduled without regard for due legal process.

Second, the group and LinkedIn user had falsely claimed that the state uses capital punishment to arbitrarily decide whether people live or die.

The Aug 6 posts by the activist group claimed that the state had denied both men the opportunity to see through ongoing legal proceedings that they were involved in.

MHA said Singapore’s criminal justice system requires every accused person facing a capital charge to go through a full trial.

In its Aug 8 statement, the ministry said an execution will be scheduled only when prisoners on death row have exhausted all rights of appeal and the clemency process.


MHA had detailed the Aug 2 prisoner’s case history in its earlier statement. This included how three of his review applications had been dismissed.

Laying out the case history of the prisoner who was executed on Aug 7, MHA said the Singaporean was arrested on Oct 24, 2017, and convicted over having 35.85g of diamorphine, or pure heroin, for the purpose of trafficking.

This is more than two times the threshold to warrant the death penalty, and would have been sufficient to feed the addictions of about 430 abusers for a week, it added.

The man underwent trial in the High Court in 2019 and 2021, before being sentenced to death on Aug 10, 2021.

On May 11, 2022, the Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal against his conviction and sentence.

His application for clemency was denied by then President Halimah Yacob on Oct 14, 2022, and again on Nov 22, 2022, when another clemency petition was submitted on his behalf.

He then filed a legal review application, which was dismissed on Feb 28, 2023.

Another legal application, which the man filed jointly with other death row prisoners, was dismissed in March 2024. The Court of Appeal found that this application was an abuse of the court’s process, noted MHA.

On July 31, the man was given notice that his execution was scheduled for Aug 7. At the time, he had one pending civil appeal, which was made together with other death row prisoners.

On Aug 5, he filed a notice to withdraw the civil appeal, which the court accepted on the same day.

Hence, there were no ongoing legal proceedings involving the prisoner when his execution was carried out on Aug 7, MHA added.


Transformative Justice Collective had also claimed in its posts that the death penalty has “never been about justice or the safety and well-being of Singaporeans, but about demonstrating state power so extensive that it can control whether people live or die”.

Outlining the legal foundations and processes for those sentenced to the death penalty here, MHA said Singapore’s laws are not made arbitrarily, nor are they enforced arbitrarily.


With the Pofma order, the group is required to carry correction notices alongside its Facebook, Instagram and X posts on Aug 6.

In 2023, the group had also been required to insert a correction notice for another social media post about the death penalty, and failed in its application against the order.




POFMA no. 70: 8 Aug 2024


Activist group issued POFMA order over false claims about treatment of death row prisoners
By Wong Pei Ting, Correspondent, The Straits Times, 9 Aug 2024

A Singapore-based activist group pushing for the death penalty to be abolished here has been issued a correction order for posts making false and misleading statements about the treatment of death row prisoners.

On Aug 8, Minister for Home Affairs K. Shanmugam instructed the Pofma Office to issue a correction order to the Transformative Justice Collective group concerning an article published on its website on Aug 1, as well as social media posts made on the same day on its Facebook, Instagram and X accounts.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) direction was to address four false statements of fact in the group’s posts.

First, that the execution of a Singaporean death row prisoner on Aug 2 was scheduled without regard for due legal process. Second, that such prisoners are denied legal counsel in court proceedings, and have to rush to prepare and argue their own cases, which are deliberately scheduled to be heard at short notice.

Third, that scheduled executions are arbitrarily stayed at the last minute. And fourth, that the state arbitrarily makes laws in relation to the death penalty.



This is not the group’s first brush with Singapore’s fake news law. In May, MHA had also issued it a correction direction, which required the group to insert a correction notice at the top of an April 23 Facebook post, stating that the post contained a false statement of fact.

The Aug 1 posts by the activist group had claimed that the notice period given to the death row prisoner was shorter than the seven days usually granted, as his execution notice was issued on July 29 to inform him and his family that his execution was scheduled for Aug 2.

The posts also claimed that his execution was scheduled before the court judgment was out, and went on to state that, as abolitionist activists, the group has borne witness to “plenty of abuse and contempt”. This includes expediting legal applications to mere days, as well as putting prisoners with no legal counsel, resources or legal training in the position of rushing to prepare and argue their own cases against state prosecutors, the group said.

In its statement, MHA said it is false and misleading to suggest that the execution of the man in the offending posts was scheduled without regard for due legal process. The man had been found in possession of 36.93g of heroin for the purpose of trafficking back in 2016.

He was afforded due legal process, the ministry said, adding that an execution would be scheduled only when a prisoner had exhausted all rights of appeal and the clemency process.

The death row prisoner’s case history

Laying out the man’s case history, MHA said he was arrested on April 12, 2016, underwent trial in the High Court in 2018, and was convicted and sentenced to death on Feb 15, 2019.

He subsequently appealed against his conviction and sentence, but had the application dismissed by the Court of Appeal on Nov 25, 2019.

He also had his application for clemency denied by then President Halimah Yacob on May 20, 2020.

Thereafter, the man went on to file three review applications, two of which were filed within days of his scheduled executions, MHA said.

He was first scheduled for execution on Sept 24, 2020, and filed his first review on Sept 22 that year. A day later, then President Halimah granted him an order of respite so the Court of Appeal could consider the application, but this application was dismissed on Oct 12, 2020.

He filed his second review application on April 19, 2024, seven days before his next execution date, and the Court of Appeal dismissed this application on May 21.

On June 27, he filed a third review application despite being statutorily prohibited from doing so. This application was dismissed, again by the appellate court, on July 30, MHA said.

On July 29, the man was indeed given notice that his execution was to take place on Aug 2 while two legal applications were still pending. These were his third review application and a civil appeal.

But MHA said the third review application, which was similar to the first two applications that were previously dismissed, was prohibited under the Criminal Procedure Code.

In any case, when the Court of Appeal dismissed this application on July 30, it found the application to be “totally without merit” and an abuse of court processes, the ministry highlighted.

The outcome of the civil appeal, on the other hand, would have had no bearing on the man’s conviction and sentence, MHA added. It noted that the Court of Appeal had confirmed this on Aug 2 before the man’s sentence was carried out.


MHA also said the man was not denied legal counsel at any stage. It pointed out that he was not only represented by counsel of his choice in all three review applications, but he was also represented by no fewer than eight lawyers throughout the legal proceedings.

The ministry also said that while the man was also a joint applicant with other death row prisoners for three other legal proceedings, these have all been dismissed by the High Court and the Court of Appeal as they were found to be unmeritorious.

Zooming out of the man’s case to address whether death row prisoners are fairly treated, MHA said some of them abuse the court process by deliberately and repeatedly filing last-minute applications to prevent the punishment from being carried out.

In such cases, the stay of execution, if granted by the court, is occasioned by the prisoner’s own decision to file applications at the last minute, and not given arbitrarily by the state, the ministry added.

And if the executions are stayed, they would be by reason of the prisoner’s own applications, it pointed out. “Where such applications are filed, the court will have to consider if there is merit in them,” it said.

The Transformative Justice Collective had claimed in its posts that new laws have been passed to make it even more difficult for death row prisoners to file post-appeal applications. MHA said all laws in Singapore are considered and enacted by the legislature, which comprises the Parliament and the president, according to proper legal process.

“Any law that is sought to be introduced or amended, must go through the parliamentary process and be assented to by the president, before it becomes law. Our laws are not made arbitrarily,” it said.

With the Pofma order, the activist group is now required to carry correction notices on its website and alongside its Facebook, Instagram and X posts.




POFMA no. 69: 1 Aug 2024


Property agent issued POFMA order over false claims about HDB’s ethnic integration policy
By Wong Pei Ting, Correspondent, The Straits Times, 2 Aug 2024

A property agent has been issued a correction order for a video that made false and misleading statements about the Housing Board’s Ethnic Integration Policy (EIP).

On Aug 1, Minister for National Development Desmond Lee instructed the Pofma office here to issue a correction order to Mr Shaik Amar for the eight-minute video, which the ERA property agent had first posted on his TikTok and Instagram accounts on July 24, and then on YouTube on July 25.


The Ministry of National Development (MND) said the video was misleading in a number of ways, and that the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) direction was to address two false statements of fact.

First, that the EIP offers no benefit to ethnic minority households and instead causes them significant financial detriment when they sell their flats.

Second, that the EIP was introduced in the 1960s and has not been changed to date.

In the video, Mr Shaik referenced the recent $1.73 million sale of a 45th-floor five-room HDB flat at the SkyOasis @ Dawson development in Margaret Drive, the estate where he also lives.

He called the EIP unfair, and posited that an ethnic minority flat owner would likely have to “give close to a half a million (dollar) discount to sell their house”, given the Chinese EIP limit.


Misleading to focus on point of resale: MND

In its statement, MND said the EIP benefits minorities in several ways. This includes ensuring that HDB sets aside a defined proportion of flats for the minority communities in all HDB neighbourhoods through its Build-To-Order and Sale of Balance Flats (SBF) exercises, and the open booking of flats.

“Without the EIP, there will be a significant risk that the proportion of owners from minority communities in much sought-after areas will be much less, even at point of sale by HDB,” said the ministry.

“The EIP, in this way, generally enables more persons from the minority communities to benefit when the flats are sold.”


It noted that the policy ensures that ethnic minorities continue to own HDB flats in different estates, including highly sought-after ones.

Without the EIP, over time, there will be fewer home owners from minority communities owning flats in such estates, which will be detrimental to these communities in a number of ways, the ministry added.

These include a reduced likelihood that there will be future owners from minority communities in such estates, who will thereby also not benefit from future increases in value, said MND.

Segregation also generally affects minority communities more than the majority, in this case, the Chinese, it added. “The effects of such segregation are bad and can be seen in many countries all over the world.”

MND pointed out that Mr Shaik himself had benefited from the EIP – without the policy, his household would not have been able to select an SBF flat.

During the SBF exercise where he had booked his SkyOasis @ Dawson flat, all minority first-timer applicants were invited to select a three-room flat in Queenstown, said MND.

In comparison, only about 40 per cent of Chinese first-timer applicants were invited to select a flat because of the Chinese EIP limit. MND noted that the value of flats at SkyOasis @ Dawson has since “appreciated significantly”.

“In this way the Government ensures the minority communities are also able to benefit from the increase in value that takes place when a flat bought from HDB is resold at a higher price,” said the ministry.


Measures to help the EIP-constrained

On the second falsehood, MND said the EIP was introduced in 1989 – and not the 1960s – to counteract the worrying trend of ethnic enclaves forming in certain HDB estates. For instance, there were neighbourhoods with a significant concentration of minorities, and others where more than nine in 10 households were Chinese.

Over the years, HDB has put in place a range of measures to assist EIP-constrained flat owners, the ministry added.

These include giving such flat owners more time to sell their existing flat if they have purchased another one, and waiving the EIP limits in exceptional circumstances.

In 2022, HDB also rolled out the EIP buyback assistance scheme to provide EIP-constrained home owners with a fallback option of selling their flats to HDB at a fair price, based on prevailing market conditions, said the statement.

Thus, Mr Shaik’s statement that the policy had not been changed since the 1960s is false, said MND.

To tap the buyback scheme, a household will need to have owned the flat for at least 10 years, and the flat should have been marketed at reasonable prices for at least six months. Those with extenuating circumstances can appeal to HDB for special consideration to waive these conditions, the ministry added.

Flats bought back by HDB in this way will be offered for sale through SBF exercises or open booking of flats, and the board will give a significant subsidy on the assessed market value of the flat in determining the sale price.

Where Chinese EIP limits are reached, only buyers from the minority communities will be eligible to buy such flats, and they will benefit from the subsidies like other buyers, added MND.


To comply with the Pofma order, Mr Shaik will have to carry correction notices on his TikTok, Instagram and YouTube accounts.

These notices will have to state that the video posted on July 24 and 25 contained false and misleading statements, and link to the Government’s clarification to let viewers consider both versions and draw their own conclusions, MND said.

As at Aug 1, Mr Shaik had taken down the clips on TikTok and Instagram, though the video remains on his YouTube account, MND noted. While Mr Shaik had removed the clips on TikTok and Instagram, there is a need to address the falsehoods that may have been circulating among the public as a result of the video’s publication, it added.

Reacting to the news, ERA key executive director Eugene Lim said its salesperson, Mr Shaik, was using his personal social media channel to disseminate his personal views on the $1.73 million HDB transaction. The property agent’s views do not reflect the company’s views, he stressed.

Mr Lim added that the company takes the Pofma order “very seriously”, and will be taking appropriate action. This includes re-emphasising to all ERA salespeople the importance of maintaining the highest standards of professionalism in all communications.




POFMA no. 68: 4 Jul 2024


Kenneth Jeyaretnam told to put up 8th POFMA correction notice, under probe for possible contempt of court offence
By Ng Wei Kai, The Straits Times, 4 Jul 2024

Reform Party chief Kenneth Jeyaretnam has been directed to put up his eighth correction notice under Singapore’s fake news law for false statements on government land sale prices and the transparency of its endowment and trust funds.

The direction was issued under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) on the instruction of Transport Minister and Second Minister for Finance Chee Hong Tat, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said on July 4.


It added that Mr Jeyaretnam is also under investigation by the Pofma Office for possible offences under Pofma, and by the police under the Administration of Justice (Protection) Act 2016, which governs contempt of court.

The authorities have been communicating with Mr Jeyaretnam since April and have invited him to assist with the investigations, it said. He has so far remained out of Singapore and has not attended any interviews to assist with investigations, it added.


It also claimed that endowment and trust funds are not transparent, and that the Government maintains a large land bank of heritage properties to keep land prices as high as possible, and preferably rising rapidly, as part of its strategy to boost reserves.



On the first claim, MOF said the price for sale of state land to HDB is not set by the Government.

Rather, it is the chief valuer that determines the sale price and fixes it with reference to the fair market value, it added.

The chief valuer is an independent office whose appointment requires the President’s concurrence, and whose professional assessment is made without influence from the Government, said MOF.

It determines the sale price based on established valuation principles, taking into consideration relevant resale transactions on the open market, and other relevant factors such as specific parameters of the site, it added.

MOF said: “Such valuation principles are similarly adopted by professional valuers in the private sector.”

On Mr Jeyaretnam’s claim that endowment and trust funds are not transparent, MOF said top-ups to the endowment and trust funds can be found in the revenue and expenditure estimates, also known as the Budget book, as well as the Supply Bill.

These are given to Parliament for approval.

MOF said the amount of top-up to each endowment or trust fund can be found in publicly accessible financial statements published by either the Government or other relevant public bodies.

Key expenditures making up the total outlay of each fund are also listed within the respective financial statement of each fund, it said.

On his final claim, MOF said the Government’s approach to land management is based on Singapore’s planning and development needs, and not to maximise land sales proceeds nor to increase the value of the reserves.

It added that certain properties in Singapore are not redeveloped but conserved because of their heritage and/or historical value.


Mr Jeyaretnam will be required to carry a correction notice, which states that the post contains false statements of fact and provide a link to the Government’s clarification.

MOF said: “This will allow readers to read both versions and draw their own conclusions.”

This is the eighth correction that has been issued to Mr Jeyaretnam for 21 online posts, MOF added.

Mr Jeyaretnam’s website, The Rice­bowl Singapore, and his accounts on social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly known as Twitter), and LinkedIn have also been designated Declared Online Locations under Pofma since December 2023 for carrying three or more different false statements that were subject to active Pofma directions.

Owners of Declared Online Locations are unable to profit from their websites, and the pages must carry a notice identifying them as such.

The notice also warns users that the owner has a history of communicating falsehoods online.

MOF said despite these actions, Mr Jeyaretnam has continued to make false and misleading statements about government policies and the operations of public agencies. This is despite publicly available facts and having the falsehoods and their corresponding facts pointed out to him, it added.

MOF said: “He has repeatedly made false statements, even when the facts are clear and should be known to him.”




POFMA no. 67: 29 Jun 2024



SDP issued POFMA order for comments about women charged over organising procession outside Istana
By Wong Shiying, The Straits Times, 30 Jun 2024

The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) has been asked to put up a correction notice under the law against fake news, over its statement claiming that three women were prosecuted for organising support for the Palestinian people in the ongoing Gaza war.

The SDP was issued a correction direction under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) on June 29 on the instruction of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

On June 27 and June 28, the SDP had put up a statement on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok commenting on the charges brought against three women who were allegedly involved in organising a procession without a permit along the perimeter of the Istana, which is a prohibited area.


In its statement, the SDP said the three women – Mossammad Sobikun Nahar, 25, Siti Amirah Mohamed Asrori, 29, and Annamalai Kokila Parvathi, 35 – were prosecuted for organising support for the Palestinian people and in doing so, expressed views the Government did not agree with.


Rather, MHA said the women’s charges concern the organising of an unauthorised procession in the vicinity of the Istana, in and of itself.

The ministry added that SDP also falsely claimed that Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam had made the decision to charge the three women when it was the Attorney-General’s Chambers that did so after reviewing the police’s investigative findings.

MHA said the minister does not make decisions relating to criminal prosecutions.



TikTok will be required to communicate a correction notice to all end users in Singapore that had accessed the SDP’s TikTok post carrying the falsehoods.

The three women were on June 27 charged with offences under the Public Order Act for purportedly organising the procession to show their support for the Palestinian cause, including soliciting attendance online.

Annamalai was charged with one count of abetment of organising a public procession in a prohibited area, while Mossammad and Amirah were each charged with one count of organising a public procession in a prohibited area.

MHA said any person who organises a public assembly or a procession in a designated prohibited area would have committed an offence, regardless of the cause or issue he or she is advocating.

Prohibited areas are security-sensitive areas, which include the Parliament House and the Supreme Court.

MHA said: “These laws exist to maintain the public peace and order which Singaporeans enjoy today.

“We only need to look overseas at countries which allow public protests and demonstrations to understand the disruption to daily lives, not to mention damage to properties and hurt to bystanders and participants that can result.”

The ministry added that the “very large majority” of views expressed by Singaporeans on the Israel-Hamas conflict have been done through lawful ways online, through forums and dialogues, and through donation drives.


MHA said: “The Government did not take any action against them, whether or not the views concorded with the Government’s position on the conflict.

“On the other hand, unauthorised public processions could result in public order, and safety and security concerns, and will not be allowed regardless of the cause, or which side the support is for.”

The ministry urged the public not to engage in activities that will damage Singapore’s peace, public order and social harmony.

“We should not deliberately break the law, even if to make a point. If we do so, eventually, we will become a lawless, unstable and disorderly society,” added MHA.









Five years of POFMA (2019-2024): How has the law been used to combat fake news?
By Goh Yan Han, Political Correspondent, The Straits Times, 15 Jun 2024

When a Facebook page made claims in April 2020 that the Singapore Government had covered up Covid-19 case numbers to reduce public panic, the authorities invoked the fake news law on the same day to rebut the falsehood.

It was one of the swiftest uses of the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) in the five years since the law came into force on Oct 2, 2019.

The Straits Times looked at every Pofma directive issued by the authorities since that date to understand what content might trigger a Pofma order, and how the Government might react to fake news from various sources – issues that saw robust debate ahead of the law’s passing.

Of 163 orders issued so far under the Act, over a quarter were related to the Covid-19 pandemic. The most orders issued in a year – 65 – was in 2020, when the pandemic started.

Much was at stake then, and the law allowed the Government to nip falsehoods in the bud quickly, experts told ST.

Pofma was passed in Parliament on May 8, 2019, and assented to by then President Halimah Yacob on June 3 that year.

It had been a long road to get to that point.

A select committee of 10 MPs was convened in 2018 to look into the problem of deliberate online falsehoods and recommend strategies to deal with them, after Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam floated the idea of a fake news law the year before.

The committee held public hearings over eight days in March that year, where academics, social media and mainstream media representatives, activists and others put forth their concerns. It also received 169 written representations from lawyers, journalists, businessmen, students and more, with the process culminating in a 279-page report.

Since then, Pofma has become so well known among Singaporeans that the law has become a verb. Then Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong referenced it as such at a conference in 2023, when he said: “We have a phrase called Pofma. It has become a verb, I can Pofma you.” And Facebook users sometimes joke to one another about being careful not to “kena Pofma”.

ST’s data set showed that Pofma was mostly invoked to deal with matters related to public health and public order, as well as trust in government functions.

Dr Carol Soon, principal research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, who was the first to present evidence at the 2018 hearings, said it was unsurprising that most of the directions issued fell into these two of the six clauses set out in Pofma legislation: those that are “prejudicial to public health, public safety, public tranquillity or public finances” and those that “diminish public confidence in the performance of any duty or function of, or in the exercise of any power by, the Government... or a statutory board”.

The other clauses relate to security, friendly relations with other countries, election influence and inciting enmity between different groups.

She also pointed out that most corrections in the former category were issued during the pandemic, with the aim of mitigating unnecessary panic and helping to sustain trust in the Government.

“Based on the sentiments shared online, there was support for the use of Pofma in those instances,” she said.

Pofma corrections in the second category, however, demonstrate the Government’s “consistent little tolerance for actions that potentially erode people’s trust in the Government’s integrity”.

Dr Soon noted that despite false statements of fact existing in many corners of cyberspace, actions are generally taken against prominent political figures and activists.

This indicates that the Government recognises the influence these opinion leaders wield in the public sphere, she said.

The prevalence of these two categories is also reflected when looking at which ministries were the source of the most Pofma orders – the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) has 24, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has 23, while the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has 22.

It is worth noting that MCI’s number is high because its minister is the one who issues directives for Declared Online Locations, disabling orders and access blocking orders, while the MOH and MHA numbers comprise various correction directions.

Among the ministers, Mr Shanmugam has issued the most Pofma directives – 28 – followed by Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Teo with 21 and Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung with 18.

The most common topic that Pofma orders were issued in relation to was Covid-19 with 44, followed by the Ridout Road saga in 2023 with 11, and 10 involving the 10 million population issue, which received attention during the 2020 General Election.

After 2020, the year with the next highest number of Pofma-related directives was 2023, with 43 instances that were due in part to orders related to Ridout Road and a large number of Declared Online Locations.

2020 was also the first time Pofma was used during an election, during which the alternate authority for the respective ministers – in this case, the permanent secretaries – issued the Pofma orders. There were 20 correction directions issued between the day the Writ of Election was issued and Polling Day.

While the use of Pofma in these cases gives a hint as to what the Government sees as critical issues that have to be addressed quickly, not all Pofma orders are issued immediately after the offending posts are made.

The data showed that the average period between a post being made and it receiving a Pofma order was about 6.25 days, though one day was the mode – or most common time period.

Much of the fake news related to Covid-19 – such as a false claim that Covid-19 had led to Woodlands MRT station being closed, or an alleged government cover-up of daily Covid-19 case numbers – was among those speedily refuted in a day or less.

The longest period to issue an order, barring certain outliers, was 40 days. This involved a blog post about Covid-19 vaccines by local author Cheah Kit Sun on Oct 20, 2021, that opposition politician Goh Meng Seng shared on the same day.

The duo were issued Pofma directives on Nov 29, 2021.

Associate Professor Chong Ja Ian from the National University of Singapore’s department of political science said the average of 6.25 days seems to be in some tension with the original promise of speedy responses.

“The lag in response time at a time when AI is rapidly enhancing the reach, spread and modification of mis- and dis-information calls attention to whether the response time for the usage of Pofma can keep up with the pace of technological change and the complications it brings,” he said.

The Pofma Office did not respond in time to ST’s queries, including how the appeals process is considered, how the law has regulated the fake news landscape here, and about those who incur Pofma directions repeatedly.

Worries about POFMA

During the 2018 select committee hearings, the concerns raised included difficulties in defining online falsehoods and whether such measures would impinge on free speech.

Others said social media firms needed to play a more proactive role in detecting and removing falsehoods for the law to be effective, and they believed this to be unlikely to happen. One expert even alleged a “pattern of denial and inaction” from these companies in tackling inappropriate content on their platforms.

Singapore Management University law don Eugene Tan said some concerns about Pofma – such as the law being a curb on freedom of speech, its use to deal with political dissent, and the risk of its being abused – will never go away.

“These legitimate concerns will have to be balanced against the reality that online falsehoods and manipulation have grown significantly since the select committee hearings,” he said.

It is no longer a question of why Singapore should have a law like Pofma, but how it can reap the benefits of Pofma while mitigating its downsides, he added.

Pofma becomes another tool in Singapore’s arsenal to better deal with truth decay, alongside laws such as the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act passed in October 2021 and those tackling online harms, said Professor Tan.

He added that it would seem that where the authorities are concerned, Pofma – in particular the correction direction – provides the legal institutionalisation of the “right of reply”​.

Associate Professor Alton Chua from Nanyang Technological University’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information said that when Pofma was first unveiled, there was palpable concern among academics about the law dampening public discourse and curtailing freedom of speech.

But the Government then gave the assurance that Pofma would not target the academic community, and that the law excluded opinion, criticisms, satire and parody, he noted.

“To the Government’s credit, the use of Pofma has been calibrated,” he said, though he added that it was hard to tell if academics had been “spared” or if it was due to a chilling effect of the law that caused academics to self-censor.

Prof Chong, who was among those who called for independent fact-checking platforms during the public hearings, told ST there still remains the question of potential abuse of Pofma by individuals holding political authority.

“To be clear, I am not necessarily talking about today, but citizens should be aware that political systems may be gamed by those with power. That could happen some day in Singapore, and to the degree that we have more safeguards put upfront we can reduce some of that future risk,” he said.

On the social media front, ST found that all online platforms that had been issued Pofma orders over the past five years had complied.

This included putting up notices to tell users that particular posts contained false information, blocking access in Singapore to certain pages, or alerting users that they had previously viewed clips that contained false information.


The platform that saw the most Pofma orders – whether the posts were made on that platform or if it was issued a targeted correction direction, among others – was Facebook with 110.

This was followed by individual websites at 44, X (formerly known as Twitter) with 18, Instagram with 10, TikTok with nine, LinkedIn with eight, HardwareZone with four, YouTube with three and Spotify with one.

While it complied, Facebook had at several points made known its grievances about the law.

For example, in February 2020, it was ordered to disable access to the States Times Review Facebook page for Singapore users.

A spokeswoman then criticised the order for being disproportionate and flagged concerns of the law’s potential overreach.

Facebook did not respond to ST’s queries.

Five years of data on Pofma and its application has shown that the authorities do not always go straight to asking social media firms to take action.

From what is publicly known about the Pofma process based on news releases issued by the authorities, the usual process begins with a correction direction issued to an individual or entity to tack on a correction notice to the post.

Typically, if this is not done within a day, a targeted correction direction is issued to the social media platform to tack on the notice of falsehood.

For a post made on a website, an access blocking order may be issued by the Infocomm Media Development Authority for internet service providers to block it directly if the correction direction is not heeded.

If the same entity has carried at least three different false statements of fact within six months, the minister for communications and information may then declare the platform to be a Declared Online Location.

This would mean the entity has to declare its new status publicly on the platform. It would also have to de-monetise its operations, as Pofma aims to prevent profiting from the communication of falsehoods.

The next step would be to issue a disabling order if the entity did not cooperate with declaring its Declared Online Location status. This would mean the social media platform has to restrict access to the page for Singapore users.

Of all the orders issued, 113 were correction directions, 20 were targeted correction directions and five were general correction directions. While a targeted correction direction tacks on a notice to an offending post, a general correction direction may be complied to by showing a prompt to all users on a newsfeed or through a notification.

There were four disabling orders, three access blocking orders and 16 Declared Online Locations.

However, it appears that Pofma is not necessarily the first line of defence.

In an October 2021 case involving activist Jolovan Wham, Mr Shanmugam issued a correction direction to Mr Wham for misrepresenting on Twitter what the minister had said in Parliament earlier that month.

In a statement that day, MHA said it had earlier issued letters to eight individuals and a Facebook page that published false posts misrepresenting Mr Shanmugam. The ministry said then that eight of the nine had since apologised and/or corrected their posts, apart from Mr Wham who was issued the correction direction.

Prof Tan said this case shows that the authorities are also looking at engaging those who publish falsehoods and appealing to their better angels to do what is right in respect of their misinformation or disinformation.

Even so, it appears some are not deterred.

Mr Alex Tan Zhi Xiang, who received Pofma orders directly and for five Facebook pages managed by him, such as the States Times Review, was the most frequent recipient of Pofma directives – with 27.

He is followed by alternative news site The Online Citizen, whose team later transitioned to Gutzy Asia when TOC was marked as a Declared Online Location – they had 21 in total.

The third-most frequent recipient was Reform Party chief Kenneth Jeyaretnam with 12.

Compiling the Pofma data also revealed different reactions from opposition politicians.

Mr Jeyaretnam complied with all directives – including that of declaring his five platforms as Declared Online Locations – and carried on posting.

The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) and its leader Chee Soon Juan have also had brushes with Pofma.

While they complied, they made clear publicly that they disagreed, and in several cases made appeals and went to court.

In one case that concluded in 2021, the Court of Appeal allowed the SDP’s appeal in part. It was a landmark decision for the court as it was the first-ever opportunity for it to consider the interpretation and application of Pofma since the law’s enactment.

The apex court established the constitutionality of Pofma, and also resolved conflicting High Court conclusions as to which party bore the burden of proof – the statement maker or the minister on whose authority the Pofma direction was issued.

Ultimately, the court concluded that it lay with the statement maker.

Another opposition politician who received a Pofma directive was Mr Leong Mun Wai of the Progress Singapore Party.

The Non-Constituency MP removed his post and in February 2024 stepped down as the party’s secretary-general to “take responsibility” for his Pofma order.

When asked about these different responses to Pofma, Prof Chong said it would depend on the information involved and the preferences of the individuals and entities.

“The larger point is that if Pofma is not seen to be evenly and impartially applied, with sufficient evidence for citizens to make independent assessments of each instance of Pofma application, cynicism surrounding the law could arise, reducing its effectiveness over time,” he said.

Prof Tan said a person who is serially Pofma-ed will have a credibility deficit and suffer reputational harm.

However, one challenge is that some may expect a statement is probably not false if it is not Pofma-ed.

The authorities will have to be judicious in the use of Pofma and use other means to deal with falsehoods, saving Pofma for the more egregious cases, said Prof Tan.


Concerns going forward

While Pofma directives have been issued to identifiable individuals and entities that have put forth misinformation and disinformation, Prof Chong said he was concerned about falsehoods that come from unknown origins.

For instance, some anonymous messages circulated during the Covid-19 pandemic alleged that the hygiene of particular races and ethnic groups contributed to the spread of the virus, propagated conspiracy theories about its origins, or listed folk remedies that could prove harmful.

“Despite the anxieties these narratives caused, it appeared that not much could be done about them – especially since there was no one to issue a directive against,” Prof Chong said.

Other growing concerns about Pofma’s effectiveness centre on the rise of artificial intelligence, with generative AI tools becoming easily accessible to the public, and with this, the potential for deepfakes to spread rapidly.

Dr Soon said that as the complexity and entanglement between truth and falsity increase, Pofma’s utility is likely to cease.

She cited her 2020 study on media and internet use during the 2020 General Election, which found that only 39 per cent of about 2,000 people surveyed were confident that regulations like Pofma reduced the amount of false information online during the election. In contrast, 41 per cent neither agreed nor disagreed, while the remaining 20 per cent disagreed.

“It suggests that members of the public understand the limitations of regulation, and that was before generative AI tools were made accessible to the masses,” she noted.

She pointed to the recent Indonesian election, where an AI-generated deepfake of late president Suharto endorsing particular candidates gained traction.

“When is a deepfake permissible and when is a deepfake not permissible? When does a deepfake cross the boundary from being creative to being unethical or deceptive? These questions require tackling issues relating to provenance and ethics of information production and dissemination, beyond what existing laws like Pofma address,” said Dr Soon.

Prof Chong said AI-generated visual, video and audio deepfakes, alongside algorithms meant to exponentially increase the reach of particular posts, can hasten the spread of information, including misinformation and disinformation.

Pofma may not work fast or precisely enough to address some of these instances.

“Going after entities and individuals or takedown orders may not be enough and may not be enough to replace transparency and education,” he said.

In today’s highly dynamic information environment, the risks of misinformation and disinformation are only likely to become more complex as conflicts and major power competition intensify, said Prof Chong.

“There may need to be multiple sources of independent fact-checking, greater data transparency to allow for pre-bunking – to pre-emptively debunk disinformation – and more extensive media literacy and civic education to better protect Singapore. These are approaches that Finland and the Baltics have tried with notable success even as they face a hostile information environment,” he added.

Prof Chua said correction directions are premised on the rationality of readers.

“The idea of juxtaposing a government statement against an offending article is so that readers can sensibly reject the alleged falsehood and embrace the truth. In reality, deep-seated beliefs and subjective sentiments cannot be shifted easily,” he said, adding that this is worsened by AI and deepfakes that make falsehoods more realistic and convincing.

At the end of the day, Pofma cannot be the only solution to combat falsehoods, he said.

“A holistic approach calls for the involvement of different stakeholders including civil society, fact-checkers, journalists and academic institutions. It is in every­one’s interest, not just the Government’s, to develop national resilience against falsehood.”




Govt to continue studying if levers beyond POFMA are needed to tackle deepfakes, online fake news
By Goh Yan Han, Political Correspondent, The Straits Times, 17 Jun 2024

As deepfakes, non-factual claims and other online harms become more prevalent in cyberspace, the Republic is growing its capabilities to tackle them.

This involves a continual study of whether new levers are needed, said spokespeople for the Ministry of Communications and Information and Ministry of Law on June 16.

In particular, artificial intelligence (AI) is being misused to create and spread misinformation and disinformation, to manipulate public opinion and influence election results, they noted.

Responding to questions from The Straits Times on the effectiveness of Singapore’s fake news law, they added that the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) can be used to address such issues “under some conditions”, but did not elaborate.

In an article on June 15, ST reported that five years after Pofma came into force, concerns are beginning to emerge over the Act’s effectiveness amid the rise of AI, with generative-AI tools becoming easily accessible to the public. These include whether the law will be able to work quickly or precisely enough to address instances of AI-generated misinformation and disinformation.

ST had earlier sent questions on the issue to the authorities for the June 15 report, but they did not respond in time.

In their reply on June 16, the ministries’ spokespeople said Pofma is not the only tool the Government relies on to tackle fake news. For example, the Centre for Advanced Technologies in Online Safety works with various partners to build tools to detect and address various forms of online harms.

There are also public education efforts focused on helping people critically evaluate information and recognise false or misleading content.

In addition, the media and third-party fact-checkers play a key role in curbing the spread of misinformation, the spokespeople added.

Asked how Pofma has helped regulate Singapore’s fake news landscape over the past five years, they said: “Pofma has helped at least to address misinformation that undermines public interest. It establishes a factual basis for honest discourse in our public square.”

They added that it is essential to have measures that support the infrastructure of fact and promote honest speech in public discourse.

Under Pofma, the primary response deployed against falsehoods deemed as being against the public interest is correction directions. These do not require the falsehoods to be taken down, they said. Instead, a link to the facts is to be put up alongside the falsehood. “A discerning reader will be able to decide for himself or herself after reading both the falsehoods and facts,” said the spokespeople.

“Pofma has played an effective role in the upkeep of trust in our public institutions. In the long run, it will support good-quality public discourse and maintain trust in our public institutions,” they added.

In its June 15 report, ST had cited several experts concerned over how Pofma may some day be abused by individuals holding political authority, and who called for independent fact-checking platforms.

A spokesman for the Workers’ Party, whose MPs had all voted against the Pofma Bill in Parliament in 2019, said in an e-mail response late on June 14 that the party maintains that the courts must be required to approve government Pofma directives on substantive grounds.

“Should the courts be the primary arbiter of falsehoods, this will help to establish an independent, unbiased and equitable process that will be perceived by many to be more reliable, transparent and fair,” he said.

In response to a query on how ministers consider applications to vary or cancel Pofma directions, the ministries’ spokespeople said the minister issuing the direction assesses each application on a case-by-case basis.

Factors to consider include whether the recipient had communicated the statement in Singapore, if the statement is a false statement of fact, whether it is technically possible for the recipient to comply with the direction, and whether there is public interest in maintaining the direction.

If the minister refuses the application in whole or in part, the recipient of the Pofma direction can appeal to the High Court.

“The courts have the final say over whether the Pofma direction was correctly issued,” said the spokespeople.

Since the law came into force in 2019, there have been 17 such applications submitted to the relevant ministers.

Of the 14 applications to cancel Pofma directions, only one was successful.

This was the correction direction issued to the Australia-based East Asia Forum, which had carried an article written by a National University of Singapore academic.

The correction direction to the site and a targeted correction direction to Meta Platforms to carry a correction notice on Facebook were later cancelled. This was after the article was removed from all relevant sites at the request of the author, who also issued a public apology on the matter.

Of the 13 unsuccessful applications, eight recipients appealed to the High Court.

Of these, six were dismissed fully by the courts and one was withdrawn by the appellant.

One case was allowed in part by the courts – the one involving the Singapore Democratic Party that concluded in 2021 – and a fresh correction direction was subsequently issued to correct the falsehood, the spokespeople said.

The remaining three applications of the 17 submitted since 2019 were for variations, which were all allowed as the recipients of the directions were unable to comply for technical reasons.




How others tackle fake news
The Straits Times, 15 Jun 2024

European Union

The European Union has the Digital Services Act (DSA), a major law designed to regulate online platforms, including social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and TikTok that are used to disseminate disinformation. It came into force in August 2023.

It also seeks to prevent illegal and harmful activities online.

Companies that fail to comply with the DSA rules could face fines of up to 6 per cent of their global turnover and could have their services suspended in the EU as a last resort.
China

In 2016, the Chinese government criminalised the creating or spreading of rumours that undermine economic and social order in a cyber-security law.

A year later, a law required social media platforms to republish and link to news articles only from registered news media outlets. Social media platforms were prohibited from publishing their own independent articles or disseminating information without attribution.

In 2018, the authorities required microblogging sites to highlight and rebut rumours on their platforms.

United Kingdom

The Online Safety Act was first conceived in 2017, and came into force in 2023 after multiple amendments. Many of its protections are designed to hold technology companies responsible for content posted on social media.

If these firms do not remove illegal content, including sexual abuse and terrorism material and death threats, they can be fined up to 10 per cent of annual revenue or £18 million (S$31 million), whichever is higher.

Social media platforms

In a May 2021 statement on its website, Meta Platforms said it was launching new ways to inform people if they were interacting with Facebook content that had been rated by a fact-checker.

For example, if a user were to “like” a page that has repeatedly shared content that fact-checkers have rated, a pop-up would appear.

Meta has also published regular articles on its site about how the firm is preparing for various elections, such as India’s general election held recently. It covered issues such as the misuse of generative AI and measures on WhatsApp to limit people’s ability to forward messages.


From 2024, advertisers around the world are also required to disclose when they use AI or digital methods to create or alter a political or social issue advertisement in certain cases, such as if the ad contains a photorealistic image or video that depicts a real person saying or doing something he did not say or do.

Social media platforms like Meta and TikTok have also announced partnerships with third-party fact-checking networks and organisations that do not moderate content directly, but identify, review and rate content.

TikTok has also prohibited paid promotion of political content or fund raising by politicians and political parties on the platform.

Since 2023, the firm has required its community to label AI-generated content (AIGC) or edited media that shows realistic-appearing scenes or people, such as by using an AIGC label or adding a clear caption, watermark or sticker.














POFMA no. 66: 29 May 2024

By Tham Yuen-C, Senior Political Correspondent, The Straits Times, 30 May 2024

Reform Party chief Kenneth Jeyaretnam has been asked to put up a correction notice under the law against fake news, over his statements claiming that the prime minister and minister for law can influence performance bonuses paid to specific High Court judges.

He was issued a correction direction under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) on May 29 on the instruction of Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Second Minister for Law Edwin Tong.


On May 25, Mr Jeyaretnam had put up a Facebook post commenting on the defamation suits brought against Mr Lee Hsien Yang by Minister for Home Affairs and Law K. Shanmugam and Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan.

Mr Lee, the younger brother of Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong and son of founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, had been found guilty by a High Court judge of defaming the ministers over their rental of state bungalows in Ridout Road and was ordered to pay the ministers $200,000 each.

The ministers had sued for defamation over comments Mr Lee Hsien Yang made on his Facebook page on July 23, 2023, which suggested that they had acted corruptly and received preferential treatment in the rental of the two bungalows – accusations which had been proven untrue by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau and an independent review by Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean in 2023.

In his May 25 post, Mr Jeyaretnam implied that there could have been a conflict of interest as the two ministers had been allowed to sue Mr Lee Hsien Yang for defamation, without first stepping down from their posts.

The opposition politician specifically singled out Mr Shanmugam, saying that as law minister, he “may have some input, along with the PM, into the appointment and promotion of High Court judges and into the size of their performance bonuses”.

Debunking this, the Ministry of Law said in a statement on May 29 that Mr Jeyaretnam’s claim was untrue, adding that he had been issued a Pofma correction direction over it.

The Singapore Constitution, under Article 98(6), empowers the legislature to make law to provide for the remuneration of Supreme Court judges, the ministry said.

The relevant law, the Judges’ Remuneration Act 1994, sets out the framework for the salaries, allowances and privileges accorded to Supreme Court judges and the annual pensionable salary of Supreme Court judges is also fixed by law, the ministry said.


The ministry added that it is the Chief Justice who then decides on the salary and bonuses to be paid to each Supreme Court judge, within the scope of the framework.

In addition, the Constitution also provides that a Supreme Court judge’s remuneration and other terms of office shall not be altered to his or her disadvantage after his or her appointment, noted the ministry.

“Neither the prime minister nor any minister can determine or influence the payments to be made to specific judges under this framework,” the ministry said in its statement.

“Mr Jeyaretnam’s allegation is thus false.”

The correction direction requires Mr Jeyaretnam to insert a notice against the original post, with a link to the Government’s clarification.

In issuing the Pofma correction order, the Government also made additional clarifications on other statements in Mr Jeyaretnam’s post, which it said were “misleading and give an inaccurate picture”.

In an article published on its Factually website, the Government said Mr Jeyaretnam had omitted critical facts about the judicial appointment process, adding that in so doing, he “seeks to undermine public confidence in the judicial system and the many men and women of Singapore’s judiciary and the Singapore Judicial Service”.

The process for the appointment of Supreme Court judges, including their appointment to a higher court, is governed by the Constitution, the Factually article said.

It is the president, acting in his discretion, who appoints the judges, if he concurs with the advice of the prime minister, the article added.

Under the Constitution, the prime minister is also required to consult the Chief Justice before tendering his advice on the appointment of judges to the president.

A wide variety of people may be consulted in this process, and often are, the article said. They include lawyers in private practice, lawyers in government, as well as others who may have knowledge of the persons being considered for appointments.

Once appointed, these judges are also guaranteed security of tenure and remuneration under the Constitution, the article noted.

They can be removed only on grounds prescribed in Article 98(3) of the Constitution, and only on the recommendation of a tribunal of at least five people who hold or have held office as Supreme Court judges, or who hold or have held equivalent office in any part of the Commonwealth.

Besides Supreme Court judges, the Constitution also sets out the process for the appointment and promotion of officers of the Singapore Judicial Service, the article said, adding that this was within the “exclusive control of the Judicial Service Commission, which is headed by the Chief Justice”.

Another additional clarification the Government made had to do with the defamation law, which it said applies equally to everyone.

“Mr Jeyaretnam says that defamation laws only serve to protect those in power. This is inaccurate,” the article said.

Noting that people should be entitled to protect themselves against false allegations that affect their reputations, the article said Mr Chiam See Tong, founder of the Singapore People’s Party, and “one of Singapore’s most respected opposition politicians” had taken action against others, including two former government ministers, for defaming him.

The ministers apologised and reached an out-of-court settlement with him, the article said, without mentioning the ministers specifically.

In the 1980s, Mr Chiam had taken action against then Foreign and Culture Minister S. Dhanabalan and then Defence Minister Howe Yoon Chong over remarks they made about his competence as a lawyer. He eventually settled with both of them after they withdrew their statements and apologised.

The article also added that Mr Chiam had rigorously scrutinised the Government and those in power throughout his career and had never been sued for defamation.

The article said: “Mr Jeyaretnam has repeatedly published false and misleading statements. This is the seventh correction direction issued to him.

“His latest post continues to propagate false and unfounded statements, reflecting a deliberate intent to undermine our public institutions.”




POFMA no. 65: 27 March 2024


Goh Meng Seng issued POFMA order over posts on LTA’s award of contracts to Lum Chang in S Iswaran case
The Straits Times, 28 Mar 2024

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) did not award any contract to any of Mr David Lum Kok Seng’s companies throughout the period that former minister S. Iswaran held the transport portfolio, said the Ministry of Transport (MOT) on March 27.


The ministry made the clarification about the matter as it invoked the law against fake news to debunk two posts put up by opposition politician Goh Meng Seng on March 26 on his Facebook pages Goh Meng Seng and Goh Meng Seng People’s Power Party.

Mr Lum, 75, a Singaporean, is managing director of property management and construction firm Lum Chang, and was mentioned in the eight additional charges that Iswaran was handed on March 25.

The former minister is alleged to have obtained valuables with a total value of nearly $19,000 from Mr Lum between November 2021 and November 2022, an offence under Section 165 of the Penal Code. Public servants run afoul of the law if they accept gifts from people who are involved with them in an official capacity.


MOT said in its March 27 statement that Iswaran was appointed minister for transport from May 15, 2021, to Jan 17, 2024, and that Mr Goh’s claim that a “huge contract” was awarded to Mr Lum’s company by the LTA during this period is false.

LTA is a statutory board under the MOT.

Mr Goh was issued a Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) correction direction under the instruction of Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat.

The opposition politician has since put up correction notices alongside the posts, stating that they contain falsehoods and linking to the Government’s Factually website with the relevant facts.

MOT said one of Mr Lum’s companies, Lum Chang Building Contractors, has two ongoing projects with the LTA. Both contracts were awarded before Iswaran was appointed transport minister.

One of the contracts is for addition and alteration works to the existing Tanah Merah MRT station and existing viaducts and was awarded in October 2016, while the other for the construction of the North-South Corridor tunnel between Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3 and Ang Mo Kio Avenue 9 was awarded in December 2018.


LTA has not awarded any contract to Lum Chang Building Contractors since 2019, said MOT.

MOT added: “We advise members of the public not to speculate and/or spread unverified rumours.”

Iswaran, 61, was first charged at the State Courts on Jan 18. He initially faced 27 charges, including two for corruption. His case was later transferred to the High Court.

The corruption charges relate to alleged bribes obtained from billionaire Ong Beng Seng as inducement for advancing the hotel and property tycoon’s business interests in relation to agreements between race promoter Singapore GP and the Singapore Tourism Board.

Mr Ong, who is chairman of Singapore GP, is credited with bringing the Formula One Grand Prix to Singapore.




POFMA no. 64: 22 February 2024


Opposition politician Chee Soon Juan issued POFMA order over comments on HDB policies
By Jean Iau, Correspondent, The Straits Times, 22 Feb 2024

Minister for National Development Desmond Lee has instructed the fake news office here to issue a correction direction to Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) secretary-general Chee Soon Juan over his social media statements on public housing policies.

In a video that was put up on his Facebook, Instagram and TikTok accounts on Feb 17, Dr Chee claimed that the Government has rejected the idea of building flats that can accommodate multi-generational living.



In particular, 3Gen flats have been introduced since 2013 to allow multi-generation families to live together. Such flats are generally larger at about 115 sq m, with an extra bedroom compared with the typical five-room BTO flat.

The statement said that five-room flats were offered in all Build-To-Order (BTO) launches in 2023, and 3Gen flats were offered in two of the four launches.


The Ministry of National Development (MND) said in a statement on Feb 22 that Dr Chee will be required to carry correction notices on his Instagram and Facebook accounts, and create a new TikTok post containing a correction notice.

Under the correction direction by the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) Office, the notices will have to state that the video posted on Feb 17 contains a false statement of fact, and provide a link to the Government’s clarification to allow viewers to consider both versions and draw their own conclusions.

Mr Lee also issued a targeted correction direction to TikTok about these posts. TikTok will be required to communicate a correction notice to all end users in Singapore who had accessed the TikTok post.

According to Factually, Dr Chee referred to a reply by the Housing Board to a Forum letter published in The Straits Times from a member of the public to support his claim.

Contrary to Dr Chee’s claim, the Government did not reject the suggestion from the Forum letter writer to have bigger flats available for multi-generational living, said Factually.

“In planning the supply of new BTO flats, HDB adopts a comprehensive approach, considering factors such as the prevailing economic and housing market conditions, and long-term demographic and socio-economic trends,” it said.


It added that HDB offers a wide range of different flat types in various locations to meet demand, including from larger families and multi-generational families. The agency also calibrates BTO supply and flat types to cater to the housing needs and budgets of households in Singapore.

Factually said Dr Chee had quoted from HDB’s Forum reply dated Jan 2, 2023, in his video, but he did not include the Housing Board’s reply on the larger flat types offered to accommodate multi-generational living.

The Forum reply from HDB said it offered a wide range of flats, from two-room flexi flats to three-generation flats, in various locations to cater to the different housing needs and budgets of first-timer families, second-timer families, the elderly and singles.

“Nevertheless, HDB continues to build five-room and three-generation flats to meet the needs of larger families and multi-generation families who wish to live together,” said HDB.

The Factually article can be found at https://www.gov.sg/article/factually220224




POFMA no. 63: 18 February 2024


Sixth POFMA order for Kenneth Jeyaretnam over false claims on Ridout Road rentals
By Wallace Woon, The Straits Times, 19 Feb 2024

Reform Party chief Kenneth Jeyaretnam and two alternative news websites have been ordered to put up correction notices under the law against fake news, over false statements claiming that the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) had mismanaged state properties.

Mr Jeyaretnam had on Feb 16 posted on his website, The Ricebowl Singapore, claiming that the SLA had charged Minister for Law and Home Affairs K. Shanmugam and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan rents below market value for their respective residences at 26 and 31 Ridout Road, implying that they had been given preferential tenancy terms.


The article was also shared on Facebook, LinkedIn and X, formerly known as Twitter, the Ministry of Law said on Feb 18.

Alternative news sites Gutzy Asia and The Online Citizen Asia were also instructed to publish corrections for posts on this issue on the former’s website and X account, and on both their Facebook accounts.

The correction notices will have to state that the posts contain a false statement of fact and provide a link to the Government’s clarification.

The correction order was issued by the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) Office under the instruction of Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Second Minister for Law Edwin Tong.

In his Feb 16 post, Mr Jeyaretnam said that he had “evidence which suggests... the rentals for 26 and 31 (Ridout Road) were unusually low”.


He cited the monthly rentals paid by Mr Shanmugam and Dr Balakrishnan – $26,500 and $20,000 respectively – for their residences, and compared them with the highest recent rental bid of $22,242 for a residence at 41 Malcolm Road.

Mr Jeyaretnam said the monthly rents of the Ridout Road properties should be “at least double if not more, given their more prestigious location, higher total GFAs (gross floor areas) and vast gardens”.

“What appears to be mismanagement of our precious land reserves and failure to secure the best possible rental for the Ridout Road properties is purely the result of incompetence on the part of the SLA management,” he said.


The statement said that the review found that the SLA had rented out the two Ridout Road properties – which had been vacant for years – at fair market value and not below market valuation.

“The market conditions were weak and generally on a downward trajectory,” the statement added.

The SLA then renewed the tenancies of 26 and 31 Ridout Road in 2021 and 2022, after initial three-year terms. These were also done at market rates, with a revaluation of the rentals by professional valuers to peg the amounts to the prevailing market rate.

Mr Shanmugam had also recused himself in respect of the rental transaction for 26 Ridout Road, and the professional valuer did not know who the prospective tenant was at that time, the statement said.

The facts are public, and were established in SM Teo’s report on his review of the matter and covered in Parliament on July 3, 2023. The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau did not find any evidence that the ministers were given favourable rental rates because of their positions.

In relation to the comparison between the Ridout Road properties and 41 Malcolm Road, the statement said: “It is misleading for Mr Jeyaretnam to suggest that the properties are directly comparable, without making any attempt to refer to the established facts relating to the rentals of 26 and 31 Ridout Road, or to account for the fact that property market conditions do not remain static.

“Market conditions today are stronger than they were when the Ridout Road properties were initially rented out and subsequently renewed.”

It also noted that the SLA grants tenancies of heritage bungalows on two- or three-year terms, and up to 3+3+3 years depending on several factors, including the costs that the tenant would incur to live in the property.

“The ministers had incurred substantial costs to improve the state properties, the benefit of which will accrue to the state when the tenancies eventually come to an end,” the statement said, noting that both rentals kept within the 3+3+3 maximum tenancy period.


These facts are also public, and made clear in the review’s findings and in Parliament on July 3, 2023, the statement said.

It added that Mr Jeyaretnam “has a track record of publishing false statements” regarding the Ridout Road properties, pointing out that he was issued with Pofma correction directions on this matter five times between July and November 2023.

“His latest article shows that he chooses to persist in making false statements on the matter, even though he clearly knows the true facts,” the statement said.

“The Government takes a serious view of Mr Jeyaretnam’s conduct and will consider if any further action should be taken against him.”

Mr Jeyaretnam has since put up the Pofma correction notice on his website and social media accounts. Gutzy Asia has also put up the correction notice on its website and Facebook post. The Online Citizen Asia has done likewise on its Facebook account.






POFMA no. 62: 15 February 2024


PSP Non-Constituency MP Leong Mun Wai issued POFMA correction order for false post on West Coast couple not getting aid
By Shermaine Ang, The Straits Times, 16 Feb 2024

Progress Singapore Party (PSP) Non-Constituency MP Leong Mun Wai has been issued an order under Singapore’s fake news law to carry a correction to a Facebook post he made about a couple who purportedly needed financial assistance for their health problems, but had been overlooked by government agencies.

The couple, who live in West Coast, have trouble getting around. The man, 60, lost his sight from glaucoma several years ago, and his wife, 55, broke her ankle in a fall in 2023.


Mr Leong claimed in his post on Feb 12 that other than a Home Caregiving Grant – a monthly grant given to caregivers to help ease their financial burden – the couple were not receiving any financial assistance from public sector agencies for their daily expenses.

He said he visited the couple with other party members after the PSP West Coast team learnt they needed assistance.

He claimed that the woman had used up most of the funds in her MediSave account to pay for a leg operation, and had stopped attending physiotherapy sessions as she could not afford to pay the $100 for each session.

Mr Leong also claimed that the couple had applied for assistance with their transport costs, but had been rejected.


In a statement issued on Feb 15, the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) said these claims are false. MSF said the couple are receiving financial assistance from various agencies, including transport vouchers. It added that the woman still has more than $60,000 in her MediSave account, and did not have to pay out of pocket for the physiotherapy sessions.

The falsehoods in Mr Leong’s post were later republished by The Online Citizen on Facebook, as well as Gutzy Asia on Facebook, X and the Gutzy Asia website.


Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) Office to issue a correction direction to Mr Leong, Gutzy Asia, and The Online Citizen. All three were required to carry a correction notice alongside their posts.

Mr Leong subsequently took down the post. He made a new post on Feb 15 that linked to the corrections, and stated that he had been “drawn in” by the couple’s description of the hard times they had fallen on.


He thanked the Government for the help it had given the couple, adding: “Accountability is important, and I hold myself accountable for the posts. I have since taken them down.”

Gutzy Asia and The Online Citizen carried the correction notice on their Facebook pages.

MSF said: “False statements, such as those made in Leong’s posts, erode public trust and mislead the public about the support that is available and provided to families who are in need.”

MSF said the couple receive monthly vouchers to help with their utilities from the South West Community Development Council, as well as NTUC supermarket vouchers from the People’s Association (PA). They also get $300 a month in cash from a temple.

Since 2021, the couple have received about $39,000 in cash and vouchers, including $21,000 in MSF ComCare assistance for lower-income households from May 2021 to April 2023, said MSF.

MSF said they currently have more than $100,000 in total in both their Central Provident Fund (CPF) Retirement accounts. In April 2023, the woman made and received a CPF withdrawal of $5,000, the ministry noted.

It said the cost of her stay at Ng Teng Fong General Hospital (NTFGH), including her leg operation, was about $8,580. After government subsidies of about $6,300, MediShield Life payouts and MediSave payments, her remaining bill amount was about $240.


Prior to the operation for her fractured ankle, the woman had more than $60,000 in her MediSave account. As at Feb 12, she still had a balance of more than $60,000 in her MediSave account, said MSF.

The ministry said all the woman’s outpatient physiotherapy sessions at NTFGH, which cost around $25 per session after government subsidies, were also fully covered by MediFund. “She will continue to receive full MediFund assistance for her outpatient bills until June 2024, at which point her eligibility for MediFund will be re-assessed,” said MSF.

On transport assistance, MSF said the couple received public transport vouchers in the current and past two exercises to disburse these to lower-income households. The man has been receiving subsidised medical escort and transport services from community care providers since 2021, MSF added. When the woman fractured her ankle, the Silver Generation Office offered to refer her to these services, but she declined the offer, said the ministry.

MSF added that an officer from the PA also visits the couple regularly, has taken them to hospital visits, bought meals for them when they could not leave their home, and helped them run errands.

MSF said anyone who comes across those who require financial help can call the ComCare hotline on 1800-222-0000, or approach the nearest Social Service Office or Family Service Centre.
















POFMA no. 61: 2 November 2023


POFMA Office issues correction direction to Kenneth Jeyaretnam
By Tham Yuen-C, Senior Political Correspondent, The Straits Times, 2 Nov 2023

Reform Party chief Kenneth Jeyaretnam has been ordered to put up corrections under the law against fake news, over false statements he made about Singapore’s reserves, healthcare spending, and the rental of two black and white bungalows by two ministers.

This is the fifth time Mr Jeyaretnam has been issued such a direction.

The Ministry of Finance (MOF) said on Thursday that Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong had instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) Office to issue a correction direction to Mr Jeyaretnam in relation to his article on The Ricebowl Singapore, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X, published on Oct 22.

In the article, titled “Dear Lawrence Wong Stop Talking Like You’re a Hot Shot Investment Banker and Start Explaining to Singaporeans How the Reserves Benefit Them”, Mr Jeyaretnam had asserted that most of the returns from investing Singapore’s past reserves were transferred into long-term funds, and thus did not contribute to actual spending.


Rebutting this in a statement on the Government’s Factually website, MOF said that the Net Investment Returns Contribution, or NIRC, and operating revenue make up the total revenue that is used to meet annual public spending.

The NIRC has provided an annual revenue stream of about 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product on average over the past five years, said MOF. For the financial year that ended on March 31, 2023, the NIRC was approximately $22.4 billion.

MOF said it is incorrect to state that most of the NIRC has been transferred into long-term funds, as “no proportion of the NIRC is earmarked for specific spending items, or for transfer into any specific funds”.

Instead, a portion of the annual Budget as a whole may be used to top up such funds, it added.

MOF also said it is false to claim that money set aside in the long-term funds does not contribute to “actual spending”, since the money does contribute to the disbursements from such funds.

These funds are typically set up to support the long-term spending commitments made by the Government, such as for the Majulah Package, Pioneer Generation Package and Merdeka Generation Package.


Mr Jeyaretnam had also asserted in his article that the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) had given preferential treatment to Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan by renting out two state properties to them below market value while charging the Housing Board high prices for land.

MOF said this was untrue, countering that “the CPIB (Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau) had found that no preferential treatment was given to the ministers and there was no evidence to suggest any abuse of position by the ministers for personal gain”.

A review by Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean had also established that the rentals for both 26 and 31 Ridout Road were based on fair market value and were not below market valuation, said MOF in its statement, noting that details of the matter had been published.

Reiterating the findings of the CPIB investigation and Mr Teo’s review, MOF said rental paid by both ministers was not less than the guide rents for the properties, which were determined by professional valuers based on established principles and methods for valuation.

Also, the valuer did not know Mr Shanmugam was the prospective tenant for 26 Ridout Road at the time the valuation was done, and had learnt of his identity only after the matter was reported in the media, said MOF.

Noting that these details had been disclosed in Parliament, MOF said Mr Shanmugam had recused himself in respect of the rental transaction.

On the issue of how SLA sells state land to HDB for the development of public housing, MOF said this is done at the fair market value, assessed by the chief valuer, and not SLA.

“The underlying principle used by the Government for determining the value of land for sale to the public and for rental of the Ridout Road properties is the same – it is to transact at fair market value,” said MOF.

“Whether for short-term rental or longer-term sale, the valuation seeks to establish the price that the market is willing to pay in each case, so that the Government transacts at fair market value.”

MOF said Mr Jeyaretnam had made similar false statements of fact about the matter in earlier publications “that have already been clarified”.

“He continues to make such statements with utter disregard for the facts. He repeatedly omitted the facts and clarifications, rather than provide them and let the readers draw their own conclusions,” said the ministry.

“Mr Jeyaretnam’s campaign of posting false statements misleads Singaporeans on the way that SLA works, as well as on the state’s land sale and property rental policies.”


Mr Jeyaretnam had also said in his article that of the $17 billion in healthcare expenditure here, only $8 billion was used as subsidies for Singaporeans, a claim that MOF said was untrue.

There was no factual basis for these claims, said MOF, citing how healthcare expenditure in the last three financial years ranged from $16.88 billion to $17.32 billion per year, and subsidies for Singaporeans ranged from $9.54 billion to $10.93 billion per year.

The ministry noted that this information is publicly available in the Government Budget Book.

It also said that excluding Covid-19 expenditure, which is transitory, more than 70 per cent of total healthcare expenditure was spent on subsidies for Singaporeans.

MOF also took issue with other issues that Mr Jeyaretnam raised in his article, making “additional clarifications” in its statement.

It noted that the article states that the Government uses “subsidies from the Budget for HDB purchases to enable HDB to pay a higher price for land”, and that Singaporeans pay “inflated prices for smaller and smaller HDB units”.

In its clarification, MOF said state land is disposed of at fair market value, determined by the chief valuer, and this valuation does not factor in housing subsidies or grants provided by HDB.

The ministry also rejected the claim that HDB sells flats at “inflated prices”, noting that Built-To-Order flats are priced to “ensure affordability”. It added that HDB takes into consideration the prices of comparable resale flats nearby, then applies a significant subsidy to the assessed market values.

In addition, MOF said HDB flat sizes have not changed since 1997, but average household sizes have decreased.

Under the correction direction, Mr Jeyaretnam will have to publish a correction notice at the top of his article on The Ricebowl Singapore, and on his posts on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X, along with a link to the Factually statement.




POFMA no. 60: 16 October 2023


3 news websites issued POFMA correction directions for false claims about death of woman in Yishun
By Christie Chiu, The Straits Times, 16 Oct 2023

Three news portals falsely claimed that a woman who had fallen off a building in Yishun and died was a Filipino maid or a Filipino worker.

The outlets – Gutzy Asia, The Online Citizen Asia and Singapore Eye – have been ordered under Singapore’s Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) to publish a correction notice on their website and online platforms. They must also include a link to the Government’s clarification.


The notices will apply to Gutzy Asia’s article last Thursday, Singapore Eye’s report last Friday, and relevant social media posts by all three news portals last Thursday and Friday.

According to government fact-checking website Factually, the Singapore Police Force received a call for assistance at Block 874 Yishun Street 81 last Thursday. A woman was unconscious when taken to the hospital, where she later died.

Articles and social media posts by the three news portals said the woman was a domestic worker from the Philippines, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said on Monday. This is false as she was a Singaporean, the ministry added.

Gutzy Asia’s article and Facebook posts had linked the death to “urgent concerns about the well-being of domestic workers in Singapore amid recent similar incidents”, according to Factually.

Gutzy Asia also said this “spark(ed) calls for greater oversight and reforms to ensure their safety and well-being”.


MOM said that this was misleading as it suggests that the Government’s management of migrant maids’ well-being was not enough.

It added that the Government has measures to support the mental well-being of migrant maids working in Singapore.

For example, since April 2021, MOM officers have started house visits to engage some maids and their employers directly. MOM officers are trained to look out for indicators of stress and discuss any issues raised with employers so that they can be addressed.

MOM also works with non-governmental organisations and requires employment agencies to check on newly placed maids within three months after they start working with the new employer.

Along with the Centre for Domestic Employees under the National Trades Union Congress, MOM has launched three centres for maids and their employers to seek advice on employment issues.

The centres also conduct compulsory interviews for all first-time maids to ensure they adapt well to their new role.







POFMA no. 60: 13 September 2023





East Asia Forum issued POFMA order for statements on independence of CPIB, PM Lee’s handling of issues
By Ang Qing, The Straits Times, 14 Sep 2023

Online academic platform East Asia Forum on Aug 18 published an article that contained false statements linked to several issues, including the independence of the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s approach in handling certain matters.

The Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) office has directed the platform to put up a correction notice for the article, following instructions by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah, the Government said in a statement on Wednesday.

The East Asia Forum article was written by National University of Singapore Assistant Professor Chan Ying-Kit.


The Australia-based platform will be required to carry a correction notice at the top of the article, the main page of its website, the top of its Facebook post and on its Facebook page. The notice must also provide access to the Government’s correction on its fact-checking website Factually.

Setting out the article’s egregious statements, the Government said it falsely claimed that PM Lee had conflated marital infidelity and corruption when he equated three recent issues involving People’s Action Party (PAP) politicians with an incident of marital infidelity involving politicians from the Workers’ Party (WP).

The three issues involving the PAP were the Ridout Road property rentals by Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, the corruption probe into Transport Minister S. Iswaran, and former Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin’s extramarital affair, said the Government in its clarification on Factually.


Refuting the claim that PM Lee had conflated marital infidelity and corruption, the Government set out the context behind the Prime Minister’s remarks at a press conference on July 17, which was held to address the resignations of Mr Tan and former Tampines GRC MP Cheng Li Hui over their affair.

Then, PM Lee had given his views in relation to both the CPIB and extramarital affairs in response to a question posed to him by the media.

“Any concurrent mention of both the CPIB investigations and extramarital affairs related only to the close proximity of the timing in which the incidents were made public, and not the substance of these incidents,” the Government said.

PM Lee had also said in his ministerial statement in Parliament on Aug 2 that the Government took different approaches towards allegations of corruption or other wrongdoing in the discharge of official duties, and cases involving misconduct in personal lives.

The Prime Minister had made two references to the WP in his ministerial statement and clarifications on Aug 2, neither of which was an attempt to equate the three issues the PAP faced with the WP’s one episode of marital infidelity, the Government said.

The Government also said the East Asia Forum article falsely claimed that the CPIB is not independent in deciding whether to carry out investigations because it reports directly to the prime minister alone, who also wields power to refuse approval for the CPIB to investigate.

But the article omits to mention other safeguards that ensure the CPIB’s independence.

Among other things, there is an article in the Constitution that allows the CPIB to continue with an investigation that the prime minister has not consented to, if the agency has the “concurrence of the president”.


The article also falsely suggests that in the 1990s, there was “a cover-up of wrongdoing or corruption” in how the Government dealt with then Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew and then Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s purchases from Hotel Properties Limited (HPL), the Government said.

These purchases were scrutinised as both men had been given unsolicited discounts by HPL.

The article said that then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong decided not to refer the matter to the CPIB and instructed the finance minister at the time, Dr Richard Hu, to speak to both men to investigate the matter.

HPL was co-founded by tycoon Ong Beng Seng, who is embroiled in the current corruption probe involving Mr Iswaran.

The Government said the matter was openly debated in Parliament in 1996.

“During the debate, MPs who spoke, including the opposition MPs Low Thia Khiang, Ling How Doong, Cheo Chai Chen and Chiam See Tong, did not state that there was anything wrong with the discounts that then SM and then DPM received,” the Government said.

Apart from Dr Hu, investigations were also conducted by then PM Goh and then Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) deputy managing director Koh Beng Seng.

MAS’ investigations did not disclose any wrongdoing or impropriety by the ministers, the Government said.


The article also falsely claimed that there was a cover-up of wrongdoing or corruption by allegedly having only Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean, and not the CPIB, investigate the matter concerning the Singapore Land Authority’s lease of state-owned properties in Ridout Road to Mr Shanmugam and Mr Balakrishnan.

The Government said: “CPIB investigated into the matter and produced a report after a thorough factual investigation.

“Its report stated that it found no evidence of corruption or wrongdoing in the rental transactions of the Ridout Road properties.”

It added that the Government has “acted decisively” where wrongdoing has been found.

“Whilst the author is free to express his views on the above matters, his article makes false and misleading statements while omitting key facts on these matters of public interest,” said the Government.







POFMA no. 59: 13 September 2023


POFMA order issued over ex-inmate’s false claims about prison treatment in podcasts
By Aqil Hamzah, The Straits Times, 14 Sep 2023

Former inmate James Raj Arokiasamy made several false claims in three podcast episodes uploaded to Spotify on Sept 6, dealing with his treatment in prison, among other things, said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

In a statement late on Wednesday, MHA said the false claims made by Mr James Raj, who goes by the pseudonym Messiah, were reproduced on Sept 7 on Instagram posts by Plan B – a local current affairs podcast show. It added that Plan B’s Spotify and Instagram accounts will also be required to put up the correction notices that have been issued.


A correction direction was issued by the Minister for Home Affairs and the Minister for Law under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma), with Plan B having to put up a notice against each of its posts, with a link to the Government’s clarifications.

Additional clarifications published on Wednesday by MHA on government fact-checking website Factually listed six falsehoods put forth by Mr James Raj, 44, along with clarifications about his allegations of abuse during his jail term.

First, in the Sept 6 podcast episodes, he said the authorities did not press charges against him for fear of retaliation. This involved an incident on Nov 29, 2021, when he had a dispute with a drunken customer at a shop.

The facts are that Mr James Raj was assaulted in the incident and fractured his nose. In the ensuing scuffle, he kicked the customer, and was later arrested for affray, said MHA. However, mitigating factors, including the fact that he did not start the fight, meant that he was let off with a warning instead of being prosecuted.

Second, he falsely claimed that he was deprived of human interaction when he was remanded for a period of about two to three years.


MHA refuted the claim, saying he was housed with other inmates in remand, except for a period between March 28 and March 30, 2014, when he was put in an isolation cell for committing disciplinary offences in prison.

MHA said: “During his remand period, he received regular visits from his family members such as his mother and sister, and corresponded with them via letters. He saw his lawyers in prison on at least 12 occasions.”

Mr James Raj also claimed he was imprisoned for protesting against the regulation of Internet censorship. However, MHA said he was, in fact, wanted for absconding from bail after being arrested for drug offences.

He was later arrested in Malaysia and repatriated to Singapore, before being charged for offences linked to drugs and the Computer Misuse Act (CMA), as it was called at the time.


As for claims that he was offered a plea deal by the Government to plead guilty to 39 charges instead of more than 400 charges to cover up his hacking of various government agencies, MHA said he was served a total of only 161 charges. Of these, 158 involved the CMA while three were linked to the Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA).

MHA said: “The prosecution proceeded on 40 charges, of which 39 charges were under the then-CMA and one charge under the MDA. The remaining charges were taken into consideration for the purposes of sentencing.

“This approach is consistent with the prosecution’s practice of proceeding on only a proportion of charges, should an accused person elect to plead guilty instead of claiming trial. This avoids expending judicial resources unnecessarily.”

MHA added that the systems he hacked into were publicly disclosed in the charges filed against him.

Mr James Raj had also claimed to have hacked into Singapore Land Authority (SLA) systems in 2013, as well as Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) servers.

MHA said there was no evidence that he hacked into the SLA servers. Investigations were able to establish that he had only scanned for vulnerabilities. It said this was consistent with Mr James Raj’s admissions.



In a TikTok video posted on Monday night in response to MINDEF’s post, Mr James Raj again claimed he was physically abused while in prison.


It added that neither police nor prison officers had assaulted him, nor did they deny him medical treatment when he was in custody or in prison.

He was also treated “professionally and fairly” like any other accused person or inmate.

Mr James Raj also claimed he was beaten up by officers from the Royal Malaysian Police when he was arrested in Malaysia.

MHA said he lodged a police report on Nov 5, 2019. Statements from eight Singapore Police Force and Central Narcotics Bureau officers involved in the arrest said none of them witnessed any mistreatment or assault by Malaysian police.










POFMA no. 58: 30 August 2023


POFMA order issued to Kenneth Jeyaretnam over National Day Rally comments
By Ang Qing, The Straits Times, 30 Aug 2023

Reform Party leader Kenneth Jeyaretnam has been issued a fourth correction direction under the law against fake news, this time over his comments on the National Day Rally.

These include false claims about unemployment, the Ridout Road property rentals by Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, and the Government’s inaction against money laundering and foreign tax evasion.

The Ministry of Law (MinLaw) said on Wednesday that Second Minister for Law Edwin Tong issued the instruction under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) to Mr Jeyaretnam.


Mr Jeyaretnam is required to put up correction notices on his article on The Ricebowl Singapore’s website, his Facebook post, his post on X (formerly known as Twitter) and his LinkedIn post on Aug 21.

The notices must state that the article and posts contain “false statements of fact” and provide a link to the Government’s clarification on its fact-checking website Factually, which “will allow readers to read both versions and draw their own conclusions”, MinLaw said.

Among the false claims he made in his article, Mr Jeyaretnam stated that the Government does not expect to fully disburse money that had been set aside for funds to support the Majulah Package, the Pioneer Generation Package and the Merdeka Generation Package, said the Government in its clarification on Factually.

He also claimed that the Government has been keeping people from being counted as unemployed so that the ruling People’s Action Party can state that the unemployment rate is low, citing the false claim that students in full-time education are regarded as employed.


In the Factually article, the Government said that whether a student is considered to be employed depends on whether the person is working while studying.

It also refuted Mr Jeyaratnam’s statement that the labour force participation rate for Singapore citizens over the past five years could be below 50 per cent.

The labour force participation rate for Singapore citizens over the past five years has consistently stayed well above 50 per cent, according to the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) statistics. In 2022, it was 68.3 per cent.

The labour force participation rate is the proportion of the working-age population that is engaged actively in the labour market, either by working or looking for work.

The Government noted that MOM does not usually break down resident labour force statistics into statistics for Singapore citizens and permanent residents.

“This is because Singapore citizens make up a large majority of the resident labour force, at about 85 per cent. The permanent resident population has also remained stable over time.

“These two facts taken together mean that for the most part, resident data mirrors citizen data, and having citizen data in addition to resident data provides little additional information. For Singapore, the labour force participation rate for residents (at 70 per cent) is also close to the rate for citizens (at 68.3 per cent),” it added.


In an additional clarification on the Factually article, the Government said it is untrue that the financial support for unemployed workers is not intended to help them find jobs but to keep them from being counted as unemployed.

“The Prime Minister had stated at the National Day Rally 2023 that the aim of the Government’s financial support for workers who lose their jobs is to ‘ease the immediate pressure that job seekers experience so they can focus on upgrading their skills for a better long-term job’,” it added.

The Government also said Mr Jeyaretnam falsely stated that the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) had rented out 26 and 31 Ridout Road at the rates it did because Mr Shanmugam and Dr Balakrishnan were going to be its tenants and Mr Shanmugam controlled the SLA.

Mr Jeyaratnam had falsely stated, too, that the Government uses the principle of market value when valuing land for sale to the public, but it did not do so for renting out the land that was part of the 26 Ridout Road property and that Mr Shanmugam was allowed to annex additional land to the property he rented.

And Mr Jeyaratnam falsely claimed that Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean had said in Parliament that the additional cleared land that was now part of 26 Ridout Road was virtually valueless.

The Government said: “Senior Minister Teo made no such statement in Parliament. He had explained at length that the guide rent was assessed by professional valuers. He had also referred to Minister Edwin Tong’s explanation on how market value was arrived at.”

Mr Jeyaratnam also falsely stated that the Government had deliberately not taken action against money laundering and foreign tax evasion, allowing huge inflows of “dirty money” into Singapore.

Outlining its regulatory framework to counter money laundering, the Government said this is untrue, because it acts when an offence is disclosed and there is sufficient basis to act against the offence.

Other clarifications on GST (goods and services tax) Voucher Fund disbursements, Singapore’s reserves, Build-To-Order flats and Housing Board flat sizes were also published in the Factually article on Wednesday.

The recent correction marks the third Pofma correction notice that Mr Jeyaratnam has been issued so far in August.

On Aug 3, he was given a correction notice on his social media posts about the rental of the Ridout Road bungalows by the two ministers.

On Aug 22, he was issued a correction direction over comments on the arrests of 10 foreign nationals during an islandwide anti-money laundering blitz, the corruption probe into Transport Minister S. Iswaran and tycoon Ong Beng Seng, and the Ridout Road saga.

Mr Jeyaratnam received his first correction direction on July 16 for his comments on the Ridout Road rentals.




POFMA no. 57: 24 August 2023



TikTok user issued POFMA order over false claims about public housing, third notice this week
By Wong Shiying, The Straits Times, 24 Aug 2023

A TikTok user has run afoul of fake news laws and racked up a third correction notice in less than a week, this time for making false claims about public housing policies.

In a joint statement on Thursday, the Ministry of National Development (MND) and Ministry of Law said the user, who goes by the moniker dr.ishhaq.jay on TikTok, will be required to create a new TikTok post containing a correction notice, which states that his earlier posts contain a false statement of fact, and provide a link to the Government’s clarification.

Additional clarifications published on Tuesday by MND on government fact-checking website Factually said the man made false statements claiming that the Housing Board profits from selling Build-To-Order (BTO) flats, among other things.



First, he falsely claimed that HDB prices and sells BTO flats to make a profit.

MND said this is false because HDB prices new flats with the aim of keeping public housing affordable for Singaporeans.

It said: “To determine housing affordability, HDB looks at resident household incomes and compares them with the range of flat types and selling prices on offer at every BTO launch.

“In pricing new BTO flats, HDB establishes the market value of flats by considering the prices of comparable resale flats nearby, and then applies a significant market discount to the assessed market values, to ensure BTO flats are affordable.”

Second, the man falsely claimed that HDB makes a profit from selling BTO flats.

MND said HDB does not make a profit from BTO sales. In fact, it has incurred a deficit from the sale of such flats.

It said: “The amount collected from the sale of HDB flats in every financial year is less than the total development cost, which includes land and construction costs, and CPF (Central Provident Fund) housing grants disbursed to eligible home buyers.”

In the last three financial years of 2020, 2021 and 2022, HDB incurred a deficit of about $2.68 billion a year, it added.

Third, the man falsely claimed that the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) charges a premium when selling land used to build HDB flats, and makes a profit from the sale.

MND said state land, which is part of the reserves and not owned by SLA, is sold to HDB at a fair market value determined by the Chief Valuer.

It said: “When state land is sold at fair market value to HDB, there is no increase in the value of the reserves. Neither are the reserves made worse-off nor diminished. It is a conversion of one type of asset (land) to another (cash).”


MND also made clarifications on three points the man made in his videos.

First, the man claimed that HDB factored in land costs into BTO flat prices.

MND said HDB does not price flats to recover the cost of land and construction. It added that HDB’s pricing approach is “totally separate and independent” from the development costs of BTO projects.

Second, the man claimed that HDB does not disclose the cost of building flats.

MND said this information is publicly available and disclosed every year in HDB’s annual reports and financial statements. It added that construction costs are also published on the HDB website and government procurement portal GeBIZ when tender results are announced.

Third, the man claimed that the Government does not give a solution for Singaporeans to be able to afford housing, after their funds get channelled towards retirement purposes.

In response, MND said CPF contributions in a member’s Ordinary Account can be used to pay for housing. It added that 90 per cent of flat buyers who collected their keys from HDB in the first half of 2022 used 25 per cent or less of their monthly income to service their HDB loan instalment payments. “This means these flat buyers can service the loans using their CPF contributions, with little or no cash outlay.”

For Singaporeans who have difficulties paying the monthly instalments of their HDB housing loan, MND said there are financial assistance measures in place, such as deferring or reducing monthly loan instalments for six months.

The joint statement also said the two ministries are aware that the man posted a video clip on Wednesday in which he claimed he had received Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) directions simply for “asking questions”.

It said: “This is incorrect. Pofma does not deal with opinions or questions, but aims to protect Singaporeans from false statements of fact. Expressing opinions and asking questions should be done responsibly.


On Aug 18, ‘dr.ishhaq.jay’ was issued the first correction direction over claims that the Government can trace votes to voters. The second was issued on Aug 20, over false statements he made about CPF policies.

National Development Minister Desmond Lee instructed the Pofma Office to issue a correction direction to the man, and a targeted correction direction to TikTok over his posts, said the joint statement.

TikTok will be required to communicate a correction notice to all end users in Singapore who have accessed the posts that carried the falsehoods.




POFMA no. 56: 22 August 2023



POFMA order issued to Kenneth Jeyaretnam over comments about money laundering, other recent issues
By Elaine Lee, The Straits Times, 22 Aug 2023

Reform Party leader Kenneth Jeyaretnam has been issued a third correction direction under the law against fake news, this time over comments made in social media posts about three issues recently in the news.

They are the arrests of 10 foreign nationals during an islandwide anti-money laundering blitz, the corruption probe into Transport Minister S. Iswaran and Mr Ong Beng Seng, and the Ridout Road property rentals by Minister for Law and Home Affairs K. Shanmugam and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan.


The Ministry of Law (MinLaw) said on Tuesday that Second Minister for Law Edwin Tong issued the instruction under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) to Mr Jeyaretnam.

He is required to put up correction notices on the posts he made on Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter, on Aug 18.

Mr Jeyaretnam falsely stated that the arrests of 10 foreign nationals on Aug 15 for forgery and money laundering offences were a result of China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and China, putting pressure on Singapore.

“As stated in the police news release on Aug 16, they had identified the suspects through intelligence probes and extensive investigations including the analysis of suspicious transaction reports,” said MinLaw.


MinLaw added that no foreign parties had been informed of these cases before the arrests.

In his post, Mr Jeyaretnam also made the false statement that the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) probe into Mr Iswaran and Mr Ong, too, was a result of foreign pressure.

The CPIB had been investigating a separate matter, and came across some information concerning Mr Iswaran, the ministry explained. CPIB then looked into the matter.

These facts were stated publicly on multiple occasions, including in Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Education Minister Chan Chun Sing’s statements in Parliament on Aug 2, CPIB’s press release on July 12, as well as the PM’s statement and Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s doorstop interview on the same day, MinLaw added.


Mr Jeyaretnam, in his post, also said the rental rates paid by Mr Shanmugam and Mr Balakrishnan for 26 and 31 Ridout Road, respectively, were locked in over nine years, which is untrue.

MinLaw said the tenancies are renewable every two or three years, and the rentals are reviewed based on prevailing market value.

“When the tenancies of the two properties were up for renewal after the initial three years, a revaluation was carried out by professional valuers to peg the rentals to the prevailing market rate,” it added. “This valuation was based on market comparables.”

The property at 26 Ridout Road was renewed in June 2021, during the Covid-19 pandemic, for three years with the rent maintained at $26,500 per month. The property at 31 Ridout Road was renewed in October 2022 for three years with the rent increased to $20,000 per month, from $19,000 per month.

Additional clarifications were also published in Government fact-checking website Factually on Tuesday.

Mr Jeyaretnam had in the same Facebook post claimed that “it took proof from German courts about F1’s Ecclestone paying bribes and a (British) investigation into his tax issues involving a Singapore bank, for the bank to be overhauled and three other Singapore financial institutions with it”, referring to former Formula 1 chief Bernie Ecclestone.

The Factually article said DPM Wong had provided information on the facts in Parliament on Aug 2, where he stated that Singapore had proactively shared information with the British authorities to help them develop their case against Ecclestone.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) conducted an inspection of the bank cited in media reports to assess its controls for mitigating money laundering and terrorist financing risks, as early as 2017, about five years before Ecclestone was charged, he had also shared.

And while MAS found that there was room for improvement in the bank’s anti-money laundering processes, it did not find gaps or weaknesses that were systemic in nature. When adverse news about Ecclestone first surfaced in 2013, MAS promptly subjected the account to enhanced monitoring controls by requiring all transactions to be flagged for scrutiny and approval.

“The bank addressed the specific areas identified for improvement as required,” stated the Factually article.

“This did not amount to an ‘overhaul’ which in the ordinary meaning of the word, would suggest that a thorough remake, renewal or revision had been necessary.”





POFMA no. 55: 20 August 2023



Second POFMA order issued to TikToker in a week, this time over false claims about CPF
By Vihanya Rakshika, Correspondent, The Straits Times, 20 Aug 2023

A TikTok user known as dr.ishhaq.jay has been issued a correction notice for the second time in a week under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma).

In a statement on Sunday, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said the user falsely claimed in a post published on Aug 12 that low- and middle-income members of the Central Provident Fund (CPF) who had used their CPF monies to repay their Housing Board loans were incapable of meeting either the Basic Retirement Sum (BRS) or the Full Retirement Sum (FRS).

Contrary to the user’s claim, the CPF Board’s data indicated that almost seven in 10 active CPF members managed to set aside their cohort’s BRS at the age of 55 in 2022. This included members earning below the median income for those aged 55 in 2022, who had used their CPF savings to repay housing loans. The ministry expects the proportion of active CPF members able to set aside their cohort’s BRS at 55 to rise to about eight in 10 by 2027.


Manpower Minister Tan See Leng instructed the Pofma Office to issue a correction direction to the TikTok user and a targeted correction direction to TikTok under the Pofma 2019 Act regarding the false statement.

The ministry further clarified that the Government has been enhancing the CPF system over the years to benefit those who require more support. For instance, an additional 1 per cent interest is provided for the first $60,000 of members’ combined CPF balances, and an extra 1 per cent for the first $30,000 of combined CPF balances for members aged 55 and above, to help boost their retirement savings.

MOM said the TikTok post also falsely claimed that CPF members would have to start paying cash for their monthly HDB loan repayments from age 55 onwards, as CPF monies in their Ordinary Account would all be transferred to their Retirement Account at that point.

However, MOM said that when a CPF member turns 55, monies from the member’s Special Account are transferred to the Retirement Account, up to the Full Retirement Sum. If there is a shortfall in the Full Retirement Sum, only the Ordinary Account monies needed to make up the shortfall are transferred to the Retirement Account.

The post also falsely stated that members are charged interest on the CPF monies and grants used for housing, and that members cannot use their CPF savings to pay for their children’s education, whereas foreigners enjoy free education.


MOM said these statements are untrue as members, upon selling their property, are required to refund to their own CPF accounts the total amount of CPF monies used for the purchase of the flat and the interest that would have been earned if the monies were not utilised for the purchase.

Furthermore, under the CPF Education Loan Scheme, CPF members can use their Ordinary Account savings to pay their children’s tuition fees for full-time subsidised diploma or degree courses at approved educational institutions. Foreigners, in fact, pay higher school fees than Singaporeans, and do not get education for free in Singapore.

For accurate information on the CPF system, the public is advised to visit the CPF Board website.

Previously, the TikTok user had also made false claims that the Government is able to trace votes back to voters to penalise them. A correction order was issued by the Pofma Office on Friday under the instruction of Education Minister and Minister-in-charge of the Public Service Chan Chun Sing.




POFMA no. 54: 18 August 2023



POFMA order issued to TikToker over false claims Govt can trace votes to voters
By Wallace Woon, The Straits Times, 19 Aug 2023

A TikTok user has been issued a correction notice under the law against fake news, for a post on the social media platform that contained false claims regarding vote secrecy.

In a statement on Friday, the Elections Department (ELD), which falls under the Prime Minister’s Office, said TikTok user dr.ishhaq.jay had in a post on July 17 falsely claimed that the Government is able to trace votes back to the voter in order to penalise them. The correction order was issued by the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) office under the instruction of Minister-in-Charge of the Public Service and Education Minister Chan Chun Sing. A statement on Government fact-checking website Factually gave the following explanation as to why the claims were false:

- The Parliamentary Elections Act 1954 (PEA), and the equivalent provisions of its predecessor Acts, provide for voting secrecy. The Government and ELD have complied strictly with the statutory procedures and obligations relating to voting secrecy, as a matter of policy and practice.

- The statutory procedures and obligations to protect voting secrecy are rigorous and comprehensive. For example, every officer, clerk, interpreter, candidate and agent authorised to attend at a polling station or at the counting of votes must, before so attending, make an oath of secrecy.

- Another set of statutory procedures provide that, for votes cast in person at polling stations, there is no break in the chain of custody of ballot papers transported from the polling stations to the counting centres, and from the counting centres to the Supreme Court. The ballot papers would be sealed before they are retained in safe custody at the Supreme Court for six months and subsequently destroyed. This process is transparent and open to observation by candidates and their agents.

- The serial number on the ballot paper is meant to protect the integrity of the electoral process. It enables accounting of all ballot papers issued and cast, and safeguards against counterfeiting and voter impersonation. Calling out the voter’s serial number and name also allows polling agents, who are observing the proceedings, to validate that the voters are listed in their copy of the register.

- When the ballot paper is issued, the voter serial number is written on the ballot paper counterfoil to facilitate vote tracing, if necessary, for example if there are allegations that the vote was fraudulently cast. However, inspection of the sealed votes is allowed only with an order from the General Division of the High Court, and such an order can only be made in limited circumstances.


The judge hearing the application must be satisfied that the inspection is required for the purposes of instituting or maintaining a prosecution or an application under Section 90 of the PEA, which seeks to void an election on certain limited grounds, including breaches of the PEA that affected the election result or corrupt or illegal practices committed in the election by a candidate. Therefore, the Government cannot trace who a voter has voted for, as it wishes, the Factually article concludes.

Under the correction notice, dr.ishhaq.jay must create a new post which states that his earlier post contained a false statement, and provide a link to the Government’s clarification. TikTok itself was also issued a targeted correction direction, in relation to the post by dr.ishhaq.jay, which stipulates that a correction notice be sent to all users in Singapore who had accessed the post.

Both the TikTok user and the platform have complied with the respective requirements, according to The Straits Times’ check on Saturday evening.







POFMA no. 53: 2 August 2023


Second POFMA order issued to Kenneth Jeyaretnam over his comments on Ridout Road rentals
By Aqil Hamzah, The Straits Times, 3 Aug 2023

Reform Party leader Kenneth Jeyaretnam has been issued a correction notice under the law against fake news over his social media posts about the rental of Ridout Road bungalows by two ministers.

His recent posts, which were made on Facebook and LinkedIn on July 27, suggested that Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan had rented the black-and-white bungalows at 26 and 31 Ridout Road at below market rate.

The Ministry of Law (MinLaw) said on Wednesday night that Second Minister for Law Edwin Tong had issued the instruction under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) to Mr Jeyaretnam, who is required to put up correction notices on both posts.

The notices must state that the posts contain a “false statement of fact” and provide a link to the Government’s Factually article, which “lays out the facts and clarifications of the matter”.


This is the second Pofma correction order that Mr Jeyaretnam has been issued in recent weeks.

On July 16, Mr Jeyaretnam was told to put up a correction notice in relation to a July 2 article he published on his website, The Ricebowl Singapore. He had complied.

In its statement on Wednesday, MinLaw reiterated the findings of Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean in his review, which found that the rents paid by both ministers were at fair market value.

“There was no evidence that the ministers were given favourable rental rates due to their positions,” it added.

MinLaw added that the rent per unit floor area for 26 Ridout Road was the third highest when compared with nine other black-and-white bungalows in the Ridout Road estate that were tenanted out in 2018.

“The guide rents are determined by professional valuers. These are valuers from Singapore Land Authority’s (SLA) independent valuation team or valuers appointed by professional third-party managing agents,” MinLaw said.

To determine the guide rent, the valuers factor in location, use, floor area, the property’s physical condition and prevailing market conditions, with reference made to rentals of comparable properties, the ministry added.


In the case of 26 Ridout Road, the guide rent was determined by a professional valuer from SLA, who also took into account the adjacent land to the site.

The ministry added that the valuer learnt of the identity of the tenant only after the case was reported in the media.

Citing Mr Shanmugam’s interview with the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau and his explanation during a parliamentary sitting on July 3, MinLaw said that the minister did not want to lease the adjacent land due to the legal obligations attached to it.

However, SLA preferred to include it within the property boundary of 26 Ridout Road, so as to make it apparent that the maintenance, as well as legal obligations, were the responsibility of the tenant.

An agreement was then negotiated, in which the adjacent land would be included within the property boundary, and Mr Shanmugam would incur the cost of maintaining it.




POFMA no. 52: 25 July 2023


Lee Hsien Yang issued POFMA correction direction for Facebook post on Ridout Road, SPH Media
By Goh Yan Han, Political Correspondent, The Straits Times, 25 Jul 2023

Mr Lee Hsien Yang has been asked to carry a correction notice on a Facebook post he made on Sunday that commented on the Ridout Road saga.

Mr Lee, the younger son of Singapore’s first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew and the brother of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, was issued the correction direction under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma), Singapore’s fake news law.


The direction to do so was issued by Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Second Minister for Law Edwin Tong. A press release from the Law Ministry said on Tuesday that Mr Lee’s Facebook post on Sunday had made three untrue statements.

- That the state had paid for the renovations to No. 26 and 31 Ridout Road because the properties were leased by Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan.

- That trees at the two properties were allowed to be felled because the properties were leased by the two ministers.

- That SPH Media Trust had fraudulently inflated its circulation numbers.


Mr Lee’s Facebook post had said that trust in the People’s Action Party, which PM Lee leads, “has been shattered”.

He said: “Two ministers have leased state-owned mansions from the agency that one of them controls, felling trees and getting state-sponsored renovations... SPH Media, an entity being given almost a billion dollars of taxpayers’ monies, has fraudulently inflated its circulation numbers.”

The issue of the Ridout Road rentals was debated in Parliament in July, following a Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) investigation and a review by Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean.

The CPIB said in its report that it did not find any wrongdoing on the part of the two ministers, while SM Teo’s review found that processes had been followed.


MinLaw laid out several clarifications on Mr Lee’s false statements in its press release on Tuesday.

Firstly, the identity of the tenants had no bearing on the decision on the works to be carried out on the properties, said the ministry.

It said the post omitted important information that the works done were in keeping with the Singapore Land Authority’s (SLA) practice, and were assessed to be necessary in the circumstances. This had been explained by Mr Tong in Parliament on July 3.

MinLaw added that SLA invests a significant amount in maintaining conserved properties, which include No. 26 and 31 Ridout Road. SLA has spent similar and even larger amounts on other black-and-white bungalows, consistent with conservation requirements.

It said that most of the costs incurred for the two properties were for works that external consultants had deemed necessary, in the light of their condition and to comply with relevant conservation requirements. The remaining costs were incurred as part of usual works done before a tenancy commences to ensure a property is habitable.

Secondly, on the point of trees being felled, MinLaw said the identity of the tenants had no bearing on the felling of the trees at the properties.

All decisions to fell trees with a girth size of more than 1m were made following inspections by independent arborists, and safety issues were identified.

Where approval was required for any trees to be felled, it was obtained from the National Parks Board.

The reasons for felling trees at both properties were also explained by Mr Tong in Parliament on July 3, said MinLaw.


Thirdly, Mr Lee’s statement that SPH Media Trust had fraudulently inflated its circulation numbers was also untrue, said MinLaw.

The overstatement of numbers happened when the business was under Singapore Press Holdings, a listed company, before SPH Media Trust was incorporated.

When SPH Media Trust took over the media business, it discovered, reported and investigated the circulation issue, the ministry noted.

The Government’s funding agreement to build up public service media capabilities was signed with SPH Media Trust and not Singapore Press Holdings.

The funding quantum was based on SPH Media Trust’s transformation needs, and not the circulation numbers, said MinLaw.

Mr Lee will be required to publish a correction notice, stating that the post contains false statements, on his Facebook post made on Sunday. The correction notice will have to provide a link to the Government’s Factually website.

He does not have to take down his post, nor make edits to its content.














Owner of The Online Citizen Asia’s website, social media barred from financial benefit under POFMA
By Ian Cheng, Correspondent, The Straits Times, 21 Jul 2023

The Online Citizen Asia’s (TOCA) website, Facebook page, Twitter account page and LinkedIn page have been declared as Declared Online Locations (DOLs) under Singapore’s fake news law for two years, starting from Saturday.

The Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) said on Friday that DOLs have to comply with actions under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) that would prevent their operator from financially benefiting during this period.

Also, DOLs are each required to carry a notice, stating that each of these online locations has been declared as a DOL. But such declared locations do not have to stop operating, MCI added.


The declaration was made following multiple falsehoods published on these online platforms, the ministry said.

This included a Pofma direction on May 19 against false statements in an April 28 article about a death-row prisoner having no interpreter or access to legal counsel during his trial.

“A Declared Online Location will not be allowed to profit from spreading falsehoods in Singapore,” according to the Pofma website. “The public should exercise caution and do additional fact-checking if accessing Declared Online Locations for information.”


What are Declared Online Locations (DOLs)?

Under the fake news law, an online platform can be declared as a DOL if it has carried three or more different false statements of fact that have been the subject of Pofma directions within six months of the declaration.

TOCA’s website, Facebook page, Twitter account page and LinkedIn page have each met the requirements to be declared as DOLs.

“Members of the public are advised to be alert to TOCA’s history of communicating misinformation, and to fact-check information published at these DOLs,” said the ministry.

Service providers, such as digital advertising agencies, must also take reasonable steps to ensure their paid content on these DOLs are not available in Singapore, MCI said.

Individuals – including the public – and companies must not financially support DOLs if they know they would support, help or promote the communication of falsehoods in Singapore on the platform in doing so.


Four social media pages were previously declared as DOLs.


These pages were operated by Mr Alex Tan, according to MCI. As Mr Tan did not comply with the DOL requirements, Access Disabling Orders were subsequently issued to Facebook to disable access to these pages to people in Singapore. Facebook complied with the orders.

A provision under Pofma allows the Government to order an Internet intermediary to disable access to a DOL if the owner of the DOL does not comply with the declaration and paid content on the site continues to be displayed to users here.

If an Internet intermediary fails to comply and is convicted, it can be fined up to $20,000 for each day that the government order is not fully complied with, up to a total of $500,000.

The owner or operator of the DOL, or any person with editorial control over the online location, may apply to the Minister for Communications and Information to vary or cancel the declaration. If the minister refuses the application, an appeal can be made to the High Court.




POFMA no. 51: 21 July 2023


Committee of Privileges convened to look into Raeesah Khan, not Pritam Singh: PMO
By Ang Qing, The Straits Times, 21 Jul 2023

Assertions made on social media that a Committee of Privileges was convened to look into Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh’s alleged non-disclosure of Ms Raeesah Khan’s lies are based on a false premise.

In a statement on Friday, the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) office said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah, who is also Leader of the House, had asked for a correction involving a Facebook post put up on Wednesday.

The post, on the Facebook page of one Andrew Loh, said if Mr Singh’s case warranted a Committee of Privileges, then he suggested that one should similarly be called to look into Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s non-disclosure of his knowledge of former Speaker Tan Chuan-Jin’s affair with an MP and letting him continue to be Speaker of Parliament.


PM Lee on Monday said he had learnt about the affair between Mr Tan and former Tampines GRC MP Cheng Li Hui some time after the 2020 General Election.

The statement said the Pofma office was instructed to issue a correction direction to Mr Loh, and a targeted correction direction in relation to TikTok user jansenng1 for reproducing Mr Loh’s Facebook post.


A statement on government fact-checking website Factually said Mr Loh’s post is false because the Committee of Privileges was linked to Ms Khan’s conduct, “for speaking various untruths in Parliament, and for failing to substantiate an allegation she made in Parliament on Aug 3, 2021”.

Ms Indranee had made a complaint against Ms Khan, who was then a Sengkang GRC MP, for breaches of privilege, and that complaint about Ms Khan’s conduct was referred to the Committee of Privileges, the statement added. The complaint was not about Mr Singh, who is secretary-general of the Workers’ Party, and “did not refer to any aspect of Mr Singh’s conduct”, it said.

The statement also said Mr Singh did appear as a witness before the committee, and the committee, in its report presented to Parliament on Feb 10, 2022, found that Mr Singh had wanted to “suppress the fact that he had known about Ms Khan’s untruth in Parliament for three months”.

The committee also found that Mr Singh had told untruths to the committee, and the committee recommended that Parliament refer this conduct of being untruthful to the public prosecutor.



The Factually statement said: “The remaining assertions made in the Facebook post (which was reproduced in the TikTok post by user “jansenng1”) are based on the false premise that a Committee of Privileges was convened to look into Mr Pritam Singh’s alleged non-disclosure of his knowledge of Ms Khan’s lies.”

Ms Indranee said: “Loh will be required to insert a correction notice on top of his post, stating that the post contains a false statement of fact, with a link to the Government’s clarification, so that readers can read both the original post and the facts, and decide what is the truth.”

TikTok will also be required to place a similar correction notice to the TikTok post by jansenng1.




POFMA no. 50: 20 July 2023


PM Lee, DPM Wong did not disclose Iswaran’s arrest as it is CPIB’s call to make: PMO
By Wong Shiying, The Straits Times, 20 Jul 2023

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong did not disclose Transport Minister S. Iswaran’s arrest when they spoke about the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau’s (CPIB) probe on July 12 as revealing such information is CPIB’s decision to make.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said on Thursday that it is usually the CPIB that releases information on people who have been arrested in connection with its investigations, not ministers.


The PMO revealed this in its statement that online blog Political Sophistry has been asked to put up a correction notice, under the law against fake news, on its article about the CPIB’s investigation into Mr Iswaran.

The article titled “Upfront and transparent? A timeline of the CPIB investigation into Transport Minister Iswaran” falsely conveyed two points, said the PMO.

First, that on July 12, PM Lee and DPM Wong did not want to disclose the fact about Mr Iswaran’s arrest because it was politically embarrassing.

Second, that during his media interview on July 12, DPM Wong had deliberately withheld information that Mr Iswaran and tycoon Ong Beng Seng had been arrested in connection with the case because he wanted to conceal the truth.


The PMO said that both PM Lee’s statement and DPM Wong’s media interview kept to what the CPIB had announced earlier that day.

The CPIB said in a statement on July 12 that Mr Iswaran was assisting with an investigation it had uncovered. It did not give details on the nature of the probe.

The anti-graft agency said on July 14, in response to media queries, that Mr Iswaran and Mr Ong had been arrested on July 11 and were subsequently released on bail.

The PMO said PM Lee and DPM Wong did not want to deviate from what the CPIB had announced in its statement as it was related to operational matters.

“Whether to arrest a person under investigation is an operational judgment by the CPIB. In addition, whether and when to make public that a person has been arrested in connection with their investigations is a decision for the CPIB.”

In view of that, PM Lee’s statement on July 12 and DPM Wong at his media interview on the same day were consistent with the CPIB’s July 12 press release, said the PMO.

“It is therefore untrue that PM Lee or DPM Wong did not want to disclose the fact of minister Iswaran’s arrest because it was politically embarrassing, or that DPM had deliberately withheld information on the arrests because he wanted to conceal the truth,” it added.

“It is also not a case of PM Lee and DPM Wong abdicating their responsibility to disclose such information.”


The PMO said ministers have to let the CPIB independently decide on the release of operational information. “CPIB must be afforded the necessary time and space it needs to conduct a proper, thorough and independent investigation,” it added.

Minister in the PMO Indranee Rajah instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) office to issue a correction direction to Political Sophistry.

As required, the blog has posted a correction notice at the top of the article and at the top of the main page of its website. This is so that readers can read both versions and draw their own conclusions, the PMO said.

Political Sophistry said on its website on Thursday that it will conduct a thorough review of “all other potentially controversial articles”.




POFMA no. 48 & 49: 16 July 2023

FACTUALLY:


POFMA orders issued to Kenneth Jeyaretnam, FB user and online site Jom over Ridout Road rentals
By Chin Hui Shan, The Straits Times, 17 Jul 2023

An opposition politician, a Facebook user and the website Jom have been asked to put up corrections under the law against fake news, over articles and social media posts that contain false statements about the Ridout Road saga.

The Ministry of Law (MinLaw) on Sunday said Second Minister for Law Edwin Tong had issued the instructions to Reform Party leader Kenneth Jeyaretnam and Facebook user Thamil Selvan.


The orders are in relation to an article published by Mr Jeyaretnam titled “Will SLA issue a statement denying the rumours that they have awarded any contracts to Shanmugam’s son’s company?” on July 2 on his website The Ricebowl Singapore, as well as Mr Thamil’s Facebook post on July 1.

In the article and post, they had “falsely stated that the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) gave the contract to renovate 26 Ridout Road and/or 31 Ridout Road to home interior and renovation company Livspace”. They had also claimed this was done because the chief executive officer of Livspace is the son of Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam.




In its statement, MinLaw said that Livspace and Mr Shanmugam’s son were not appointed by SLA to carry out works for 26 Ridout Road or 31 Ridout Road, as stated by Mr Tong during a parliamentary sitting on July 3.

“As with its approach for other state properties, SLA had engaged an external consultant to assess the works needed to be carried out for the two properties,” the statement added.


MinLaw also said that the contracts were awarded to separate contractors through open tenders.

A Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) probe found no evidence of corruption or criminal wrongdoing in the rentals of the Ridout Road properties by Mr Shanmugam and Dr Balakrishnan. The matter was also raised in Parliament on July 3, when Mr Shanmugam, Dr Balakrishnan, Mr Tong and Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean gave ministerial statements.


Under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma), Mr Jeyaretnam and Mr Thamil are required to carry a correction notice on their website and Twitter and Facebook accounts stating that their posts contain false statements. The correction notice will also have to carry a link to the Government’s Factually article that lays out the facts and clarifications on this matter, said MinLaw.


Mr Tong also issued a correction direction to online publication Jom, said MinLaw and the Ministry of Communications and Information in a joint statement on Sunday.

In an article titled “Singapore This Week” on July 7, Jom had falsely stated that Mr Teo did not respond to questions “concerning the issue of actual or apparent conflicts of interest and possible breach of the code of conduct for ministers beyond replying that it is more important to observe the spirit rather than just the letter of the code”, according to the joint statement.

It also claimed that SLA spent more than $1 million on the renovation of 26 Ridout Road and 31 Ridout Road as the tenants were the ministers involved.

The joint statement said that the article by Jom omitted important information from what Mr Teo said in Parliament on July 3 in which he “expressly clarified that he meant it was important to observe the spirit as well as the letter of the code”.

“Mr Teo also said that Mr Shanmugam had recused himself, and this meant that he no longer had any duty in the matter. There could thus be no potential or actual conflict of interest,” said the statement.


“He explained how Mr Shanmugam had removed himself from the chain of command and decision-making process entirely in the case of 26 Ridout Road.”

Mr Teo had also highlighted that the CPIB had established, as part of its independent investigation, that no matter was raised by SLA to MinLaw and to any of the ministers during the entire rental process, said the statement.


The statement clarified that the identity of the tenants had no bearing on the amount spent by SLA on the works it carried out on both properties.

“The article implies that this sum was unusually large, and omits important information that the works done by SLA were consistent with SLA’s general practice, and were assessed to be necessary in the circumstances, as explained by Mr Tong in Parliament on July 3,” said the statement.

The statement said that SLA invests a significant amount in maintaining conserved properties such as 26 Ridout Road and 31 Ridout Road as the nature of the conservation requirements for such properties, which are much older than the average property here, is a key reason for the cost.

“In the case of 26 Ridout Road and 31 Ridout Road, most of the costs incurred by SLA were for works that external consultants had determined to be necessary, in the light of the condition of the properties and to comply with the relevant conservation requirements. The remaining costs were incurred as part of the usual works done before the commencement of a tenancy to ensure that the property is habitable,” the statement added.

Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Teo has also issued a correction direction against Jom for falsely stating that the Government caused Instagram to geo-block a post by opposition figure and fugitive lawyer Charles Yeo in the same article on July 7, said the joint statement.

“The Government did not issue any directions or requests on this matter to Meta, Instagram’s parent company, that caused Instagram to geo-block the post in question,” the statement said.


Jom had on Sunday published the required correction notices stating that the article contains false statements of facts and provided a link to the Factually article on the posts on its website and social media pages.

On Monday, Jom’s editor-in-chief Sudhir Vadaketh said that it would be appealing to Mr Tong and Ms Teo on the correction directions issued.

“We respectfully disagree with the Pofma office’s findings, and will be challenging it according to the established process: first appealing to the ministers who issued the orders, failing which, we will appeal to Singapore’s High Court,” he said in a Facebook post.







POFMA no. 47: 26 May 2023


POFMA correction order issued to Asia Sentinel over false claims
By Goh Yan Han, Political Correspondent, The Straits Times, 27 May 2023

Online publication Asia Sentinel has been asked to put up a correction notice, under the law against fake news, on one of its articles published on Wednesday containing several false statements.

These statements were related to a Nikkei Asia article, suspended lawyer M. Ravi, and Mr Lee Hsien Yang and his wife, Mrs Lee Suet Fern, who are under police investigation for possible offences of giving false evidence in judicial proceedings.

The article, titled “Singapore kills a chicken to scare the monkeys”, was written by the publication’s editor John Berthelsen.


In a statement on Friday, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which initiated the corrections under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma), took issue with three points made in the Asia Sentinel article:

- That following the publication of Andy Wong’s article, “The institutional failures behind Singapore’s latest Covid outbreak”, in Nikkei Asia on July 23, 2021, the Singapore Government had threatened to end Nikkei Inc’s business operations in Singapore.

- That Mr Ravi was suspended from practising law for five years because he had criticised the Government.

- That Mr Lee and Mrs Lee were forced to leave Singapore because government action was threatened against them for warring with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

The statement on government fact-checking website Factually said that the false statements could erode public trust in the Singapore Government and the judiciary.


MHA said on Friday that the Nikkei Asia article had contained many factual inaccuracies.

A senior official from MHA had responded to the article on July 28, 2021. This was published as a letter to the editor in Nikkei Asia the next day.

“At no point did the Singapore Government threaten to end Nikkei Inc’s operations in Singapore,” said MHA.

In July 2021, when Mr Wong’s opinion piece was published by Nikkei Asia, Minister for Home Affairs K. Shanmugam had questioned Mr Wong’s motives in writing it, calling it “little more than a work of fiction”.

The minister also mentioned that Mr Wong was “ironically” charged over possessing obscene films and transmitting obscene materials in a sex-themed Telegram chat group, with investigations against him and others starting in November 2019.

Mr Wong was subsequently fined $42,000 in April 2022 for offences linked to obscene films and pictures.

“We are left to wonder if the criminal investigation against him was the reason for his diatribe based on falsehoods; and the extent to which he was doing a political hack job (his political affiliation is public),” Mr Shanmugam had said in a Facebook post in July 2021.


On Mr Ravi, MHA said on Friday that he was suspended from practising law for five years not because he had criticised the Government.

The ministry added: “He was suspended because the Court of Three Judges found that his various allegations against the Attorney-General, Deputy Attorney-General and prosecutors, and the Law Society, had recklessly and baselessly undermined the pillars of Singapore’s legal system and would cause grave injury to public confidence in the legal profession and the administration of justice in Singapore.”

For example, Mr Ravi had accused the prosecution in Malaysian Gobi Avedian’s case of being “overzealous in his prosecution and that has led to the death sentence”, said MHA.

Mr Ravi had acted for Gobi in seeking a review of his death sentence for importing 40.22g of heroin.

MHA said Mr Ravi had also threatened to commence proceedings against the Law Society “if it entertains any further complaints or partcipates (sic) in any harassment by A-G to harass me in doing my job”.

Lastly, MHA said that Mr Lee and Mrs Lee were not forced to leave Singapore under threat of government action for warring with PM Lee.

The ministry said the couple had left Singapore after the police engaged them for an investigation.

The police had commenced investigations into the couple for possible offences of giving false evidence in judicial proceedings.

This followed findings by the Court of Three Judges and a disciplinary tribunal that had investigated charges of professional misconduct against Mrs Lee, who is a lawyer.

The findings showed that the pair had lied under oath, said MHA.

It added: “In short, this police investigation has nothing to do with ‘warring with Lee Hsien Loong’.”

Under the correction direction, the Asia Sentinel is required to publish a correction notice on its article, providing access to the correct facts on the Factually website.

It does not have to take down its article or make edits to its content.










POFMA no. 46: 19 May 2023


POFMA correction orders issued over false claims about death penalty case
By Tham Yuen-C, Senior Political Correspondent, The Straits Times, 20 May 2023

Several activists, an advocacy group and a website have been asked to put up corrections under the law against fake news, over articles and social media posts that contain false statements about the execution of convicted drug trafficker Tangaraju Suppiah.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which initiated the corrections under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma), said that “despite the Government’s clarifications and the courts’ clear findings on Tangaraju’s case”, freelance journalist Kirsten Han, lawyer M. Ravi, Mr Andrew Loh, the Transformative Justice Collective (TJC) and The Online Citizen Asia (TOCA) had made false statements about the matter.

These false statements could erode public trust in the Government and the judiciary, the ministry added.


Tangaraju, 46, a Singaporean, was hanged on April 26, 2023, after being convicted in 2018 of abetting the trafficking of 1,017.9g of cannabis, an amount more than twice the capital threshold.

Anti-death penalty activists had campaigned against his hanging, claiming in online articles, interviews and social media posts that he had been convicted unfairly, allegations that the MHA refuted.


- Ms Han’s Facebook posts on April 19 and April 22, her “We the Citizens” article published on April 19, and her Twitter post on April 19.

- The TJC’s Facebook post on April 23.

- Mr Ravi’s Facebook posts on April 20 and April 27.

- TOCA’s article published on its website on April 28 and its Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter posts on April 28.

- Mr Loh’s Facebook post on April 24.

One of the claims made was that Tangaraju had requested an interpreter when his statement was taken, but was refused one.

He was also denied an interpreter and access to legal counsel during his trial, the posts and articles said.

The ministry said that Tangaraju’s allegation that he asked for and was denied an interpreter during the recording of his statement was found to be false and was rejected by the High Court.

Tangaraju had raised this allegation for the first time during his cross-examination, noted the MHA, adding that the High Court had found it to be disingenuous given Tangaraju’s admission that he did not ask for an interpreter for any of the other statements subsequently recorded.

“Tangaraju was accorded full due process under the law. He was represented by legal counsel and had access to an interpreter throughout his trial,” said the MHA.

Another of the claims in the posts and articles was that Tangaraju was never told that Judge of Appeal Steven Chong would be hearing his appeal.

Justice Chong was the Attorney-General when the Attorney-General’s Chambers was making decisions about Tangaraju’s case, but was not involved in the decision-making process.

The MHA said Tangaraju’s lawyer was informed of both these facts before the appeal was heard.

The lawyer replied to confirm that Tangaraju had no objections to Justice Chong presiding over the case at the Court of Appeal, added the MHA.


The posts and articles also claimed that Tangaraju was convicted, and sentenced to hang, and was later found to be not guilty.

Refuting this, the MHA said Tangaraju’s conviction by the High Court was upheld by the Court of Appeal, and his conviction has not been overturned.

Finally, the posts and articles alleged that several personal costs orders were made against Mr Ravi to penalise him for his work in death penalty cases.

But the MHA said the costs orders were made for justifiable reasons and in accordance with the law, noting that Mr Ravi had filed unmeritorious applications to the courts, which were found to be abuses of the court process.


Under the correction directions, Ms Han, Mr Ravi, Mr Loh, TJC and TOCA are required to publish a correction notice on their posts and articles providing access to the correct facts on the Government’s Factually website. They can be fined up to $20,000 and jailed for up to 12 months if they refuse to do so.

They do not have to take down their posts or articles, or make edits to their content.




POFMA no. 45: 7 May 2023


TOC Asia, Terry Xu issued POFMA orders over false claims about police
By Chin Hui Shan, The Straits Times, 8 May 2023

The Online Citizen Asia (TOCA) and its publisher Terry Xu have been ordered under the fake news law to post corrections to an online article and social media posts that made false accusations against the police in a 2021 incident.

In a statement on Sunday night, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam has instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) Office to issue correction directions to the two parties. The orders are in relation to Mr Xu’s Facebook post on April 30, TOCA’s article on its website on May 2, and TOCA’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn posts on May 2 that referenced the TOCA article.

These publications made reference to the police’s bodycam footage of an incident on May 17, 2021, when police officers responded to a report about an elderly woman in Yishun Avenue 5 who looked lost and was not wearing a mask.

The allegations were similar to those in articles in 2021 on the incident by the now-defunct The Online Citizen (TOC), and it was issued a correction direction in May 2021 for publishing falsehoods. TOC then appealed in court to set aside the order, but the appeal was dismissed by the High Court in 2022.

TOC had alleged that police officers were taunting and reprimanding the woman for not wearing a mask then, which coincided with the initial stage of the Covid-19 pandemic here.

In its statement on the Government’s Factually website, MHA said it was very clear from the footage captured that the police officers’ primary aim was to assist the woman and to help her find her way home.


In a separate statement, the police said: “Xu alleged that the police knew that the elderly woman was not lost but wanted to send her home nevertheless. This is untrue... When police officers located the elderly woman, she repeatedly said she knew where she stayed, but was unable to provide her address.

“Her address was only later established with the help of a member of the public, who recognised the elderly woman and recalled that she lived in a nearby block.”

MHA said the officers had also reminded the woman to wear her mask, “in view of the Covid-19 situation at that time, and the prevailing requirements to wear a mask in public places”.

The police said: “Xu falsely claimed that the main reason the police officers approached the elderly woman was that she was not wearing a face mask. This is untrue as the police’s primary concern was to help the elderly woman find her way home.

“The fact that they had asked her to put on a mask does not detract from the fact that they were trying to get her home safely.”


The MHA statement added that the police “did not make any misrepresentations to the family members of the elderly woman”.

The police said: “Xu alleged that the police misrepresented and lied to the elderly woman’s NOK (next of kin) that the elderly woman was lost, and that this resulted in the NOK filing a police report on the issue. This is a blatant fabrication.

“The NOK had lodged a police report against TOC and not the police, over the falsehoods TOC had spread about the police officers’ interactions with the elderly woman, and for interviewing the elderly woman without the family’s permission.”

In addition, MHA said that previous statements by the police and Mr Shanmugam had accurately presented the facts in relation to the incident.

“The police did not withhold any evidence that would disprove their narrative or provide false evidence to the court,” the MHA statement said. “All footage from the body-worn cameras of the police officers at the scene which captured their interactions with the elderly woman were submitted to the court.”

It added that the High Court had dismissed TOC’s appeal and found that the police officers who had approached the woman believed that she had lost her way.


The police said: “Despite the Government’s clarifications and the High Court’s clear findings on the matter, Xu has persisted in making false allegations pertaining to the case. These allegations are wholly unfounded.

“Police resources are better used to deter and solve crimes, and to assist members of the public, especially vulnerable members like the elderly woman, rather than to address such baseless allegations over and over again.”


MHA said that as part of the Pofma order, Mr Xu and TOCA will be required to carry a correction notice alongside their publications.

The TOCA article, MHA added, is one of 60 articles written by Mr Xu to raise funds to pay for the fine imposed upon him by the courts for various offences, including contempt of court and Pofma offences.







POFMA no. 44: 18 Nov 2022


POFMA correction orders issued to ex-GIC economist Yeoh Lam Keong, The Independent Singapore over false claims on Government’s fiscal surpluses
By Michelle Ng, Housing Correspondent, The Straits Times, 18 Nov 2022

Former GIC chief economist Yeoh Lam Keong and alternative news site The Independent Singapore have been ordered under the fake news law to put up corrections over false statements about the Government’s fiscal surpluses.

The Ministry of Finance (MOF) said on Friday that Mr Yeoh’s claim in two Facebook posts dated Nov 7 that there are $30 billion in structural fiscal surpluses that are available to the Government for spending is untrue.

The Independent Singapore subsequently reproduced Mr Yeoh’s statement in two of its articles on Nov 9 and Nov 12.


On Friday, MOF said Finance Minister Lawrence Wong has instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) Office to issue correction directions to Mr Yeoh and The Independent Singapore.

Both will be required to insert a notice against the original offending online posts or articles, with a link to the Government’s clarification. They will not have to take down or edit the post, and the direction does not impose criminal sanctions.

The notice with a link to the Government’s clarification has since been inserted.

MOF said that over the last two decades, excluding the 2020 financial year, which showed a significant fiscal deficit due to Covid-19 expenditures, the Government recorded on average a fiscal balance of $2.2 billion a year.

Noting that the Constitution defines clearly the fiscal rules for the Government, MOF said: “Any public spending beyond these fiscal rules means that we will be using more from the past reserves and leaving behind less for the next generation.”

“Furthermore, the Government is not in a position to freely or unilaterally decide to spend any part of the past reserves. Any drawing of the past reserves is subject to the President’s concurrence,” added the ministry.


This is the second correction direction issued to Mr Yeoh in the space of five weeks, the first being on Oct 14 over false and misleading statements about the Housing Board’s deficits and Singapore’s past reserves. Alternative news site The Online Citizen was also issued a correction direction over the same statements.

The latest correction direction involved two Facebook posts by Mr Yeoh on Nov 7, in which he had questioned the need to raise the goods and services tax (GST) in the coming years and stated that the increase “seems completely unnecessary at the moment as we have a $30 billion structural fiscal surplus that we have not even begun to publicly delineate clear big spending plans for”.

He had also expressed his views that Singapore’s reserves would “grow very strongly at the rate of $50 to $100 billion a year for the next five to 10 years” because of balance of payment surpluses.

Mr Yeoh said the balance of payment surpluses would contribute higher net investment returns over the medium to longer term and, thus, give “a fair chance” that the GST increase may not be needed at all. This view was also reproduced by The Independent Singapore in its article on Nov 9.

In additional clarifications on Factually, MOF said it is misleading to suggest that the balance of payment surpluses will lead to reserves growing very strongly for the next five to 10 years.

The Constitution defines the reserves as the total assets less total liabilities of the Government and other entities, such as the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The assets include the official foreign reserves held by MAS.

The ministry said that while the balance of payment surpluses would correspond to an increase in official foreign reserves assets, this increase does not result in an equivalent increase in the reserves.

This is because the increase in official foreign reserves assets may be matched by increases in MAS’ liabilities, said MOF.

It added that it is “speculative” to suggest that MAS’ official foreign reserves will continue to grow at the same rate as historical balance of payment trends.

“While MAS has had a steady accumulation of official foreign reserves in recent years, this took place during a period of unprecedented monetary easing globally. The same monetary conditions are now turning with global central banks tightening monetary policy aggressively,” said MOF.

It added that trends in official foreign reserves accumulation will change against this evolving global monetary backdrop.


MOF said that Mr Yeoh’s view of strong reserves growth and higher net investment returns contribution giving the Government a fair chance at addressing spending needs is “misguided”.

The ministry said returns from the investment on Singapore’s reserves are more likely to slow over time, given the structural challenges in the world, including rising geopolitical tensions, climate change and ageing populations.

In the past five years, the net investment returns contribution provided an average annual revenue stream of about 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), said MOF. It added that it had previously explained that the net investment returns contribution is expected to keep pace broadly with economic growth over the medium to longer term.

“That means that as government spending continues to increase as a share of GDP, we will need to rely on other revenue sources to close the funding gap,” said MOF.




POFMA no. 43: 14 Oct 2022

Corrections regarding XBB wave in Singapore

POFMA correction orders issued over false claims on Covid-19 XBB variant
By Fatimah Mujibah, The Straits Times, 14 Oct 2022

HardwareZone Forum, Thailand Medical News website and opposition politician Goh Meng Seng have been ordered under the fake news law to put up corrections over false and misleading statements about the Covid-19 XBB subvariant.

The Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) Office issued a correction direction to the Facebook page Goh Meng Seng People's Power Party as well, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Friday.


Thailand Medical News had on Oct 9 uploaded the article titled BREAKING! Singapore Is Under Attack By The New SARS-CoV-2 XBB Recombinant Variant With Covid-19 Infections And Hospitalisations Rising. Thailand Could Be Next! on its website and Facebook and Twitter accounts.

On Oct 10, the article was shared on Facebook pages belonging to Mr Goh and on a HardwareZone forum thread.

The correction directions require recipients to insert a notice against the original post or article, with a link to the Government's clarification.

MOH said the article had claimed that severe Covid-19 cases are becoming more common, even in the fully vaccinated. It also claimed that mortuaries, funeral parlours, and crematoria are facing a "pile-up" in cases.


In fact, local data in the last two weeks showed that XBB cases are estimated to have a 30 per cent lower risk of hospitalisation compared to Omicron BA.5 variant cases, the ministry said.

The number of Covid-19 deaths over the past month has not increased as well, it added.


Although Thailand Medical News has since amended the article, the article as first published had misrepresented the Covid-19 situation in Singapore and had been circulating in private messaging chats and other social media channels, MOH said.

This could cause undue public concern, it added.

MOH had on Tuesday refuted rumours circulating on messaging platform WhatsApp that Singapore is seeing a rapid increase in severe Covid-19 cases and deaths due to the circulating XBB strain of the Omicron variant, and said it would take action under Pofma.













POFMA no. 42: 14 Oct 2022

Corrections regarding HDB’s deficits and Singapore’s Past Reserves

POFMA correction orders issued to ex-GIC economist, TOC over false claims on past reserves and HDB loss
By Lee Li Ying, The Straits Times, 14 Oct 2022

Former GIC chief economist Yeoh Lam Keong and alternative news site The Online Citizen (TOC) have been ordered under the fake news law to put up corrections over false and misleading statements about the loss made by the Housing Board in a Build-To-Order (BTO) project, as well as gains by the nation's past reserves.

The Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) Office issued correction directions to Mr Yeoh and TOC, which require both to insert a notice against the original offending online posts or articles, with a link to the Government's clarification.


On Oct 4, Mr Yeoh published two Facebook posts referring to the reply by National Development Minister Desmond Lee to a parliamentary question by Non-Constituency MP Leong Mun Wai on HDB's net loss for the Central Weave @ AMK BTO project. The minister had stated that HDB will incur a development loss of about $270 million for the project.


TOC subsequently carried an article on the same day echoing the points raised in Mr Yeoh's Facebook posts. The alternative news site also published another article the next day, with a headline alluding to how Singapore's reserves will substantially profit from $500 million in land sales in the BTO project.

The Ministry of National Development (MND) said the losses incurred by HDB for the AMK BTO project are accurate and real, and that HDB's deficits are covered using funding from the annual Budget, which is raised from taxes and other revenue streams.



The ministry said state land is part of the past reserves, and is not up to the Government to use as it wishes. HDB has to buy the land by paying fair market value, and the money goes into past reserves. Fair market value is determined by a chief valuer - a public officer whose appointment is agreed upon by the President - who uses the same valuation principles as professional valuers in the private sector.

MND said the Government cannot sell state land at nominal or much lower cost than its fair market value without the President's approval, as doing so would constitute a draw on past reserves.

"To consume past reserves at the expense of Singapore's future generations and security is populist and irresponsible. Our Constitution is designed to try to stop any Government from this kind of behaviour," it said.


The ministry added that neither the government nor the past reserves profit from land sales.

"When state land is disposed of at fair market value, there is no addition to the past reserves but a conversion of one type of asset (land) to another (cash)," it said.

The sum of about $500 million for the land for the Central Weave @ AMK BTO project would not result in a net increase in the past reserves when deposited, said MND.













POFMA no. 41: 4 Sep 2022


The Alternative View to get correction order after implying HDB will profit from Ang Mo Kio BTO flats
The Straits Times, 4 Sep 2022

Facebook page The Alternative View will be issued a correction direction under the law against fake news for a post that implied that the Housing Board (HDB) was making a profit from Build-To-Order (BTO) flats in Ang Mo Kio.


Last Thursday, the page, which has more than 43,000 followers, published a Facebook post which included the headline of an AsiaOne article dated Aug 31 stating "Ang Mo Kio BTO flats: Strong demand for 5-room units despite prices of up to $877k".

The post had an image of Minister for National Development Desmond Lee holding a bag of money, and was captioned: "How much profit is HDB reaping from this?"

On Sunday, the Ministry of National Development (MND) said Mr Lee has instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) Office to issue a correction direction to be displayed on the page.


The Alternative View will be required to insert a notice against the original post, with a link to the Government's clarification. It will not have to take down or edit the post, and the direction does not impose criminal sanctions.


It explained that the estimated amount to be collected from the sale is lower than the estimated total development cost of the project.

"If we take into account the CPF (Central Provident Fund) housing grants that HDB will extend to eligible buyers, the deficit is higher still," added the ministry.


MND also said that HDB incurs a deficit every year, largely due to the significant subsidies extended for new flats and the disbursement of CPF housing grants to eligible buyers.

Due to these grants, most first-time buyers use less than a quarter of their monthly income to service their housing loans, with close to 90 per cent of them servicing their HDB loans using CPF, with little or no cash payments, said MND.

For the financial year 2021/2022, HDB incurred a deficit of $3.85 billion for its Home Ownership Programme. The average deficit incurred by HDB in the last three years was about $2.68 billion per year.




















POFMA no. 40: 12 May 2022



Activist Gilbert Goh issued POFMA correction direction for post on woman needing financial help
By Shermaine Ang, The Straits Times, 12 May 2022

Activist Gilbert Goh has been issued a correction direction under Singapore's fake news law over a Facebook post he made in April about a woman and her partner who purportedly needed financial assistance urgently but had no one to turn to for help.

In a statement issued on Thursday (May 12), the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) said Mr Goh's post gave the false impression that the woman and her partner had not received any help from the authorities.

The MSF said that the woman, who it called Madam A, and her partner have been receiving social assistance from MSF and other agencies such as the Agency for Integrated Care and THK Family Service Centre @ MacPherson, and that Madam A had not contacted the ministry for further help before Mr Goh’s post was published on April 24.


The ministry said Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli had instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act Office to issue a correction direction to Mr Goh which requires him to carry a correction notice alongside his post.

Mr Goh has added the correction to his post as of Thursday morning.

On April 24, Mr Goh posted on Facebook an appeal he purportedly received from "A", who claimed that she and her husband were both ill, and were in "desperate need" of adult diapers, transport and food after their savings had run out.

"I need help urgently and there is no one I can turn to here," the post said.

The ministry said that Madam A has been receiving monthly ComCare assistance from MSF since June 2015.

Her monthly payout was also increased from May.


MSF added that Madam A's partner has also been receiving ComCare assistance for various periods since June 2015.

The financial assistance that the pair is currently receiving from MSF and other agencies amounts to more than $2,000 each month, said MSF.

This includes cash, rental assistance, assistance for service and conservancy charges, utility assistance and public healthcare assistance.


"Such false statements erode public trust and lead to misunderstanding about the support and assistance being extended to needy families by MSF and other agencies."

MSF said people who come across those who require financial help can call the ComCare hotline on 1800-222-0000 or approach the nearest Social Service Office or Family Service Centre.










POFMA no. 39: 22 Apr 2022



The Independent Singapore issued POFMA correction direction for article saying Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam may step down
By Goh Yan Han, Political Correspondent, The Straits Times, 22 Apr 2022

Alternative news website The Independent Singapore has been issued a correction direction under the fake news law for an article that gave a false impression that Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam said he may be stepping down from his ministerial positions.

The Ministry of Law (MinLaw) said on Friday (April 22) that the article's headline "K Shanmugam says he may step down as Singapore's Minister of Law and Home Affairs", which appeared on The Independent Singapore's website as well as Facebook and Twitter accounts, was "deceptive clickbait".


The article, published on Thursday, was written by Mr Toh Han Shih, chief analyst at Headland Intelligence, a Hong Kong risk consulting firm.

It referred to Mr Shanmugam's interview with Tamil-language news platform Vanakkam Malaysia from earlier this month, and said the minister "revealed" that he may step down, without giving a specific time as to when he might do so.

Mr Shanmugam had shared a link to the video interview in a Facebook post on Tuesday.


MinLaw said in a statement that Mr Shanmugam had not said, during the video interview with Vanakkam Malaysia, that he may be stepping down from his ministerial positions or that he was contemplating doing so.

Instead, he had said that he considered serving people a privilege, which not everyone gets a chance to do, and that he must be ready to leave when he no longer has the people's support.

The minister also said that he should be ready to move on when there are capable leaders to replace him.

In addition, Mr Shanmugam said that he had maintained transparency in both his words and actions and will continue to do that - and if he can no longer continue to do so, he will leave his ministerial posts.


"In addition, viewing the whole video will show that the minister, when he spoke about his own views, also intended his comments to be of general application, for persons holding ministerial appointments (when seen in the context of past comments of the PAP leadership, and history of the PAP)."

MinLaw added that the headline "was deceptive clickbait, with the falsity repeated in the first paragraph of the article".


Mr Shanmugam has instructed for correction directions, under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA), to be issued to The Independent Singapore and to Mr Toh, the author of the article.

Mr Toh also shared the article on his Twitter account on Thursday.

Both The Independent Singapore and Mr Toh will have to publish a correction notice alongside the posts, with a link to the Factually article that states the facts and clarifications on the matter.

Factually is the government-run website that clarifies falsehoods.

The Factually article said Mr Shanmugam was asked: "Have you ever felt politics is not allowing you to be true to yourself and regretted about it?"

In reply, the minister had reaffirmed his willingness and desire to serve Singapore.

He also said: "I consider serving people as a privilege. Not everyone will get the chance... I am here as a minister because of people's support and love. The moment when there is no support, I must be ready to leave...

"When there are capable leaders to replace me then I should be ready to move on too. Only then will the country progress… I have maintained transparency in both my words and actions. I clearly tell the public what are the challenges and what do we need to do to overcome them. I will continue to do that. The moment when I feel I can't keep to that anymore, I will leave my ministerial posts."







POFMA warning given to woman who claimed child COVID-19 death in KKH was covered up
By Goh Yan Han, Political Correspondent, The Straits Times, 31 Mar 2022

A conditional warning has been given to a Singaporean woman who claimed last August that a child died of Covid-19 at KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) and it was deliberately not reported.

The Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) Office said in a statement on Thursday (March 31) that following an investigation, it found that the 47-year-old woman had concocted the false statement based on hearsay from an acquaintance.


The Pofma Office said the conditional warning was issued to the woman for "making a statement knowing or having reason to believe that it is false and likely to harm the public interest".

The falsehood caused public alarm and ran counter to efforts to combat the Covid-19 virus, it added.

This is the first such warning issued by the Pofma Office.

Investigation showed that the woman was aware that no such death of a pre-schooler had been reported but she went ahead to post the falsehood.

It was also found that she had taken steps to evade identification by using a social media account with a fictitious name to post the false statement, and further falsely represented that she had "permission from girl's mummy to post on FB".

The Pofma Office then issued a 24-month conditional warning to the woman.

If she reoffends during this period, she can be prosecuted for the original crime.


Under Section 7 of Pofma, a person convicted of an offence can be fined up to $50,000 or jailed for up to five years, or both.

The Pofma Office said: "Online falsehoods that sow public confusion affect lives and harm society. The Government takes a serious view of the deliberate communication of these false statements."


In her post, she had alleged that a three-year-old had died from Covid-19 at KKH and that the death was deliberately not reported.

According to MOH, as at Aug 14, there had been no case of any child who had died from Covid-19 at KKH or any other hospital in Singapore.

Health Minister Ong Ye Kung had then instructed the Pofma Office to issue a general correction direction to Facebook, which had to carry a correction notice.













POFMA no. 38: 27 Mar 2022



Wake Up, Singapore issued POFMA correction direction for falsehoods about KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital
By Lim Yan Liang, Assistant Political Editor, The Straits Times, 27 Mar 2022

Alternative news site Wake Up, Singapore (WUSG) has been issued a correction direction by the POFMA Office over falsehoods it had published about KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH).

In a statement shortly after midnight on Sunday (March 27), the Ministry of Health (MOH) said it instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office to issue a correction direction to the news site for publishing a false account of a 20-weeks pregnant patient who had allegedly suffered a miscarriage after waiting four hours to see a doctor at KKH.


Investigations by KKH confirmed that the patient had been seen by a doctor within an hour of her arrival at the hospital in February, and that she did not suffer any miscarriage, said MOH.

KKH had identified the patient in question based on a screenshot of a hospital bill accompanying WUSG’s posts, which contained discrepancies with the patient’s account of events, added the ministry.


MOH noted that WUSG had on Friday published further posts on its Facebook and Instagram pages stating that it had been lied to by the patient and that her recollection was false, and that the news site had apologised to KKH for publishing these allegations.

WUSG’s apology came after KKH made a police report earlier that day and put out a statement that the claim by the pregnant woman was “incorrect”.

Professor Alex Sia, chief executive of KKH, said in a statement then: “KKH would like to clarify that the online report on the incident at the Urgent Obstetrics and Gynaecology Centre is incorrect.”

He added: “We can definitively say that there is no such scenario. We have since made a police report.”


MOH said that, notwithstanding its apology, the allegations published by WUSG are serious and have been circulated to various other platforms. “This could lead to the erosion of public trust in the credibility and professionalism of our healthcare system and institutions.”

Under the correction direction, WUSG is required to publish correction notices as specified by the POFMA Office for each webpage and social media post containing the falsehoods.

WUSG published the correction notices shortly after MOH’s statement was put out, at 12.24am on Facebook and subsequently on Instagram.


On Saturday afternoon, WUSG sought to provide an account of how it had come to publish the allegations, and published more than 50 screenshots that it said documented its exchanges with the pregnant woman.

“We are sorry to our readers and the good people of KKH. We will face the consequences of our actions and take responsibility,” it said. “As mentioned yesterday, we will co-operate with investigations and do what is necessary.”

MOH said: “The Government takes a serious view of these falsehoods, which appear to have been fabricated. The matter has been referred to the relevant authorities for investigation.”

















POFMA no. 37: 12 Feb 2022



POFMA office issues correction direction to Wake Up, Singapore over Committee of Privileges statements
By Sue-Ann Tan, Business Correspondent, The Straits Times, 12 Feb 2022

Alternative news site Wake Up, Singapore has been issued with a correction direction by the Pofma Office over falsehoods put out in relation to Committee of Privileges (COP) proceedings.

The Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and Leader of the House has instructed the Pofma Office to do so. The current Leader of the House is Ms Indranee Rajah.

The correction is in relation to its Facebook and Instagram posts dated Feb 10 on the COP's probe into the conduct of former MP Raeesah Khan, who had admitted to lying in Parliament last year.

The posts said that the COP recommended that Mr Pritam Singh and Mr Faisal Manap be "referred for criminal proceedings", even though there was no finding by the committee that they had lied.

Mr Singh is Workers' Party's (WP) chief and Leader of the Opposition. He is also an MP for Aljunied GRC. Mr Faisal is also an MP for Aljunied GRC and is WP's vice-chair.

"In making this false statement, the posts suggested that the Committee had recommended referring Mr Singh and Mr Faisal to the Public Prosecutor without basis," a media release from The Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and Leader of the House said on Saturday (Feb 12).



Wake Up, Singapore will have to carry correction notices stating that the posts contain a false statement of fact, according to the media release.

"The posts published by Wake Up, Singapore misrepresent the Committee's findings and muddy the waters as to the proper role of the Committee."

Wake Up, Singapore said in a post on its website that it has received the correction and has compiled with posting them on its Facebook and Instagram.

An article on the Gov.Sg website added that the committee expressly found that Mr Singh, WP chairman Sylvia Lim and Mr Faisal had lied in their evidence before the committee.

"The Committee's recommendation that Mr Singh be referred to the Public Prosecutor was based on this finding which it made, that Mr Singh had lied on oath (which is a possible offence of perjury)," the article said.

"The Committee did not recommend referring Mr Faisal Manap to the Public Prosecutor for lying to the Committee. The Committee recommended referring Mr Faisal for repeatedly refusing to answer relevant questions put to him by the Committee," it added.










POFMA no. 36: 3 Dec 2021



POFMA correction direction issued to Goh Meng Seng over false claims about Omicron variant
By Wong Shiying, The Straits Times, 4 Dec 2021

Opposition party chief Goh Meng Seng has been issued a correction direction under Singapore's fake news law for false claims about the Covid-19 variant Omicron.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) said late on Friday night (Dec 3) that it has instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) Office to issue the correction direction to Mr Goh, who is People's Power Party chief.

This means that he is required to publish the correction notice on each Facebook post containing the falsehoods.


Mr Goh had posted a video on Nov 27 on at least two Facebook accounts where he claimed that HIV and the virus that causes Covid-19 can combine in a fully vaccinated patient to become airborne HIV that is vaccine resistant.

He also claimed that the Omicron variant is most likely the result of combining HIV and the virus that causes Covid-19, which is known as Sars-CoV-2, and that this had happened before June 4 this year.

Mr Goh also said that current vaccines are "totally useless" against the Omicron variant.

MOH countered these false claims and said they were without scientific basis.


MOH added that Mr Goh's claim about the possibility of HIV being transmissible by droplets in the air is unfounded.

"Viruses simply do not change drastically enough to take on vastly different properties. HIV is transmitted via bodily fluids (blood, semen or vaginal secretions) and will remain to be so."

The ministry also refuted Mr Goh's claim that the Omicron variant is a combination of HIV and the virus that causes Covid-19.

It added that there is no evidence to suggest that current vaccines are completely useless against the variant.

"Studies are ongoing and there is insufficient data on how the Omicron variant affects vaccine effectiveness," said MOH.

"Most scientists believe that existing vaccines will retain some effectiveness against the Omicron variant, but protection may be less due to the large number of mutations in the variant."


MOH said a police report has been made in relation to the video and that the Government takes a serious view of these falsehoods.

On Monday, 29 Nov, Mr Goh was also issued a correction direction together with local author Cheah Kit Sun. He had shared a blog post by Mr Cheah which claimed that Covid-19 vaccines are "the most dangerous ever developed in recent memory".

On April 15, correction directions were issued to the Facebook pages of Mr Goh's party and Goh Meng Seng (Satu Singapura), as well as the Singapore Uncensored website, after unsubstantiated claims about adverse reactions to Covid-19 vaccines were posted.

The ministry urged members of the public to visit its website for the latest information on Covid-19, rather than speculate or spread misinformation.











POFMA no. 35: 29 Nov 2021



POFMA correction order issued to science fiction author and Goh Meng Seng over COVID-19 vaccine false claims
Two issued POFMA correction direction after sharing vaccine misinformation
By Linette Lai, Political Correspondent, The Straits Times, 29 Nov 2021

Two men have been issued correction directions under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) for sharing misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines.

They are local author Cheah Kit Sun - who wrote a blog post in October titled Do Not Participate In A Society That Rejects You - and opposition party chief Goh Meng Seng, who shared the post.

Each will have to publish correction notices at the top of each webpage or social media post containing the false statements.

"It is important to correct these falsehoods, especially given the ongoing vaccine booster exercise," said the Ministry of Health (MOH) in a statement on Monday (Nov 29).


Mr Cheah had stated that Covid-19 vaccines are "the most dangerous ever developed in recent memory".

He also cited data from the United States Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (Vaers), claiming that these vaccines have caused more serious injuries and deaths than all other vaccines combined over the past decade.

These claims are false, MOH said, adding that Covid-19 vaccines approved for use here have been assessed to be safe and effective by reputable health and scientific agencies worldwide.

In Singapore, these vaccines are assessed by both the Health Sciences Authority and the Expert Committee on Covid-19 Vaccination.

As of Oct 31, just 0.006 per cent of vaccine doses have resulted in serious injuries. No deaths have been attributed to vaccination so far.

"The benefits of receiving Covid-19 vaccines continue to far outweigh the risks of vaccination," MOH said.

It also debunked the comparison to yearly Vaers data, which is often used by anti-vaccination groups as evidence that supports their stance.

This is because Covid-19 vaccines were given to a very large proportion of the US population. In comparison, other vaccines were given to "substantially fewer" individuals in any given year preceding the pandemic.

The ministry said it is thus misleading to compare the absolute number of serious injuries and deaths resulting from Covid-19 vaccines and other vaccines.


Secondly, there has been much higher surveillance and awareness of adverse event reporting for Covid-19 vaccines, compared with other vaccines.

Lastly, Vaers data is self-reported - meaning that any member of the public may make a report to the Vaers system without the need for it to be verified.

"They often lack details and sometimes contain errors. No proof is required that the adverse event or death was caused by the vaccine," MOH pointed out.

In addition, adverse events in the Vaers system need not be serious, and can include mild side effects such as rashes, colds or headaches.

"(Mr Cheah's) post has been written to falsely exaggerate the dangers of Covid-19 vaccines, and to discourage people from taking them," the ministry said.











POFMA no. 34: 24 Oct 2021


POFMA correction direction issued to Truth Warriors website over COVID-19 false claims
By Lim Yan Liang, Assistant News Editor, The Straits Times, 25 Oct 2021

The Ministry of Health (MOH) has invoked Singapore's fake news law against a local website for false claims about the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines, and the safety and efficacy of ivermectin in preventing and treating Covid-19.

Health Minister Ong Ye Kung instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office to issue a correction direction to the Truth Warriors website, MOH said on Sunday (Oct 24).

This means the website is required to publish the correction notice at the top of each webpage containing the falsehoods.


Among the false claims that have to carry the notice are that vaccinated countries have the most cases and deaths per million population, and the least vaccinated countries have the fewest cases and deaths per million population.

The website has also stated that vaccines do not prevent the spread of Covid-19.


Latest available data also does not support the claim that countries with the highest vaccination rates have the highest cases and deaths per million population, said the ministry.

Instead, that some countries with the lowest vaccination rates also have low reported Covid-19 deaths is likely due to poor record collection for both vaccinations and deaths, said MOH.

And while the vaccines do not completely stop viral transmission, they do reduce the risk of transmission, as vaccinated persons are less likely to transmit the virus than an unvaccinated person, it added.


It is also false to suggest that the vaccine does not boost the immune system in its fight against the virus, said MOH.

"The vaccines cause the body to produce antibodies and immune cells that act against the virus and, in effect, kill it," it said.

MOH also debunked claims made by the website about the effectiveness of ivermectin in preventing Covid-19 infection, and that the medication is safe and effective for use against the virus, even by pregnant women.

The website's claims have been cited and circulated by some here to promote the use of ivermectin in preventing and treating Covid-19.

"Ivermectin is a prescription-only medicine registered in Singapore specifically for the treatment of parasitic worm infections," said the ministry.

"It is not an anti-viral medicine and is not approved by the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) for preventing or treating Covid-19."


MOH urged members of the public to visit its website for the latest information on Covid-19. Vaccine serious adverse event statistics are published by the HSA in monthly safety updates, and information about ivermectin can be found on the authority's website.











POFMA no. 33: 9 Oct 2021


POFMA Office to issue targeted correction direction to Twitter over Jolovan Wham’s non-compliance with the Correction Order issued on 8 October 2021
By Nadine Chua, The Straits Times, 9 Oct 2021

Minister for Home Affairs K. Shanmugam has instructed the Pofma Office to issue a targeted correction direction to Twitter, said his ministry on Saturday (Oct 9).

This comes after activist Jolovan Wham's non-compliance with the correction order issued to him on Friday.

Shortly after the ministry issued its statement, Mr Wham posted a correction notice on his Twitter account, saying his earlier tweet contained false statements.

He had made comments on social media network Twitter that misrepresented what Mr Shanmugam had said on the rule of law in Parliament on Monday.

Mr Wham wrote: "'Rule of law is a concept for lawyers, but it doesn't operate in the real world,' K. Shanmugam, Law Minister."




The targeted correction direction requires Twitter to alert users who had seen Mr Wham's tweet and inform them that it contains false claims about the minister's views on the rule of law.

Mr Wham had previously been instructed to publish a correction notice on his online platform.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said on Thursday that it issued letters to nine entities, asking them to correct false statements and apologise for misquoting Mr Shanmugam.

Besides Mr Wham, they are activists Andrew Loh, Kirsten Han, Martyn See, Julie O'Connor, Kokila Annamalai and Lynn Lee, Peoples Voice chief Lim Tean and Facebook page Wake Up Singapore.

These misrepresentations were also published by news website Mothership in an article on Wednesday.

As at Friday, all of them besides Mr Wham had corrected and/or apologised for their posts. Mothership published an editor's note to clarify and correct the misrepresentation.


MHA said on Friday that the posts in question had completely misstated what Mr Shanmugam had said at the debate on the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act, or Fica.

"The minister had repeatedly affirmed, in Parliament, the importance of the rule of law for Singapore and the Government's strong and continued commitment to the rule of law.

"He had said there are some countries around the world where the rule of law is a concept for lawyers, but does not operate in the real world, and their societies live in utter misery. He used this as a contrast to how the rule of law is applied in Singapore," the ministry added.

Mr Shanmugam was responding to remarks by MPs on the role of the judiciary in overseeing Fica at a 10-hour-long debate on Monday.

He noted that while executive powers must be subject to checks and balances, the questions are in what form and what solutions are appropriate and best for Singapore's context.

Parliament approved Fica on Monday, three years after it was first raised.

During the debate, MPs brought up criticisms and concerns from lawyers, experts and activists, including over the law's broad language and lack of judicial oversight.

All 11 opposition MPs present voted against it, while two Nominated MPs abstained.








POFMA no. 32: 8 Oct 2021


Manpower Minister issues new, narrower POFMA direction to SDP
By Tham Yuen-C, Senior Political Correspondent, The Straits Times, 9 Oct 2021

The Minister for Manpower on Friday night (Oct 8) issued a new correction direction to the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) under the fake news law.

This came after the Court of Appeal set aside part of an original direction given to the opposition party for a falsehood that had to do with the employment situation in Singapore.

The SDP had been issued three such directions on Dec 14, 2019, under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) for false statements in its Facebook posts and in an article on its website titled SDP Population Policy: Hire S'poreans First, Retrench S'poreans Last.


The directions had taken issue specifically with the first statement - "local PMET retrenchment has been increasing" - referring to professionals, managers, executives and technicians, as well as the second statement - "local PMET employment has gone down".

The SDP had applied to the High Court to set aside these directions, arguing, among other things, that its second statement was referring only to Singaporean PMETs and not "local" PMETs, which would include permanent residents.

However, the High Court upheld the correction orders, ruling that the SDP's statements were false, based on the Ministry of Manpower's (MOM) statistics.


On Friday, the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court's findings on the first statement about local PMET retrenchment. In fact, the data - which SDP did not challenge - showed a decline, rather than increase in local PMET retrenchment.

But the court allowed part of the SDP's appeal involving the second statement, agreeing with the SDP that "local PMET employment" as used in the infographic in SDP's Facebook post, is to be understood as referring only to Singaporean PMETs, instead of both Singaporeans and permanent residents.

This rendered the correction direction inaccurate, since it had referred to PMETs who were both Singaporeans and permanent residents.


The MOM said on Friday that even if SDP's statement was referring to just Singapore citizens in PMET jobs, the claim that such employment has gone down is still completely false.

The number of Singaporeans employed in PMET jobs has increased steadily from 2015 to 2019, from 929,700 in 2015 to 958,400 in 2016, 974,800 in 2017, 1,009,600 in 2018 and 1,050,300 in 2019, said MOM.

"(Thus), the Minister for Manpower has instructed the Pofma Office to issue a correction direction to the SDP in relation to this false statement of fact," said MOM.








POFMA no. 31: 8 Oct 2021


Activist Jolovan Wham issued POFMA correction order over tweet on Shanmugam's rule of law remarks
By Ng Wei Kai, The Straits Times, 8 Oct 2021

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has invoked Singapore's fake news law in response to comments on Twitter by activist Jolovan Wham that misrepresented what Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam had said on the rule of law in Parliament on Monday (Oct 4).

MHA has asked the Pofma Office, which administers the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act, to issue a correction direction to Mr Wham for his Twitter post published on Wednesday.


Mr Wham had written: "Rule of law is a concept for lawyers, but it doesn't operate in the real world," K. Shanmugam, Law Minister."

He will now have to publish a correction notice on his online platform, MHA added.


Mr Wham was one of nine entities who had received letters from the MHA on Thursday asking them to correct false statements and apologise for misquoting Mr Shanmugam.

These misrepresentations were also published by news website Mothership in an article on Wednesday.

As at Friday, all of them besides Mr Wham have corrected and/or apologised for their posts.

They are: activists Andrew Loh, Kirsten Han, Martyn See, Julie O'Connor, Kokila Annamalai and Lynn Lee, Peoples Voice chief Lim Tean and Facebook page Wake Up Singapore.

Mothership has also published an editor's note to clarify and correct the misrepresentation.

The posts in question had completely misstated what Mr Shanmugam had said at the debate on the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act, or Fica, MHA said.

"The Minister had repeatedly affirmed, in Parliament, the importance of the rule of law for Singapore and the Government's strong and continued commitment to the rule of law," the ministry said on Friday.

"He had said there are some countries around the world where the rule of law is a concept for lawyers, but does not operate in the real world, and their societies live in utter misery. He used this as a contrast to how the rule of law is applied in Singapore."


Mr Shanmugam's comments came near the end of the 10-hour long debate where he was responding to MPs' remarks on the role of the judiciary in overseeing Fica.

The minister said he agreed that while executive powers must be subject to checks and balances, the questions are in what form and what are the appropriate and best solutions for Singapore's context.

He added that Fica offered a more calibrated approach for the Internet age.

Parliament approved Fica on Monday, three years after it was first raised and three weeks after the extensive, hotly debated legislation was tabled.

The debate saw MPs surface criticisms and concerns raised by lawyers, experts and activists, including over the law's broad language and lack of judicial oversight.

All 11 opposition MPs present voted against it, while two Nominated MPs abstained.









POFMA no. 30: 15 Aug 2021



MOH issues POFMA correction order over Facebook post suggesting 3-year-old died of COVID-19 at KKH
By Justin Ong, Political Correspondent, The Straits Times, 15 Aug 2021

The Ministry of Health (MOH) on Sunday (Aug 15) invoked Singapore's fake news law in response to a Facebook post circulating online which suggested that a three-year-old pre-schooler had died of Covid-19 at the KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH).

Health Minister Ong Ye Kung has instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office to issue a general correction direction to Facebook, said MOH in a statement.


The direction requires Facebook to carry a correction notice with a link to the facts to all Singapore users of the social media platform.

It comes a day after MOH debunked the Aug 14 post by a user known as Eileen Loh, which also claimed that the "Delta Plus" Covid-19 variant was now present in Singapore.

The ministry reiterated on Sunday that as at Aug 14, there has been no case of any child that has died from Covid-19 at any hospital in Singapore.

It added that the "Delta Plus" variant has also not been identified in any of the country's known Covid-19 cases.


The Facebook post had additionally insinuated that the child's death was deliberately not reported, and the Government had not been transparent in its daily reporting of Covid-19 cases.

In its Sunday statement, MOH urged the public to not spread unsubstantiated information which may cause public alarm, and to visit its website www.moh.gov.sg for latest updates on the pandemic situation.

For facts of the case, people should refer to the Factually article "Corrections and Clarifications Regarding Falsehoods on alleged death of three-year-old girl from Covid-19".




















POFMA no. 29: 21 May 2021



POFMA directives issued over allegations of police bullying elderly woman for not wearing mask
By Adeline Tan, The Straits Times, 22 May 2021

Singapore's fake news law has been invoked in response to claims circulating online that police officers had bullied and reprimanded an elderly woman for not wearing her mask.

In a statement on Friday (May 21), the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that Minister for Home Affairs K. Shanmugam has instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office to issue the correction directions.

They were directed at Instagram user @nichology, as well as the Singapore Uncensored and The Online Citizen Asia websites.

The Instagram story by @nichology on Tuesday had alleged that police officers taunted and reprimanded the woman for not wearing a mask.

On the same day, Singapore Uncensored carried an article about the Instagram story by @nichology, while The Online Citizen Asia shared his Instagram story.

All parties will have to carry the correction notice as new posts.


The ministry said the Instagram story alleged that four police officers had clustered around an elderly woman who took off her mask because she was feeling breathless.

It also alleged that the police officers had abused their authority, and "continued to tell her off to the extent (that) someone had to come and salvage the situation".





The ministry said the police had responded to the incident on Monday at Block 743 Yishun Avenue 5 at around 6.45pm.

The 85-year-old woman, who was not wearing a mask, appeared to be lost and the police officers attended to her to help her find her way home.

With the help of a member of the public, it was established that the woman lived in a nearby block, and her domestic helper was contacted to take her home.

As the incident took place during dinner time, the officers bought food for the woman, MHA said.

It added: "Members of the public are advised not to participate in the spreading of unverified information and to be responsible when posting or sharing any information online."






















Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam defends police, calls TOC video unethical, cynical, ‘despicable’
Police release body camera footage to refute accusations they taunted maskless elderly woman
By Rei Kurohi, The Straits Times, 27 May 2021

The police have released two clips of body-worn camera footage from an incident in Yishun involving officers who had engaged an elderly woman who was not wearing a mask in public.


The footage shows a police officer buying the woman a packet of food from a nearby stall and not taunting or reprimanding her, said the Singapore Police Force (SPF) in a statement on Tuesday (May 25) evening.

Instead, the officer was telling the woman's domestic helper to remind her to wear a mask when she is out, said the police.

This comes after The Online Citizen Asia (TOC) had posted a video on its Facebook page just after midnight on Tuesday, featuring an interview with the woman in which she denied police officers had bought her food.

The video also claimed that audio from the incident, which took place on the evening of May 17 and was uploaded online by Instagram user @nichology, showed the police officer had reprimanded the woman for not wearing a mask.



The fake news law was also invoked to issue a correction direction to TOC and other sites that repeated the claims.

Speaking to the media at the police headquarters at New Phoenix Park on Tuesday, Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam said TOC's latest video was a cynical, unethical and malicious attack on the police, adding that TOC took advantage of an old woman with dementia.


He said: "People who have dealt with people with dementia will know that you can sometimes get them to say many things they will not remember... You interview her, this old lady, try and get her to say things, I would say this is despicable."

Mr Shanmugam said the police are still considering whether to take further action against TOC. He added that TOC should keep to politics when attacking the Government and leave police officers out.


“We can deal with it. Don’t bring that toxicity to attack police officers, spare them. They’re just doing their jobs.”

In their statement, the police said they had spoken to the daughter of the elderly woman, who confirmed that her mother has dementia and may not remember the incident clearly.

The police added that while the woman's daughter did not want to be interviewed by the media, she had expressed disappointment that TOC interviewed her mother and posted the video online without attempting to understand her condition.

The police said that they had decided to release relevant portions of the body-worn camera footage after discussions with the woman’s daughter, although this was not their usual practice.

A spokesman said: "The police generally do not release such body-worn camera footage as the information is confidential."

Mr Shanmugam said he had instructed the police to release the footage to set out the facts as the video circulating online had poor audio quality and did not provide the full picture.

Urging people to watch the footage for themselves, he said: “You can see, it is clear.”

The minister said body-worn camera footage is considered evidence and can be part of investigative processes if an offence is committed.

He added: “The police have the power to release it, but you have to look at the circumstances and make sure that nobody is prejudiced by such a release and investigations are not prejudiced. There must be a good reason for releasing it.”


The minister also defended the two officers in the incident as long-serving members of the SPF, adding that they and other officers have been serving Singaporeans, in the frontline in the Covid-19 fight, while also upholding law and order.














POFMA no. 28: 20 May 2021



Facebook, Twitter and HardwareZone forum comply with POFMA directive over 'Singapore COVID-19 variant' claims
By Ng Wei Kai, The Straits Times, 20 May 2021

Facebook, Twitter and Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) said on Thursday (May 20) that they had complied with a correction direction under Singapore’s fake news law and put up notices on their platforms for their users in Singapore.

This was after the Ministry of Health invoked the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) in response to a statement circulating online claiming that there is a new variant of Covid-19 which originated in the Republic.

Health Minister Ong Ye Kung instructed the POFMA Office to issue a correction direction to Facebook, Twitter and the HardwareZone forum owned by SPH Magazines, said MOH in a press release early on Thursday morning.


It added that there is no new Singapore variant of Covid-19 and that there is also no evidence of any Covid-19 variant that is "extremely dangerous for kids".

"The strain that is prevalent in many of the Covid-19 cases detected in Singapore in recent weeks is the B16172 variant, which originated in India," it added.

A Facebook spokesman told The Straits Times: “We’ve carefully reviewed the direction and are legally compelled to issue a correction notice from the Singapore Government to all people using Facebook in Singapore.”

ST understands that Facebook will carry the notice as a prompt via users' news feeds.

A spokesman from Twitter said: “Following a thorough assessment, Twitter determined this request was applicable under local law within Singapore, and the company has complied.

“In line with our values around openness, transparency and trust, this request will be reflected in Singapore’s section of the Twitter Transparency Report, which we publish twice-yearly,” she added.


Twitter said that the POFMA correction will be carried as a notification to the platform’s Singapore-based users.

The notification includes a tweet from the Singapore Government stating that it is legally required.

SPH said: “SPH Magazines has complied with the Pofma office recommendations to put up the notice in HardwareZone forum by 1.20am this morning.”

The post which first carried the false statements originated on Twitter.


Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, in a Twitter post in Hindi, had called on India’s government to cancel flights with Singapore.

He claimed a “new form of corona” from the country could cause a third wave of infections in India.

His remarks were carried by several news outlets including the Hindustan Times and NDTV, a broadcaster in India.

Earlier in the week, both MOH and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) issued statements on claims by a politician in India regarding the supposed new variant.

MOH said in a statement on Tuesday that there was no truth to his claims while MFA stated that it "regrets the unfounded assertions" made by Mr Kejriwal on social media.














POFMA no. 27: 7 May 2021



Ministry of Transport issues POFMA correction direction over video of South Asians at Changi Airport
By Justin Ong, Political Correspondent, The Straits Times, 8 May 2021

The Ministry of Transport (MOT) yesterday invoked Singapore's fake news law in response to a video circulating on social media showing a large group of South Asian travellers purportedly arriving at Changi Airport despite existing travel restrictions.

A correction direction has been issued to the "Singapore Incidents" pages on Facebook and Instagram, both of which posted the false video, said MOT in a statement. Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung had instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office to issue the direction.

These videos, put up on May 5, contained a watermark stating the date as May 5 and the location as Changi Airport.

MOT noted that a clock in the video indicated the time as 2.53pm - and that there were no flights from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka arriving at Changi Airport between 8am and 3.30pm on May 5.

The ministry added that the video showed passengers walking past a renovation hoarding in Terminal 1, which had been removed on April 5. The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) had made similar points debunking the video a day earlier.


MOT noted that since 11.59pm on April 23, long-term visit pass holders and short-term visitors with recent travel history to India have not been allowed to enter or transit through Singapore. From May 1 at 11.59pm, this measure was extended to visitors with recent travel history to Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

"While there are still passenger flights arriving in Singapore from South Asia, these flights carry primarily returning Singapore citizens and permanent residents; cargo; or fly in empty to pick up passengers in Singapore who are returning to South Asia," said MOT, citing how there were five flights arriving from South Asia on May 5 carrying a total of 50 returning Singaporeans or PRs.


MOT added that all such passengers arriving from South Asian countries are currently subject to stringent border control and health measures. They are escorted through Changi Airport separately from other travellers.

Under Singapore's fake news law, parties who have received correction directions have to carry a correction notice stating that their posts contain falsehoods.

Both the Singapore Incidents Instagram and Facebook pages have complied. The video also appears to have been removed from both.


On Facebook, Singapore Incidents posted an apology at about 5pm on Thursday, following CAAS' remarks. It admitted that the date in the video was wrong and that it was at "fault for not validating" the facts. It added that it "deeply regretted" giving false information.

But the Singapore Incidents page also provided links to two individual Facebook accounts, saying it had taken the video from them.

MOT said it was aware of other similar videos spreading on social media. It urged the public not to spread unverified information, and to rely on trusted official websites and social media pages.

For the facts of the case, said the ministry, people should refer to the article "Corrections and Clarifications Regarding Falsehoods About Arrival of Travellers from South Asia" on the government-run Factually website.







POFMA no. 26: 15 April 2021


Opposition politician Goh Meng Seng, Singapore Uncensored website issued POFMA correction directions over COVID-19 vaccination falsehoods
Posts implied that jabs led to doc's stroke, senior's death
By Shabana Begum, The Straits Times, 16 Apr 2021

Singapore's fake news law was invoked after unsubstantiated claims about vaccine-related adverse reactions were posted on Facebook and published online by an alternative news website.


Posts published on April 2 on the Facebook pages of Goh Meng Seng People's Power Party and Goh Meng Seng (Satu Singapura) implied that Covid-19 vaccination had caused or substantially contributed to a doctor in Singapore suffering a stroke.

Mr Goh is the secretary-general of the People's Power Party.

The same Facebook accounts also published posts on April 7 implying that Covid-19 vaccination had caused or substantially contributed to the death of an 81-year-old man here.


MOH said that on that same day, Singapore Uncensored published an article on its website stating that an 81-year-old man had died from alleged vaccination complications. The article was also shared on the site's Facebook page on April 7.

"These allegations are false. As of April 14, there is no credible evidence for an increased risk of heart attack or stroke with the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines which are currently approved and offered in Singapore," said MOH.

It added that the medical team caring for the doctor has assessed that the doctor's current condition is highly unlikely to be related to the Covid-19 vaccination, and Mount Elizabeth Hospital had issued a clarification on April 4.

As for the 81-year-old man, MOH said the cause of death was ischaemic heart disease, which refers to the lack of blood circulation to the heart muscles.

Both Mr Goh and Singapore Uncensored have complied with the correction directions to carry a correction notice alongside their posts. These are the first Pofma correction directions issued since last July.


In its statement, MOH said it is aware of falsehoods circulating that Covid-19 vaccination has clear and causal links with stroke and heart attack.

"There are also third parties who have exploited the sharing of personal experiences by individuals by reposting these personal accounts and making unsubstantiated claims about vaccine-related adverse reactions," it said.

"They often continue to do so despite the original posts being removed or made private."

MOH said Covid-19 vaccines that are used in Singapore have been assessed to be safe and efficacious by both the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) and the Expert Committee on Covid-19 Vaccination.

"Medical teams are well equipped and measures are in place at all vaccination sites to ensure the safety of vaccine recipients pre-, during, and post-vaccination."

The ministry said all vaccine-related incidents are taken seriously, and healthcare professionals are required to report these incidents expeditiously to the MOH and HSA.










Facts about the two cases
By Shabana Begum, The Straits Times, 16 Apr 2021

DOCTOR WHO HAD A STROKE

The medical team caring for the doctor has assessed that the doctor's current condition is highly unlikely to be related to Covid-19 vaccination.

The writer of the original Facebook post, Bun Ngok Fong, alleged that the doctor had a stroke a week after receiving the vaccine. The post also stated that the doctor is the writer's cousin.


In a Facebook post on April 4, Mount Elizabeth Hospital clarified that the allegations in the post are untrue.

The hospital added that the doctor's family has confirmed that the writer is not related to them. The family has also written to Facebook to have the post removed.

"You can help us stem the circulation of false information by not sharing the post and deleting it if you have already done so," added the hospital.




81-YEAR-OLD MAN WHO DIED

The cause of death of the 81-year-old man was ischaemic heart disease, which refers to the lack of blood circulation to the heart muscles.

The Health Sciences Authority's Forensic Medicine Division has reported that based on a post-mortem, there was no evidence of acute anaphylaxis or an allergic reaction at the injection site of the Covid-19 vaccine.

The three main blood vessels supplying blood to the muscles of the heart were extensively narrowed due to the build-up of plaque over time in the vessels, obstructing blood flow.

As at April 14, there is no credible evidence for an increased risk of heart attack or stroke with the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines that are currently approved and offered in Singapore.
































POFMA no. 25: 5 July 2020

 FACTUALLY: Clarification regarding falsehood published by the National University of Singapore Society (NUSS), The Online Citizen Asia (TOC), CNA and New Naratif on MOM’s advisory on testing of migrant workers
False statements made by Dr Paul Anantharajah Tambyah in a NUSS forum video, a TOC Facebook post and videos, a Channel NewsAsia (CNA) online article, and a New Naratif audio recording on MOM’s advisory on testing of migrant workers.
POFMA issues correction directions to NUSS, CNA, TOC and New Naratif over Tambyah's statements on COVID-19 testing of migrant workers
By Choo Yun Ting, The Straits Times, 6 Jul 2020

 Five correction directions have been issued to the National University of Singapore Society (NUSS), Channel News Asia (CNA), The Online Citizen Asia (TOC) and New Naratif, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said in a joint statement yesterday.

 The Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office was directed to issue these correction directions by the alternate authority for the Minister for Manpower.

 It is the first time that a mainstream media outlet has been issued a correction direction by the POFMA Office.

The directions were issued for the following:

 • A video titled "NUSS Pre-General Election Forum 2020", published by NUSS on July 3 on YouTube.

 • A Facebook post and video titled "Dr Paul Tambyah reveals MOM's role in outbreak of COVID-19 within dormitories", published by TOC on July 4.

 • A video titled "TOC GE2020 Livestream - Afternoon session 2 July 2020", published by TOC on July 2.

 • An online article titled "GE2020: Focus on public health could have been lost in March amid talk of early election, suggests SDP's Paul Tambyah", published by CNA on July 4.

 • An audio recording titled "An Interview with Dr Paul Tambyah", published by New Naratif on July 5.

 These materials contained statements by Singapore Democratic Party chairman Paul Tambyah which are false, MOH and MOM said in their joint press statement.

 The four organisations will be required to each carry a correction notice stating that the online content contains false statement of facts.

At issue were statements by Professor Tambyah that MOM's e-mail advisory to employers on the testing of migrant workers was made without the advice of public health medical professionals and that this advisory warned that employers would lose their work pass privileges if they brought their workers for COVID-19 testing.

 MOM was also said to have actively discouraged the testing of workers.

 The statements were false, the ministries' joint statement said.

 Details of the corrections and clarifications regarding the statements can be found here.









POFMA no. 24: 4 July 2020

 FACTUALLY: Correction and clarifications regarding falsehoods on population target and HDB CEO’s remarks on living density
This is a continuation of falsehoods alleging that the Government has a population target of 10 million, which the Government has clarified.
Facebook pages of Peoples Voice and SDP among those issued POFMA directions
By Goh Yan Han, The Sunday Times, 5 Jul 2020

 The Facebook pages of two political parties contesting the general election have received correction directions under Singapore's fake news law, along with two other Facebook pages and a website.

 The pages belong to Peoples Voice and the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), as well as The Online Citizen Asia's website and Facebook page, and the "Sin Rak Sin Party" Facebook page.

 The Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office issued the correction notice over claims that Dr Cheong Koon Hean, chief executive of the Housing Development Board, had suggested at the IPS-Nathan Lectures in 2018 that Singapore's population would increase to 10 million by 2030.

 Dr Cheong did not make such a statement, the POFMA Office said yesterday. The direction was issued on the instruction of the alternate authority for the Minister for National Development.

A targeted correction direction has also been issued to Facebook, which will have to display a correction notice to all users in Singapore who access posts with pictures carrying the same falsehoods on the social media platform.

 The POFMA Office said the Government has clarified Singapore's population plans on many occasions, including in Parliament in March 2018, two articles on the government-run Factually website, and in a July 1 media statement. It said that despite the latest clarification, the falsehood continues to be repeated.

 It added that the publication of such falsehoods damages the public interest by undermining legitimate and honest discussion, and that appropriate action may be taken against any further publication of such falsehoods.

A day earlier, the "Sin Rak Sin Party" Facebook page and three other Facebook users - Ryann Smith, Jafri Basron and Denise Fletcher - were also issued POFMA correction directions. They had posted screenshots of, or linked to, an article which contained a false statement that the Urban Redevelopment Authority had released a "plan to build underground infrastructure ready for 10 million population". The article which contained the false statement was first published by The Online Citizen on April 4 last year.

 Yesterday, the POFMA Office also issued a targeted correction direction to Facebook, after user Jafri Basron did not comply with the correction direction issued to him the day before.

 The Peoples Voice Facebook page had also received a correction direction from the POFMA Office last Thursday over a video containing a false statement about government spending on foreign students. The YouTube channel of party leader Lim Tean also received a correction direction.

















POFMA no. 23: 3 July 2020

 FACTUALLY: Corrections and clarifications regarding posts of falsehoods from an article by The Online Citizen
Falsehoods from TOC article titled ‘URA releases plan to build underground infrastructure ready for a 10 million population’ being posted online
POFMA correction direction issued to Facebook page, 3 users
By Choo Yun Ting, The Straits Times, 4 Jul 2020

A correction direction by the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office has been issued to three Facebook users and the "Sin Rak Sin Party" Facebook page.

 The users - Ryann Smith, Jafri Basron and Denise Fletcher - and the "Sin Rak Sin Party" Facebook page had posted screenshots of, or linked to, an article which contained a false statement that the Urban Redevelopment Authority had released a "plan to build underground infrastructure ready for 10 million population", the POFMA office said in a statement yesterday.

 The article which contains the false statement was first published by The Online Citizen on April 4 last year.

 The correction direction was issued on the instruction of the alternate authority for the Minister charged with the Responsibility for the Portfolio of the Prime Minister insofar as it relates to the National Population and Talent Division.

In its statement, the POFMA Office said the Government has clarified Singapore's population plans on multiple occasions, including in Parliament in March 2018, two Factually articles in March and July this year, and in a media statement issued on Wednesday. It said on Wednesday that the publication of such falsehoods damages the public interest by undermining legitimate and honest discussion, and that appropriate action may be taken against any further publication of such falsehoods. But the falsehood continues to be repeated despite the clarification, the POFMA Office said.







POFMA no. 22: 2 July 2020

 FACTUALLY: Correction and clarifications regarding a falsehood and misleading statement in Peoples Voice Political Party’s Facebook Video on 1 July 2020
POFMA correction directions issued to Peoples Voice party's Facebook page and Lim Tean's YouTube channel
By Dominic Low and Cara Wong, The Straits Times, 2 Jul 2020

 A correction direction was issued on Thursday (July 2) by the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office to the Facebook page of the Peoples Voice (PV) party over a video containing a false statement about government spending on foreign students.

 The POFMA Office also issued another correction direction to the YouTube channel Tean Lim of the party's leader, Mr Lim Tean, where the video was also posted.

Mr Lim and PV are respectively the first candidate and political party contesting this year's elections to receive a POFMA correction direction.

 The directions were issued on the instruction of the alternate authority for the Minister for Education.

 In the video, Mr Lim said: "We spend a quarter of a billion dollars providing free education for foreigners every year."

 The Government said on its fact-checking website, Factually: "This is false and misleading. The Ministry of Education (MOE) does not spend a quarter of a billion dollars to provide free education for foreigners every year.

 "While MOE (Education Ministry) spends about $238 million on foreign students a year as stated in a parliamentary reply on 5 August 2019, the significant majority of these students are still required to pay fees higher than those of local students and/or fulfil a bond obligation after graduation." 

This is the second time to date that correction directions were issued by an alternate authority for a minister.

 The first was on Monday, when correction directions were issued over false statements about cross-border travel arrangements between Singapore and Malaysia which appeared on two Facebook pages.

 When asked about the correction direction on Thursday night, Mr Lim said: "I feel that this is another intimidation tactic... to try to intimidate the opposition, especially during this important period of elections."

 He added that the issue is a "distraction".

 As of Thursday night, a correction notice on the false statement had been posted in the description of the video on both the Facebook page and the YouTube channel.





POFMA no. 21: 29 June 2020

 FACTUALLY: Corrections and clarifications regarding falsehood on cross-border travel arrangements between Singapore and Malaysia
False statement made by State News Singapore Facebook page
State News Singapore, Alex Tan issued correction directions over Facebook post about Singapore-Malaysia cross-border travel
By Lena Loke, TODAY, 29 Jun 2020

 The alternate authority for the Minister for Foreign Affairs has ordered a correction direction each to be issued to State News Singapore and its owner Alex Tan’s Facebook pages for making false statements about cross-border travel between Singapore and Malaysia.

 In a statement on Monday (June 29), the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office said that State News Singapore had made the false statements in a Facebook post published on June 27.

In the post, State News Singapore wrote: “Despite Lee Hsien Loong personally calling Malaysia Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin requesting Malaysia to open up daily commute, the Malaysian authorities refused to accede to his request.”

 “This false statement of fact was shared by Mr Tan’s Facebook page,” the POFMA office added.

 Factually, a government fact-checking website, debunked this statement in an article.

 “We wish to clarify that the telephone call between the two Prime Ministers was initiated at the request of Prime Minister Muhyiddin. As Prime Minister Muhyiddin has publicly stated, he proposed that the Singapore Government consider a daily cross-border commuting arrangement,” it wrote.

 “The Singapore Government is committed to discussing the gradual and phased resumption of cross-border travel with Malaysia, subject to mutually agreed public health protocols, to preserve the public health and safety of citizens of both countries.”

 The website added that both countries are working on a “periodic commuting arrangement” and “reciprocal green lane”.

 Discussions on other proposals are also underway to gradually facilitate more cross-border movement of people, while taking into account the medical resources available in both countries.

 A targeted correction direction has also been issued to Facebook, requiring the social network to display the correction notice on the State News Singapore post, the POFMA office said.

This is the first POFMA order issued under an alternate authority.

 After the Writ of Election was issued on June 23, Parliament was dissolved and ministers were no longer able to issue orders under POFMA.

 In their place, senior civil servants were appointed to act as alternate authorities. These are the permanent secretaries of all 16 ministries and a few portfolios under the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) who are able to exercise the powers of ministers during the election.

 Earlier in May, Singapore States Times, a now-defunct page run by Mr Tan, was issued two correction directions for a post about COVID-19 cases in schools.





POFMA encourages democracy, does not disadvantage opposition: Shanmugam on upcoming General Election 2020
By Aqil Haziq Mahmud, Channel NewsAsia, 22 Jun 2020

 The Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) does not disadvantage the opposition but instead "encourages greater democracy", said Minister for Law and Home Affairs K Shanmugam.

 Mr Shanmugam was speaking to host Diana Ser for the programme In Conversation on Sunday (Jun 21) and was asked about POFMA and the upcoming General Election.

 The much-debated Bill was passed in May last year and came into force on Oct 2, making the upcoming General Election the first in which POFMA will be in place. Ms Ser had asked for Mr Shanmugam's response to critics who say that POFMA disadvantages the opposition.

 “You can be as hard as you like on the Government policies, on the Government in your viewpoints. You can offer counter policies. POFMA cannot apply to any of that,” said Mr Shanmugam.

 “It’s only when you say that ... specific facts are not true or you put out lies, then you’re required to carry a health warning. I don’t see that as an issue.”

POFMA correction directions require recipients to put up a notice alongside the claim, stating that what has been said is untrue. The original message and the claims are not required to be removed, allowing readers to compare both the original statements and the correction notice.

 “The POFMA orders require you to put up a health warning that what you have said is untrue. So it doesn’t disadvantage you,” said Mr Shanmugam, noting that the warning will have a link to the facts. “People read what you have written. People read what the Government says. And they decide for themselves.”

 Mr Shanmugam said this “actually encourages greater democracy” because it encourages more information.

 “You can argue censorship only if your article is taken down,” said Mr Shanmugam. “But your article is there. So what are you embarrassed about?”

 Authorities can issue POFMA take-down orders in extreme cases, although none have been issued so far. Most of the POFMA orders issued have been correction directions.

 People also have the right to challenge POFMA orders in court, said Mr Shanmugam, adding that “we need to encourage people to argue based on policies, on facts”.

 Among members of opposition parties, Brad Bowyer from the Progress Singapore Party was directed to correct a Facebook post in November last year, in the first use of the law in Singapore.

Lim Tean from People’s Voice has also been issued POFMA orders, while the Singapore Democratic Party had its appeal against a POFMA order dismissed in court.

 Citing Mr Bowyer’s case, Mr Shanmugam said that some people may be embarrassed they have to put up a correction notice, and that such people “don’t like being exposed”.

 “They want to be able to say untrue things, make people angry, without being pointed out,” he said. “So if that is wrong, then these people should ask themselves, why do they need to deal in lies.”

 When asked about potential voter backlash due to their perception of POFMA, Mr Shanmugam said he believes that the majority of people will understand the need for the law.

 "There are some who genuinely don’t know enough and are therefore concerned, and that’s a small minority. And there are some who know full well, but are cynical and cynically trying to put out further lies about POFMA," said Mr Shanmugam.

 “(But) by and large, the voters know that now that POFMA has been in operation for a while and the orders have been made, they have seen how they operate. They see that the original articles are up there,” he said.

 Mr Shanmugam said that POFMA has been “reasonably effective” in curbing falsehoods about the COVID-19 outbreak, highlighting that half of POFMA orders issued involve coronavirus disinformation. A few dealt with rumours of closures, community cases and deaths related to COVID-19.

 Mr Shanmugam said POFMA has helped people educate the public and warn off would-be perpetrators of fake news.

 “We cannot rely on the goodwill of the Internet platforms anymore,” he added. “Governments have to take action.”

COVID-19 STRESSES

 Moving on to how the COVID-19 pandemic has stressed fault lines in society, Mr Shanmugam said the number of online race-related attacks in April was the highest in many years.

 Mr Shanmugam described these attacks as “verbal spats” on the Internet between the major ethnic groups of Chinese, Malays and Indians. He did not provide exact figures.

 “The stress of the (COVID-19) situation, and the economic stress, physical stress, the pressure, in every society, has created serious issues,” said Mr Shanmugam, in response to a question on whether COVID-19 had brought out the ugly side of Singaporeans.

 He also said that every country has an ugly side, although only a minority take it “to extremes”.

 In Singapore, he noted, people started posting anti-Chinese sentiments after COVID-19 broke out in China. When migrant workers started getting infected in large numbers in Singapore, the negative sentiment turned towards Indians.

 “What are the fault lines in every society? Race, religion, anything that can differentiate one group from another group. And here, race, religion incidents shot up in April, and the anti-foreigner sentiment too,” Mr Shanmugam said.

 “We’ve got to deal with it and apply the law equally whether you’re white, brown, yellow, whatever,” he added. “You are whatever colour, whatever nationality, whether Singaporean, non-Singaporean, the law is the same.”

ONLINE VIGILANTES

 Racist or xenophobic comments have also been found on online posts showing alleged breaches of COVID-19 rules, and Mr Shanmugam said online vigilantes who overdo it can “seriously damage” people.

 He cited the case of the woman who was caught on video without a face mask several times and proclaiming “I am a sovereign” in Shunfu. Vigilantes had wrongly identified the head of a tech company as the perpetrator.

 “Sometimes it’s like a mob attacking you anonymously online, putting up your pictures and saying all sorts of nasty things about you,” he said. “Sometimes they even get the wrong person. So that can destroy careers, it can ruin mental health, it can seriously damage people.”

 Mr Shanmugam said people who report potential breaches directly to the authorities are doing the right thing, as professionals will conduct a proper investigation. Those found to be innocent will be let off, he said, while those who broke the law will be dealt with and be a lesson to others.

 LAWS IN PLACE

 Nevertheless, Mr Shanmugam said anti-harassment laws prevent vigilantes from going overboard, adding that authorities have to enforce those laws to ensure people remain responsible. “You don’t take the law into your own hands,” he stated.

 Likewise, Mr Shanmugam said Singapore has a “very tough framework” of laws that prevent people from attacking or speaking bad about another race or religion.

 “I completely disagree with some people who in the name of, say, freedom of speech will say, ‘Oh, we should be allowed to say whatever we like about the Chinese, Malays and Indians, and allow different ways of approaching this’,” he added.

 “No, the way it works out in reality is hate speech increases and anger increases, and that then fuels racism. So we have a very strict framework of laws, and our people have for many years accepted it.”





POFMA no. 20: 27 May 2020

 FACTUALLY: Corrections and clarifications regarding Facebook post by National Times Singapore (“NTS”)
False and misleading statements by Mr Alex Tan
POFMA office orders National Times Singapore, run by Alex Tan, to correct misleading Facebook post
By Calvin Yang, The Straits Times, 28 May 2020

 The National Times Singapore Facebook page has been asked to put up corrections to a post in which multiple false and misleading statements were made about the scope and application of the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA).

 Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam instructed the POFMA Office yesterday to issue a correction direction to the Facebook page, run by Mr Alex Tan, and a targeted correction direction issued to Facebook.

 The Ministry of Law said in a separate statement yesterday that this was the seventh occasion in which correction directions under POFMA have been issued against a Facebook page run by Mr Tan, "who has repeatedly and deliberately conveyed falsehoods affecting the public interest".

The POFMA directives would require the Facebook page to publish a correction notice. Facebook would also be required to communicate the correction notice to all users in Singapore who access the falsehood through its platform.

 On May 15, the National Times Singapore Facebook page published a post claiming, among other things, that "every criticism has been outlawed by the Singapore Government through its new POFMA legislation, where the politicians in power get to decide what is truth".

 However, this is false, said the Government on its fact-checking website, Factually. POFMA applies only to factual statements that are false and does not apply to opinions, it added, noting that disputes on whether a statement is false can be determined by the courts.

 "It is therefore also untrue to say that POFMA outlaws every criticism of the Government. Before and after POFMA came into force, the Government has been regularly criticised on various matters. These criticisms have not been subject to POFMA."

The Facebook post also stated that Mr Shanmugam had issued a POFMA direction to ban an online video in which historian Thum Ping Tjin asserted that Singapore's fake news law renders all criticism of the Government illegal.

 The Government said the minister has not issued a POFMA direction to ban the video, which was subject to an earlier direction, and that it remains accessible to the public.

 In the same Facebook post, Mr Tan, who lives in Australia, alleges that Singapore's judiciary is biased. He also claims that Mr Shanmugam faces criminal charges in Malaysia.

 These are untrue, said the Government, adding that Mr Tan has previously been issued POFMA correction directions in relation to falsehoods conveyed on six separate occasions on his previous Facebook pages, the States Times Review and Singapore States Times. Most of the earlier falsehoods related to the COVID-19 situation, including claims that Singapore had run out of face masks.

 Mr Tan was bound to comply with these correction directions, but has refused to comply, it added.











Facebook page run by Alex Tan barred from receiving financial benefit under POFMA
By Calvin Yang, The Straits Times, 30 May 2020

 The National Times Singapore Facebook page has been barred from receiving any financial benefit after it published a post with multiple false statements, at least three of which were the subject of a correction direction under Singapore's laws against fake news.

 The page, run by Mr Alex Tan, was designated a Declared Online Location (DOL) by Minister for Communications and Information S. Iswaran on Thursday.

 On Wednesday, the Facebook page was ordered to put up corrections to a post containing multiple false and misleading statements about the scope and application of the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA). Mr Tan did not comply.

On Thursday, the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) said the page would be required to carry a notice that it has been declared a DOL. With the notice, visitors to the page will be warned about its history of communicating falsehoods.

 The ministry added: "The declaration will also make it an offence for Mr Tan to derive benefit from operating the National Times Singapore Facebook page, and will prohibit the provision of financial support to it for the purposes of supporting, helping or promoting the communication of falsehoods."

 On May 15, the National Times Singapore Facebook page published a post claiming that "every criticism has been outlawed by the Singapore Government through its new POFMA legislation, where the politicians in power get to decide what is truth".

 In the same post, Mr Tan, who lives in Australia, alleged that Singapore's judiciary was biased. He also claimed that Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam faced criminal charges in Malaysia.

 Mr Shanmugam instructed the POFMA Office on Wednesday to issue a correction direction to the page and a targeted correction direction to Facebook.

In recent months, Mr Tan has created and operated Facebook pages "which sought to derive monetary benefits from falsehoods at the expense of Singaporeans and our society", said MCI. "These pages have been declared DOLs."

 Mr Tan was issued POFMA correction directions in relation to falsehoods conveyed on six separate occasions on his previous Facebook pages, the States Times Review and Singapore States Times.

 Most of the earlier falsehoods related to the COVID-19 situation, including claims that Singapore had run out of face masks.

 MCI said: "So far, neither these pages nor Mr Tan have complied with any of the requirements of the POFMA directions and declarations that they have been served with."





POFMA no. 19: 13 May 2020

 FACTUALLY: Corrections and clarifications regarding falsehoods and misleading statements by Mr Thum Ping Tjin
False and misleading statements made in a YouTube video by Mr Thum Ping Tjin


 Correction direction issued to New Naratif and Thum Ping Tjin over video about POFMA
Channel NewsAsia, 13 May 2020

 Law Minister K Shanmugam has instructed a correction order be issued to New Naratif and Mr Thum Ping Tjin over a YouTube video about statements made on the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA).

 The YouTube video, published last Friday, contains "several false and misleading statements", said the POFMA Office on Wednesday (May 13).

 "Among other inaccurate claims, the video contained false statements about the scope of POFMA, when and how it can be used, and the role of the courts," said the office.

 This is the first time a correction direction has been issued over a YouTube video under POFMA.

 Under the correction directions, a correction notice must be placed alongside the video, said the Ministry of Law.

 "FALSE AND MISLEADING STATEMENTS"

 The Government website Factually listed the following as "false and misleading statements" in the YouTube video published by Mr Thum on May 8:

 - Under POFMA, "every statement can be considered false in some way"

 - POFMA makes all criticism of the Government illegal

 - There is no recourse in law for the court to overturn a direction if it is an abuse of power under POFMA

 - POMFA "means that the truth will be whatever the party says it is"

Factually said POFMA applies only to factual statements that are false and that it does not apply to opinions, including criticisms.

 "If there is a dispute as to whether the statement is false, or whether it is a statement of fact, the dispute can be determined by the Courts," it said.

 Factually added the whole statement will not be considered false just because "one bit" of it is false and that the Courts have developed criteria for assessing falsehoods.

 "It is untrue to say that 'every statement can be considered false in some way' and be subject to POFMA".

 Factually said it is "untrue (and absurd)" to say POFMA makes all criticisms of the Government illegal, as there had been previous cases of the Government being criticised and these have not been subjected to POFMA.

 The Courts also have judicial oversight of the exercise of powers under POFMA.

 "It is therefore untrue to say that there can be no recourse in law, when there has been abuse of POFMA powers."

Factually said it is also false for Mr Thum to assert that POFMA "means that the truth will be whatever the party says it is".

 The Government also took issue with Mr Thum's claims about POFMA being used against the "interpretation of statistical data" by the Singapore Democratic Party.

 "The issue was not about interpretation of statistics. The SDP had made a direct, false statement. SDP challenged the POFMA directions against it, and the High Court held that there was no basis for the directions to be set aside, because SDP had made false statements of fact," Factually said.

Contrary to Mr Thum's claims, Factually said people are free to criticise and disagree with the Government.

 It said POFMA has been used to deal specifically with falsehoods and in a targeted manner.

 Factually added that the original article that has been issued a correction direction under POFMA remains completely accessible.

 "Readers can read for themselves both the primary piece and the correction, and make up their own minds.

 "Recipients of POFMA directions who put up the Correction Notice can continue to put forward their point of view on the issue, and their original articles also remain available for anyone to read," said Factually.

 In the 18 POFMA cases so far, 11 were COVID-19 related falsehoods. In seven of the cases, correction directions were issued within 24 hours, sometimes in a matter of hours.

 Mr Thum had also said that the court process takes a long time.

 To this, the Government said POFMA's rules allow for a process that normally takes months to be cut to just six working days. It also highlighted the lower court fees for individuals.

 The Government said the duration of the hearing and the Courts' decisions are matters for the Courts. The Parliament and the Executive cannot intervene in those.

 Factually also said Mr Thum misleadingly used a video clip of an interview with Law Minister K Shanmugam to suggest that POFMA can be abused by a future government, and that the first part to the minister's answer had been omitted.

 The Government also did not try to apply the Administration of Justice (Protection) Act retroactively in Mr Li Shengwu's case, Factually said, contrary to what Mr Thum had said.

 "The substantive law applicable to the case was common law contempt, and not the Administration of Justice (Protection) Act," it said.

 Factually added that Mr Thum's claims about previous PAP governments spreading information to silence critics are his opinions, and not subjected to a POFMA direction.

 "Similar claims have been refuted elsewhere."

 Public clarifications on POFMA have also been put out by the Government, said Factually. However, Mr Thum had repeated falsehoods and misleading statements similar to those in this case on multiple occasions.

 "He is clearly aware of what the true scope of POFMA is: when a viewer asked whether his criticisms of the government may be false, he shrugged off the suggestion ... meaning, his opinions cannot be the subject of POFMA.

 "Thus his statements that POFMA can be used in respect of all statements, are entirely cynical, and he obviously knows that they are untrue," it said.

 Under the correction directions issued to Mr Thum and New Naratif, the video published on May 8 can remain accessible to the public, Factually said.

 "That gives the lie to any suggestion of censorship. It will allow viewers to view his video, and this statement, and reach their own conclusions."





Historian Thum Ping Tjin complies with POFMA order but says he will challenge it
By Tham Yuen-C, Senior Political Correspondent, The Straits Times, 15 May 2020

 Historian Thum Ping Tjin has put up a correction notice on his Facebook page alongside his online video on Singapore's fake news laws, complying with correction directions he received on Wednesday, but only after receiving a warning.

 While he had put up a notice on the New Naratif website he founded, he had not done so on his Facebook page by the deadline set by the POFMA (Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act) Office until he received a warning from the office.

 Yesterday, he said he intends to challenge the directive. He also reiterated his criticisms of POFMA, saying that with the extremely broad definitions of falsehoods and public interest in the legislation, any criticism of the Government could fall foul of the law.

 "While the Government assures us that criticism is acceptable in Singapore, with regret, we do not believe it," he added at the end of the correction notice he put up in a Facebook post and on the New Naratif website linking to the video.

 "In our opinion, POFMA correction directions like the one we received are an attempt to intimidate independent media and an abuse of the law, designed to strike fear into the hearts of the Government's critics and citizenry."

 He called for POFMA to be revised in consultation with the public and also suggested that Law Minister K. Shanmugam should have a debate with New Naratif "over the impact of the POFMA law on freedom of expression in Singapore".

 Dr Thum, who founded New Naratif and is its managing director, had been asked on Wednesday to put up corrections to a video from the series "The Show with PJ Thum".

 In the video, he asserted, among other things, that POFMA renders all criticisms of the Government illegal.

The Government refuted this, and also his claims that a statement is automatically considered false when part of it is false; that there is no recourse in law when the Government abuses its powers under POFMA; and that ministers have the last word on the truth. Saying the claims were false and misleading, the Government added that "contrary to what Mr Thum suggests, people are free to criticise and disagree with the Government".

 Yesterday, Dr Thum said that while he disagreed with the correction directions, he had put up the correction notice as failure to comply is an offence under the law.

 In his Facebook post, he also said that he had received a "belated request from the POFMA Office" to put up the correction notice on Facebook.

 Disputing this, the Ministry of Law said that Dr Thum had failed to comply within 24 hours of receiving the POFMA direction, which was sent on Wednesday at around 3pm, and had thus received a warning at 4.06pm yesterday, giving him a further opportunity to comply.

 "The warning was sent, on the same e-mail chain that contained the previous day's direction. Thus Mr Thum cannot possibly have genuinely thought that the request was belated," the ministry said. The ministry noted that Dr Thum had put up the correction notice on Facebook at 4.50pm yesterday after receiving the warning.

 It added: "At 8.22pm (yesterday), POFMA Office sent Mr Thum a further e-mail, pointing out that his allegation, that the Government had made a 'belated request' for correction, was untrue and referring to the correspondence, which showed it to be untrue. Mr Thum has since removed this allegation from his Facebook post, without any explanation."





Singapore States Times and Alex Tan's Facebook pages named Declared Online Locations under POFMA
By Melissa Heng, The Straits Times, 8 May 2020

 The Facebook pages of the Singapore States Times (SST) and its owner Alex Tan Zhi Xiang have been designated as Declared Online Locations (DOLs) under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) from yesterday.

 The Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) said in a statement on Wednesday that both pages have "repeatedly communicated numerous falsehoods, of which at least three on each page were the subject of POFMA directions from November 2019 to date".

 Under POFMA, online sites which receive three correction directions for publishing falsehoods on various issues within six months can be declared a DOL.

"In recent months, both Facebook pages have communicated falsehoods regarding the COVID-19 virus situation in Singapore," said the ministry. It added that both pages are also linked to other websites operated by Mr Tan which derive monetary benefits from publishing "falsehoods at the expense of Singaporeans and our society".

 MCI said both SST and Mr Tan have refused to comply with any of the POFMA directions issued to them.

 The ministry said the pages will have to carry a notice stating that they have been designated DOLs and warning people that it has a history of communicating falsehoods, among other things.

 Mr Tan can be fined up to $40,000 or jailed for up to three years, or both, if he does not comply.

 It is also an offence for him to profit from the page, or for anyone to provide financial support to the page for the purpose of communicating falsehoods. They can be fined up to $40,000 or jailed for up to three years, or both, for doing so.

An SST Facebook post on Wednesday on infections among staff at the community care facility (CCF) at Singapore Expo contained a number of errors, said the Ministry of Defence yesterday. "There has been no reported case of infections among staff under the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) deployed to take care of COVID-19 patients at the Expo."

 MINDEF added that the 20-year-old male Singaporean citizen cited by the post works under a different healthcare group and is not a full-time national serviceman as claimed by the post, but a trained nurse from a private agency.

"The Singapore States Times also claimed that none of the national servicemen deployed by the SAF at the CCF had any experience in the hospitals. This is again wrong. Some of them are doctors and medics with prior hospital experience," said MINDEF.

 "The SAF recognises the inherent risk to all its staff deployed in the CCF to care for recovering COVID-19 patients. Careful attention had been paid to the training and preparation of all staff to institute and maintain protocols to protect themselves against infection."

 In February, Mr Tan's States Times Review Facebook page was also named a DOL.








POFMA no. 18: 5 May 2020

 FACTUALLY: Corrections and clarifications regarding a falsehood published by Singapore States Times on COVID-19 cases in schools
False statement made in a Facebook post by Singapore States Times


 Singapore States Times issued correction direction over post alleging COVID-19 transmission in schools
Channel NewsAsia, 6 May 2020

 Minister for Education Ong Ye Kung has instructed that a correction direction be issued to Singapore States Times and its owner Mr Alex Tan over an online post alleging COVID-19 transmission in schools.

 The Facebook post, published on Monday by Singapore States Times on Monday (May 4) and shared by Mr Tan on the same day, contains "a false statement of fact", said the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office on Tuesday.

The post said that the Education Minister "is responsible for numerous infections in schools after he refused to close down the schools", said Government website Factually.

 It also said that "at least 50 students and teachers had become infected with COVID-19 by 3 April 2020 as a result of transmission in schools, which is false", said Factually.

 Singapore announced stricter measures on Apr 3 to curb the spread of COVID-19, including the closure of most non-essential workplaces and the implementation of full home-based learning for schools.

 As of Apr 3, 69 students and staff in Ministry of Education (MOE) schools, including the Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs), were reported to have been infected with COVID-19, said Factually.

 However, all but three unlinked cases were due to transmission via overseas travel, within households, social settings and a non-school workplace, said Factually.

 “In short, none of the 69 infections were traced back to MOE schools, including the IHLs,” said Factually.

Schools were suspended for full home-based learning on Apr 8.

 Before that, however, the authorities had already taken precautionary measures such as new hygiene and cleaning routines for students, fixed seating and assigned play areas, suspension of co-curricular activities, as well as placing unwell students with a travel history, or who lived with family members who had a travel history, on a leave of absence, said Factually.

 “If MOE had simply closed schools early, say from Feb 2020, we would have disrupted lives significantly, and the impact on students from vulnerable backgrounds would have been immense. 

 “Instead, we have kept schools open as long as possible, while keeping our students safe,” it said.

The POFMA Office said the Education Minister had also ordered that a targeted correction direction be issued to Facebook, which requires the social media platform to communicate a correction notice to all Singapore users in Singapore who access the falsehood through its service.

 In April, the Singapore States Times was issued a correction direction over a post about MOH’s reporting of COVID-19 cases. It was also issued another direction earlier that month over a post claiming that quarantined foreign workers would not be paid their salaries.





POFMA no. 17: 19 Apr 2020

 FACTUALLY: Corrections Regarding Falsehoods on the Annual Salary of Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd's Executive Director and CEO Ms Ho Ching and Additional Clarifications
False statements made on Facebook, HardwareZone Forum and The Online Citizen
Four POFMA corrections issued over claims that Ho Ching's annual salary at Temasek is 'around $100 million'
By Olivia Ho, The Straits Times, 20 Apr 2020

 Claims made in some online posts that Temasek chief executive and executive director Ho Ching's annual salary is around $100 million are false, the Government has said.

 The posts also prompted Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat to instruct the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) office to issue four correction directions yesterday.

 These were to The Online Citizen's Facebook page and website, The Temasek Review's Facebook page, HardwareZone user "darksiedluv" and opposition politician and lawyer Lim Tean for sharing the falsehood on his Facebook page.

They had made various claims that Ms Ho's annual salary is "NT$2.1 billion", "about 100 million SGD" or "S$99 million a year".

 Temasek said on its website yesterday: "There has been chatter based on an Asian talk show commentary, which claims that Ho Ching's annual salary is around $100 million. This claim is false.

 "Ho Ching's annual compensation is neither the highest within Temasek, nor is she amongst the top five highest paid executives in Temasek."

Ms Ho is the wife of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

 The statement from the POFMA office added: "The Government does not set the remuneration of staff in Temasek; this is the responsibility of its board and management."

 Temasek's board committee, the Leadership Development and Compensation Committee (LDCC), establishes guidelines and policies on performance measurement and compensation plans, it said.

 "Remuneration of the executive directors of Temasek Holdings is approved by LDCC and endorsed by its board."

 The Online Citizen said in a Facebook post that it filed an application to Mr Heng to cancel the correction direction at 7pm yesterday. "In the event that the minister rejects the application, we will file an application to the High Court to contest the correction direction."

 It noted that while the correction directions made references to Facebook and HardwareZone posts, they did not identify the Taiwan news outlet that made the initial claim, and added that as its website is migrating to a new server, it will not be updating the site for the time being.

Mr Lim, who is the People's Voice party chief, demanded on Facebook yesterday to know on what basis Mr Heng was able to issue a POFMA correction direction if the Government does not interfere with the remuneration of Temasek's management.

 Temasek said in its statement that it has a long-term ownership mindset, which includes a "compensation framework to align employee and shareholder interests over economic cycles".

 "Incentives focus on long-term performance, and ensure employees share gains and pains alongside Temasek's shareholder during the economic cycles."

 It noted that deferred compensation is an integral part of its compensation and clawbacks have been applied during years where the performance requires it.

 "We also review compensation practices across the financial industry annually. This is an added check to support talent attraction and retention, within the context of our compensation framework."




















POFMA no. 16: 18 Apr 2020

 FACTUALLY: Corrections and Clarifications Regarding Falsehoods Published by Singapore States Times on the Reporting of COVID-19 Cases in Singapore
False statement made in a Facebook post by Singapore States Times on 18 April 2020 
POFMA office orders Singapore States Times to correct post alleging COVID-19 cover-up by MOH
By Michelle Ng, The Sunday Times, 19 Apr 2020

 An online post claiming 1,146 confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection on Friday, with a total of 5,573 confirmed cases in Singapore, is false.

 There were 623 confirmed cases as of noon on Friday, 17 April, bringing the total number of cases to 5,050, with no cover-up from the Ministry of Health (MOH), said the Government as it invoked the fake news law against website Singapore States Times.

 Minister of Health Gan Kim Yong instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) office yesterday to issue a correction direction to the website's Facebook page for its "multiple false statements" on MOH's reporting of COVID-19 cases.

The post claimed Mr Gan had ordered the reported numbers to be halved to minimise public panic, by reporting numbers in the afternoon instead of later at night.

 It also claimed other kinds of cover-up regarding COVID-19 reporting by the authorities, and that another website, The States Times Review, had called out the Government and MOH on the cover-up. It said MOH had to comply with The States Times Review's post.

 However, the Government has clarified that there was no instruction given by Mr Gan or the Government to halve or under-report the number of cases.

 For the purpose of updating the number of new cases of COVID-19 per 24-hour period, MOH has always used noon as the cut-off time since the onset of COVID-19, said the Government on its fact-checking website Factually.

The Government said MOH's daily press statements publish information on all confirmed cases, including the number of imported cases, and the linked and unlinked cases at that point in time.

 MOH's daily reports on the situation and an overview of cases can be publicly accessed on its website.

 It added that MOH does not act and has not acted in compliance with any of The States Times Review's posts.

 The POFMA directive would require Singapore States Times to display a correction notice and provide access to the accurate information. It is not compulsory for Singapore States Times to take down the post or make edits to its content, and the directive does not impose criminal sanctions.







POFMA no. 15: 17 Apr 2020

 FACTUALLY: Clarification on falsehood posted by TTR on food delivery rider
False statement made by The Temasek Review on Police enforcement of circuit breaker measures on 15 Apr 2020
POFMA office orders The Temasek Review to correct FB post alleging police fined delivery rider for cloth mask
Police, public agencies debunk viral falsehoods
By Cara Wong, The Straits Times, 18 Apr 2020

 A Facebook post that alleged the police had fined a delivery rider $300 for wearing a piece of cloth as a mask is false.

 Officers were in fact helping the rider, the Government said as it invoked the fake news law against The Temasek Review, which perpetuated the falsehood along with a picture of a masked delivery rider and police officer.

Minister for Home Affairs and Law K. Shanmugam yesterday instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office to issue a correction direction to the website's Facebook page.

 The POFMA directive comes amid a growing wave of coronavirus-related fake news that the authorities have had to debunk.

 To combat The Temasek Review's false allegations, the Government clarified on its fact-checking website Factually that the police officer in the photo was taking the statement of the delivery rider, who believed that items were stolen from his motorcycle.

No summonses were issued and the incident had nothing to do with circuit breaker measures or illegal parking, the clarification said.

 Masks made of cloth and textile are permitted under the law.

 "Such allegations are highly irresponsible and hurt public confidence and trust in the police. It also undermines our officers, who are at the front lines trying to keep Singaporeans safe and secure during this challenging period," it added.

 The police have also stepped up efforts to debunk fake news by releasing a video titled Facts vs Rumours to clarify viral rumours circulating about police operations since the circuit breaker measures took effect on April 7.

Netizens had falsely claimed that police were actively searching for and arresting those who flout safe distancing measures, such as through roadblocks or random checks on residential units.

 Such claims are false, the police said in the video, noting that measures such as road blocks are for general law enforcement purposes, like detecting wanted persons and drink driving.

 For example, the police had issued a warning letter to a couple who were present at their family member's home for a non-essential purpose, but officers were only at the flat as they were responding to a phone call for help over a family dispute, said the police.

 The video also refuted a rumour that a man was arrested for not wearing a mask in a Toa Payoh pharmacy. He was arrested for shop theft and disorderly behaviour.

 Those who do not wear a mask in public can be fined $300.

It also clarified a rumour arising from a video of a man shouting at two police officers, noting that he was arrested for failing to return to the welfare home where he lives.

 The man had sat on a bench that was cordoned off and refused to leave the area despite repeated warnings by safe distancing ambassadors and the police.

 In the video, the police urged people to comply with safe distancing measures and not spread false information. "Police resources are vital to maintaining law and order in Singapore", they said, adding that they should not be spent on debunking false rumours.

 The Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) also warned on Thursday of false messages that purport to recruit staff to work at foreign worker dormitories and the community isolation facility at Singapore Expo.

MINDEF said in a Facebook post that recruitment messages asking for personal particulars are fake, although it is hiring former Singapore Armed Forces regulars.

 "For genuine job openings for former regulars, MINDEF will not ask for personal details," it said.

 The Ministry of Health (MOH) also distanced itself from text messages from recruitment agency PrimeStaff Management Services purportedly hiring employees for the community isolation facility at Singapore Expo.

 "We wish to clarify that MOH has not engaged PrimeStaff Management Services to conduct this recruitment," it said on its website on Thursday.

 Additional reporting by Jean Iau





















POFMA no. 14: 6 Apr 2020

 FACTUALLY: Clarification regarding falsehood published by Singapore States Times on quarantine of foreign workers
False statement made by Singapore States Times (Alex Tan) on Facebook about the quarantine of foreign workers due to COVID-19 on 5 Apr 2020
Manpower Minister orders correction directions to Facebook post about quarantined foreign workers' pay: POFMA Office
TODAY, 7 Apr 2020

Manpower Minister Josephine Teo on Monday (April 6) ordered correction directions to be made to Mr Alex Tan and the Singapore States Times Facebook page for falsely claiming that quarantined foreign workers would not be paid their salaries.

A post by Mr Tan containing the falsehood was published on the Singapore States Times Facebook page on Sunday at 8.43pm, said the POFMA Office, which enforces the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act.

 Mr Tan and the Singapore States Times Facebook page would be required to publish a correction notice on their post, while Facebook has also been issued a targeted correction direction, requiring the Internet intermediary to put up a correction notice on the offending post, said the office.

The post was made after authorities announced that two foreign worker dormitories which have seen a “significant” climb in new Covid-19 infections had been gazetted as isolation areas.

 This means all 19,800 foreign workers housed at S11 Dormitory @ Punggol and Westlite Toh Guan dormitory would be quarantined in their rooms for 14 days.

 Both dorms account for a total of 90 Covid-19 cases so far, with the larger cluster at the S11 Dormitory.

 Mr Tan's post claimed that they were "not getting a single cent from 14 days of quarantine”, referring to the foreign workers in the two dorms. 

 A clarification on the Government's Factually website repeated Manpower Minister Josephine Teo's assurances on Sunday that the workers will continue to be paid their salaries for the duration of their quarantine.

 "Their period of absence from work is treated as paid hospitalisation leave, as part of the worker’s leave eligibility," said the website.

 "The facts above were published before the post on Singapore States Times, and could have easily been verified."

No correction notice has been attached to the post as of 9.45pm on Monday, according to a check by CNA.

 The Singapore States Times Facebook page is run by Mr Tan, who lives in Australia.

 He was also behind the States Times Review Facebook page, which was blocked for Singapore users in February "after repeatedly posting falsehoods, and refusing to post corrections or comply with the law in any way", said the Factually website.
Facebook user issued POFMA notice for false claims on Resilience Budget
By Jean Iau, The Straits Times, 2 Apr 2020

 The $48 billion supplementary Budget will not go specifically to Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Temasek, said the Government yesterday as it invoked Singapore's fake news law against a Facebook user.

 The Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) office said yesterday that it has been instructed by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Heng Swee Keat to issue a correction direction against Facebook user tifinnytara.

On Sunday, the user posted on her Facebook page that almost one-third of the help set out in the supplementary Budget would go to SIA.

 This is untrue, said the Government on its fact-checking website Factually.

 SIA's $15 billion capital-raising effort, announced last Thursday, is not funded by the Government.

 The Facebook user also claimed in the same post that the $17 billion to come from Singapore's past reserves would be ring-fenced for Temasek.

 The measures drawing on the past reserves are for broad-based economy and sector-wide schemes. None is dedicated specifically to Temasek or Temasek-linked companies.

The Government said the $48.4 billion in the Budget would go towards supporting workers, helping enterprises overcome immediate challenges, and strengthening economic and social resilience.

 Of this, $20 billion has been set aside for loan capital while $13.8 billion will be for the Jobs Support Scheme to provide wage support to employers to help them retain their local employees.

 The scheme covers all sectors, with those that are severely impacted getting additional support.

 Eligible individuals and households will also benefit from the Self-Employed Person Income Relief Scheme and the Care and Support Package.

 Following the POFMA directive, the user must display a correction notice and provide access to the accurate information. The direction does not require the recipient to take down her post or make edits to her content, and does not impose criminal sanctions.

 The POFMA office declined to say when the Facebook user has to comply with the correction direction.

 The Straits Times has contacted tifinnytara for comment.

This is not the first time the law has been invoked to correct statements involving the coronavirus pandemic.

 Last month, three Facebook users, including opposition politician and lawyer Lim Tean, were issued correction directions for alleging the People's Association (PA) and residents' committees (RCs) were involved in the organisation of an event that resulted in Singapore's largest coronavirus cluster.

 In January, two Facebook accounts were issued correction directions after their posts claimed Woodlands MRT station was closed for disinfection because of a suspected Covid-19 case.

 That month, SPH Magazines was also asked to correct an online post in the HardwareZone forum that falsely claimed a man in Singapore had died from the virus infection, while The States Times Review Facebook page was instructed to correct a post that claimed Singapore had run out of face masks.







POFMA no. 12: 18 Mar 2020

 FACTUALLY: Corrections and clarifications regarding falsehoods that dinner event at SAFRA Jurong was organised by People’s Association
False statements that People’s Association had organised the dinner event at SAFRA Jurong on 15 Feb 2020
POFMA office orders opposition politician Lim Tean, 2 Facebook users to correct posts alleging PA event led to Singapore's largest coronavirus cluster
By Clement Yong, The Straits Times, 19 Mar 2020

Three Facebook users, including opposition politician and lawyer Lim Tean, have been issued correction directions for alleging that the People's Association (PA) and residents' committees (RCs) were involved in the organisation of an event that has emerged as Singapore's largest coronavirus cluster.

 The Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) office said in a statement yesterday that PA deputy chairman Chan Chun Sing initiated the correction order on posts about the Feb 15 SAFRA Jurong Chinese New Year function that has so far surfaced 47 confirmed COVID-19 patients here.

 All three people - Mr Lim, "Henryace Ace" and Mr Sebastian Ying - had posted or shared links saying the PA and RCs were responsible for the infections linked to the event.

 Mr Lim, who is the People's Voice party chief, did so on both his pages Lim Tean and Tean Lim.

According to the government fact-checking website Factually, the posts alleging PA or RC involvement in the Feb 15 event are "entirely false". It said: "PA and the RCs were not involved in the organisation of the dinner event... and were not in a position to cancel it. PA and the RCs also did not fund or publicise the dinner event. The event was a private dinner function organised by a singing instructor for members of her singing groups."

 This is the third time Mr Lim has been issued with an order from the POFMA office. The first was last December, for a post which the Government said had implied it was spending more on foreign students than Singaporean students.

 He was also instructed to put up a correction notice in January after sharing an article by website AB-TC City News that claimed five Singaporeans had contracted the coronavirus without going to China.

All three will need to put up a correction alongside the offending Facebook posts. Mr Lim has done so. "Henryace Ace" did not, but had a post saying: "I will permanently shut down my FB account shortly. Ending my online life and getting on with real life."

 Mr Ying could no longer be found on Facebook.

 This is not the first time the law has been invoked to correct statements made about the COVID-19 outbreak. In January, two Facebook accounts were issued correction directions after they made posts claiming that Woodlands MRT station was closed for disinfection because of a suspected COVID-19 case.

That month, SPH Magazines was also asked to correct an online post in the HardwareZone forum that falsely claimed a man in Singapore had died from the virus infection, while The States Times Review Facebook page was instructed to correct a post that claimed Singapore had run out of face masks.

 POFMA gives ministers the power to act against a piece of falsehood on the Internet when it is in the public's interest to do so.






POFMA no. 11: 26 Feb 2020

 FACTUALLY: Corrections and clarifications regarding falsehoods by Gilbert Goh and The Independent Singapore
False statements that a single mother and her six children were evicted from their rental flat due to her inability to pay rent
Claims of HDB eviction of woman are false, says MND; news site complies with order
By Jean Iau, The Straits Times, 27 Feb 2020

 An online account of a woman who was allegedly evicted from her Housing Board rental flat is not true, said the Ministry of National Development (MND) yesterday as Singapore's law against fake news was invoked on the matter.

 Earlier this month, political activist Gilbert Goh put up a Facebook post on the eviction issue, while alternative news site The Independent Singapore (TISG) posted an article on its website and put up a post on Facebook about it.

Yesterday, MND said National Development Minister Lawrence Wong has told the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) Office to issue a correction notice against Mr Goh and TISG over this.

 The correction direction requires Mr Goh and TISG to carry, in full, a correction notice at the top of their posts.

 Their posts and article relate to an account about a woman, said to be a single mother known only as Lina, and her six children who were said to be evicted from their rented HDB flat for defaulting on rent payment.

 The posts also claimed that the family was staying at her sister's house.

MND said both claims are false as HDB did not evict Lina from the flat. Instead, early this month, a man verified as her husband terminated the tenancy for the flat and returned the keys to HDB.

 The family also did not have any overdue rent throughout the period of the last tenancy.

 The ministry added that Lina and her husband bought a new flat from HDB which has been paid in full, and the family has moved into the new flat.

 Mr Goh's Facebook post on Feb 19 is written in the first person, presumably from Lina, who asked for help. At the end of the post, Mr Goh said a visit to the family would be made to verify what she said.

 TISG's Feb 21 article on Lina and her family is based on Mr Goh's account of his interactions with the woman.

MND said that when HDB staff visited Lina's family in its new flat last Saturday, the woman and her husband said it was their relative who had approached Mr Goh for help.

 The family has been receiving assistance - including cash, vouchers, subsidies and food rations - from various government agencies and community partners.

 The family has also received food rations and supermarket vouchers from its local grassroots organisation, said MND.

 TISG put up a correction notice on its Facebook post and online article yesterday evening.








POFMA no. 10: 14 Feb 2020

 FACTUALLY: Corrections and clarifications regarding falsehoods published by States Times Review on COVID-19 situation
False statements made in a Facebook post by States Times Review on 13 Feb 2020
Govt invokes fake news law against false claims by States Times Review about the coronavirus outbreak
By Tham Yuen-C, Senior Political Correspondent, The Straits Times, 15 Feb 2020

The States Times Review (STR) Facebook page was yesterday ordered under the fake news law to put up corrections alongside false statements it made about the coronavirus outbreak.

 This is the second order issued against STR under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) for bogus claims about the coronavirus crisis. STR had earlier falsely claimed that Singapore had run out of face masks.

 To date, the law has been used to deal with five cases of falsehoods related to the outbreak of the coronavirus disease, known as COVID-19.

 Health Minister Gan Kim Yong yesterday instructed the POFMA Office to issue a correction order over "multiple false statements" in a post that STR put up the day before.

 The post is about the 30,000 Chinese work pass holders who have not returned to Singapore, and it was shared more than 300 times.

 Among the erroneous claims are that Singapore has not been able to trace the sources of infection for any of the infected COVID-19 cases here.

The Government, describing the claims by STR as "entirely false", rebutted them point by point in a statement on its fact-checking website, Factually. On the sources of infection, the statement said the Ministry of Health (MOH) had in fact established through epidemiological investigations and contact tracing that 51 of the 58 people infected with the virus (as of yesterday afternoon) either had travelled to China or came from there, or had links to previously announced cases.

 Contact tracing is under way for the remaining seven cases to see if there are similar links or travel history to China.

 The STR also said the Government is "the only one" telling people not to wear masks.

 This is not true, as the MOH's advice is in line with the World Health Organisation's guidance, and similar to advice given by the health authorities in countries such as the United States and Australia, said the government statement.

 The MOH's advice is that people who are well do not need to wear a mask, but those with respiratory symptoms should don one to minimise the risk of infecting others.

 STR made two other false claims - about the daily $100 allowance for workers on leave of absence (LOA) and Manpower Minister Josephine Teo's remarks about Chinese workers.

Rebutting the claims, the Government said Chinese work pass holders placed on a mandatory 14-day leave of absence "do not receive the $100 daily support". Though the LOA support programme covers all workers, regardless of nationality, it is employers who receive the support, it added.

 These employers must have workers who travelled to China on or before Jan 31, and who were placed on leave of absence after returning to Singapore on or after Jan 31.

 The Government also made clear that Mrs Teo never said she was working hard to bring more Chinese workers back to Singapore.

 On the contrary, the Ministry of Manpower has put in place measures to slow down the return of affected work pass holders, such as requiring employers to get prior approval before their workers can return, said the statement. It has also rejected more applications than it has approved.

 The STR had also said seven countries have since banned travel to Singapore owing to a lack of confidence in the measures taken so far to curb the spread of the virus.

 But as of 8pm on Thursday, there had been no such bans by any countries, said the Government.

The STR Facebook page is run by Singaporean Alex Tan, who has received three POFMA orders so far since the laws against misinformation kicked in last October. He has not complied with any of the orders, and said he is now an Australian citizen.

 Besides issuing the correction order to Mr Tan, the POFMA Office also issued a Targeted Correction Direction to Facebook yesterday, requiring the social media company to put up the corrections on the STR post.

 The office had done the same in previous POFMA cases involving STR.











States Times Review Facebook page barred from receiving any financial benefit under POFMA
States Times Review penalised under fake news law for refusing to put up corrections to published falsehoods
By Tham Yuen-C, Senior Political Correspondent, The Sunday Times, 16 Feb 2020

 The States Times Review (STR) Facebook page has become the first online site to be barred from receiving any financial benefit under Singapore's laws against fake news, after it refused to put up corrections to falsehoods it had published.

 The page, owned by Singaporean Alex Tan Zhi Xiang, was designated as a Declared Online Location (DOL) yesterday by Minister for Communications and Information S. Iswaran.

 This comes after STR received correction directions on three separate occasions for publishing falsehoods on various issues, including on the coronavirus situation in Singapore.

 In all three instances, Mr Tan ignored the orders to put up corrections alongside his post.

 Under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA), online sites which receive three such directions within six months can be declared a DOL.

 The declaration takes effect today.

 In announcing the move, the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) said: "The STR Facebook page is linked to other websites that are also operated by Alex Tan which derive monetary benefits from these falsehoods at the expense of Singaporeans and our society."

 The ministry also said in its statement that the page will have to carry a notice warning people that it has a history of communicating falsehoods, among other things.

 Mr Tan can be fined up to $40,000 or jailed for up to three years, or both, if he does not comply.

In addition, it is also an offence for him to profit from the page, or for anyone to provide financial support to the page for the purpose of communicating falsehoods.

 They can be fined up to $40,000 or jailed for up to three years, or both, for doing so.

 MCI noted that the STR Facebook page "has repeatedly conveyed numerous falsehoods", three of which were the subject of POFMA directions this month and last month, and in November last year.

 Among the erroneous claims the page was issued correction directions for were that Singapore has not been able to trace the source infections in any of the coronavirus cases and that Singapore had run out of surgical masks.

 In another case unrelated to the outbreak of the virus, Mr Tan had made up a story about the police having arrested someone over comments on a potential People's Action Party candidate.

 Under POFMA, Facebook, which is considered a digital advertising intermediary, must also take steps, both in and outside Singapore, to ensure that paid content on the STR page is not displayed to users in Singapore.

 If Mr Tan does not comply with the declaration, and paid content on the STR Facebook page continues to be displayed to users here, the Government can also direct Internet access service providers to block the STR Facebook page so people cannot access it here.

 If an Internet service provider or Internet intermediary fails to comply and is convicted, it can be fined up to $20,000 for each day that the government order is not fully complied with, up to a total of $500,000.











Facebook blocks access in Singapore to States Times Review page for breaching Pofma
By Tham Yuen-C, Senior Political Correspondent, The Straits Times, 18 Feb 2020

 Facebook has blocked access to a page on its platform that has been publishing falsehoods on various issues in Singapore, including the coronavirus outbreak, but not without registering its protest.

 The social media giant on Tuesday (Feb 18) disabled access to the States Times Review (STR) Facebook page, making it unavailable to users in Singapore after it was required to do so under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma).

 Commenting on the move, Minister for Communications and Information S. Iswaran said it was especially important to stop the spread of falsehoods as Singapore battles the coronavirus disease, known as Covid-19.

 "The reason why we need to act swiftly is because if we don't, then these falsehoods can cause anxiety, fear and even panic," he told reporters yesterday at an event held by the Hindu Endowments Board to discuss precautionary measures against the coronavirus.

The STR Facebook page, owned by Singaporean Alex Tan Zhi Xiang, has received three correction directions under the fake news law since last November. Two had to do with the virus outbreak.

 After Mr Tan ignored all three directions, the STR page was designated a declared online location (DOL) on Saturday and barred from receiving any financial benefit, among other things.

 Despite this, he did not comply with the rules under Pofma, and the authorities then issued an order for Facebook to disable access to the page for Singapore users.

 On Tuesday, a Facebook spokesman told The Straits Times the company had conducted a careful review and determined that it was legally compelled to restrict access to the page under Singapore's laws.

 But she criticised the order for being disproportionate, and said it contradicted the Government's claim that Pofma would not be used as a censorship tool.

 She added: "We've repeatedly highlighted this law's potential for overreach and we're deeply concerned about the precedent this sets for the stifling of freedom of expression in Singapore."

Under Pofma, online sites can be designated as a DOL after they receive three corrections directions within six months.

 In the case of the STR page, the Ministry of Communications and Information had noted that it "has repeatedly conveyed numerous falsehoods".

 The erroneous claims that the page was issued corrections directions for included statements that Singapore has not been able to trace the source infections in any of the coronavirus cases, and that the country had run out of masks.

 Emphasising the importance of ensuring that Singaporeans get the right information during a public health threat, Mr Iswaran said STR's actions and those of others who have perpetuated falsehoods during this period could cause anxiety, fear and even panic.

 "We want to avoid that because that is not only (unhelpful) to our overall effort, it is actually going to be harmful," he said, describing the battle against the coronavirus as both a healthcare and psychological challenge.

 "On the psychological side, it is essential that... we put out timely information, accurate information, so that our citizens are well informed and understand what is happening."

Noting that some people have exploited the situation to purvey falsehoods, he said it was critical to shut down such lies swiftly.

 In most of the five cases to do with the coronavirus outbreak so far, those who have received the correction directions have complied. Only Mr Tan had ignored them, he added.

 The Government had to issue a further direction under Section 34 of Pofma to disable access to the page for Singapore users after Mr Tan failed to put up a warning as required when it was declared a DOL, Mr Iswaran said.



POFMA invoked against two fake posts on masks, Singaporean cases
POFMA exemptions lifted amid spread of fake news
By Clara Chong and Linette Lai, Political Correspondent, The Straits Times, 1 Feb 2020

 The prevalence of social media is one key difference between the current Wuhan virus outbreak and the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) crisis of 2003, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said yesterday.

 Noting that rumours have been circulating on various channels about the novel coronavirus, he said he was very glad that the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) is in place.

 "Some of it, we know, is malicious and deliberate - people who are making up stories, people who are deliberately fomenting fear, uncertainty and doubt," he told reporters during a visit to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.

 "We have acted promptly against them using POFMA, and we are very diligent in putting out information as quickly as we get it, and as quickly as we can verify it, in order to make sure that people know what is the truth - what you need to worry about and what you should ignore."

The fake news law was invoked twice yesterday in relation to the Wuhan virus.

 On Thursday, a website called AB-TC City News published an article that claimed five Singaporeans had contracted the Wuhan coronavirus without going to China. The article was subsequently shared by opposition party leader and lawyer Lim Tean as well as Facebook group Say No To PAP on their Facebook pages.

 Health Minister Gan Kim Yong yesterday instructed the POFMA Office to issue correction directions against AB-TC City News, Mr Lim and the Say No To PAP group.

 In a statement, the POFMA Office said AB-TC City News will be required to carry a correction notice alongside its article. It noted that while Mr Lim and Say No To PAP have taken down their Facebook posts containing the falsehood, they will still have to carry a correction notice on their respective Facebook pages to ensure that people who had viewed their posts are informed of the facts.

 In a separate case, Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing yesterday instructed the POFMA Office to issue a correction direction against Mr Alex Tan and a targeted correction direction to Facebook over a post that Mr Tan made on his States Times Review Facebook page which falsely claimed that Singapore had run out of face masks.

 Mr Tan, the founder and editor of States Times Review, was an opposition party member and is now an Australian citizen.

Yesterday's correction direction was the second to be issued against the States Times Review. In November last year, Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam issued a correction direction against Mr Tan over a Nov 23 post on the States Times Review Facebook page about People's Action Party member Rachel Ong and a Nussu-NUS Students United Facebook post.

 The Government also invoked the fake news law twice earlier this week to correct falsehoods about the Wuhan virus.

 On Monday, SPH Magazines was asked to correct an online post on the HardwareZone forum that falsely claimed a man in Singapore had died from the Wuhan virus infection. The company, which had taken down the thread earlier in line with its community guidelines, also complied with the order.

 On Tuesday, the Government invoked POFMA against Facebook to correct two posts that told people to avoid Woodlands MRT station, claiming a suspected case was discovered there. The posts, put up by different accounts, also falsely claimed the station was closed for disinfection.

The Government has also lifted temporary exemptions on general correction directions for a number of search engines and social media platforms, including Google, Baidu, Facebook and Twitter, with effect from yesterday.

 A general correction direction can be issued to prescribed Internet intermediaries, telecoms and broadcast licensees, or newspapers, to get them to communicate a correction notice to all users in Singapore - not just the ones who access the falsehood - when a false statement has been conveyed and it is in the public interest to correct it.

Communications and Information Minister S. Iswaran said yesterday that as the situation continues to evolve, the information flow will be fluid. "All the more we must all rely on trusted information sources and take a firm stand against those who spread falsehoods that cause anxiety and alarm, especially at a time of heightened concern in our society," he added.







POFMA no. 7: 28 Jan 2020

 FACTUALLY: Corrections and clarifications regarding falsehoods that Woodlands MRT closed for disinfection
False claims that Woodlands MRT closed due to Wuhan coronavirus infection
Government debunks fake news linking closure of Woodlands MRT station to Wuhan virus
By Tham Yuen-C, Senior Political Correspondent, The Straits Times, 29 Jan 2020

Woodlands MRT station was not closed because of a suspected case of the Wuhan virus, as claimed by several Facebook posts, said the Government yesterday as it invoked Singapore's law against fake news for the second time in relation to the virus.

 As misinformation swirled online, two posts circulating on Facebook told people to avoid Woodlands MRT station, claiming a suspected case was discovered there.

 The posts, put up by different accounts, also falsely claimed the station was closed for disinfection.

 Debunking the fake news, the Transport Ministry said in a Facebook post yesterday: "We would like to clarify that this is not true. Woodlands MRT was not closed on 28 Jan 2020; it was fully operational."

 The ministry also asked people not to speculate and spread unfounded rumours, and to get the latest updates on the Wuhan virus situation through government channels such as www.moh.gov.sg or the Gov.sg WhatsApp group at https://go.gov.sg/whatsapp



The latest use of the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) against misinformation involving the Wuhan virus follows a warning on Monday by Minister for Communications and Information S. Iswaran.

 He had said at a press conference that swift action would be taken against such falsehoods as they could cause panic among Singaporeans.

 Mr Iswaran, who is part of a multi-ministry task force set up to tackle the Wuhan virus, also said his ministry was working with the Health Ministry to keep Singaporeans informed of developments.

 Yesterday, the authorities asked Facebook to carry a correction notice alongside the two posts on Woodlands MRT station, directing people to the facts at www.gov.sg/article/factually-clarifications-on-falsehoods-on-woodlands-m...

 As of 8pm yesterday, the notices were not up.

Minister for Transport Khaw Boon Wan had initiated the targeted correction direction under POFMA, the second time the law has been used in relation to the virus.

 In the first instance, SPH Magazines was asked to correct an online post on the HardwareZone forum that falsely claimed a man in Singapore had died from the Wuhan virus infection. The company had earlier taken down the thread, in line with its community guidelines, and also complied with the order.

 In recent days, several other posts alleging unverified information have also prompted clarifications from the authorities. One fake message on HardwareZone claimed Singapore had repatriated more than 100 Wuhan tourists to China. The POFMA Office urged people to report any suspected falsehoods to info@pofmaoffice.gov.sg













POFMA no. 6: 27 Jan 2020

 FACTUALLY: Corrections and clarifications regarding falsehoods posted on HardwareZone Forum Post
False statement made in a HardwareZone Forum post
SPH Magazines complies with POFMA correction order on false HardwareZone post
The Straits Times, 28 Jan 2020

SPH Magazines has complied with an order by the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office to correct an online post in the HardwareZone forum that falsely claimed that a man in Singapore had died from the Wuhan virus infection.

 "A false statement was made in a HardwareZone forum post, claiming that a man has died from the Wuhan coronavirus infection in Singapore. HardwareZone is required to carry the correction notice to all end-users in Singapore who use HardwareZone.com," said the POFMA Office in a statement early yesterday.

 Health Minister Gan Kim Yong instructed that the order be issued, the POFMA Office added.

 The forum post was made on Sunday at 5.50pm.

 It was removed before the POFMA order was received.

SPH Magazines, which operates HardwareZone forum, complied with the correction notice which included a link to a government website which corrected the falsehoods in the original post.

 "HardwareZone.com had, in fact, taken down the thread earlier, in line with its community guidelines. It has also promptly complied with the direction and published the correction notice," said an SPH Magazines spokesman.

 "Forum users have also been reminded to post responsibly."








POFMA no. 5: 22 Jan 2020

 FACTUALLY: Corrections and clarifications regarding falsehoods posted by Lawyers for Liberty
False statements of fact were made by Lawyers for Liberty regarding the procedure for judicial executions in Changi Prison
MHA refutes Malaysia NGO's claims against Singapore's execution method, issues POFMA correction orders against 4 parties
The Straits Times, 23 Jan 2020

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has refuted Malaysia-based non-governmental organisation Lawyers for Liberty's (LFL) allegations about Singapore's execution method, saying the claims were "untrue, baseless and preposterous".

 It also invoked the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) and ordered LFL and three parties that have shared the allegations - Singaporean activist Kirsten Han, The Online Citizen website and Yahoo Singapore - to correct the false statements.

 This is the fifth case where POFMA has been invoked since it came into effect on Oct 2 last year.

 Last Thursday, LFL said in a statement that Singapore prison officers were instructed to kick the back of a prisoner's neck with great force to break it, if the rope breaks during a hanging, and that the Singapore Government approved of "unlawful methods" that are used to cover up an execution if the rope breaks.

 "These allegations are entirely unfounded," MHA said yesterday.

Singapore executes its condemned prisoners by hanging. The ministry said that all judicial executions in Singapore are carried out in strict compliance with the law.

 "All judicial executions are conducted in the presence of the Superintendent of the Prison and a medical doctor, among others. The law also requires a coroner (who is a judicial officer of the State Courts) to conduct an inquiry within 24 hours of the execution to satisfy himself that the execution was carried out duly and properly," MHA said.

 "For the record, the rope used for judicial executions has never broken before, and prison officers certainly do not receive any 'special training to carry out the brutal execution method' as alleged. Any acts such as those described in the LFL statement would have been thoroughly investigated and dealt with."

The ministry said LFL has a history of publishing sensational and untrue stories to seek attention in the hope of getting Malaysian prisoners who have been convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to death in Singapore off the death penalty.

 "Those who traffic drugs in Singapore harm and destroy the lives of countless Singaporeans. These traffickers must be prepared to face the consequences of their actions," MHA said.

Yesterday, MHA also said it has instructed the POFMA office to issue correction directions against LFL, as well as three other parties: Ms Han's Facebook post which shared LFL's statement, The Online Citizen which has an article that contained the falsehoods, and Yahoo Singapore's Facebook post which shared an article that contained the falsehoods.

 "They will be required to carry a correction notice alongside their posts or articles stating that their posts or articles contain falsehoods," MHA said.

 Ms Han said in a Facebook post yesterday that she had sent questions to the Singapore Prison Service about the claims made by LFL, but did not receive a response.

 She appended the correction notice to her post yesterday afternoon; she also raised concerns over how this affects the ability of journalists, activists and citizens to follow up on allegations.

 "In the interests of dealing with 'fake news', I hope that government and public agencies can be more responsive to queries from journalists and/or civil society groups when they are seeking information that can clarify matters," she said.

Separately, The Online Citizen said it has filed an application to the Minister for Home Affairs to cancel the correction direction it received.

 LFL said it will not comply with the correction notice and demanded that the notice be "unconditionally withdrawn with immediate effect".

 It says it stands by its original statement, which is based on evidence from "former and current Singapore prison officers... with impeccable service records". It added that it is "outrageous and unacceptable" for Singapore to issue such a notice to a Malaysian organisation.















IMDA to block Malaysian NGO website after it fails to comply with POFMA correction: MCI
By Tee Zhuo, The Straits Times, 24 Jan 2020

 The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) will get Internet service providers here to block the website of a Malaysian rights group that alleged Singapore's prisons had used unlawful methods for executions.

 The Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) said yesterday its minister directed the IMDA to do so after the Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) group did not comply with a correction direction issued under the fake news law against a Jan 22 statement on its website.

 "The correction direction issued to LFL had required the facts to be juxtaposed against the falsehoods, so that end-users in Singapore can read both versions and draw their own conclusions," MCI said.

LFL had claimed that Singapore prison officers were instructed to kick the back of a prisoner's neck with great force to break it, if the rope broke during a hanging, and that the Singapore Government approved of such "unlawful methods".

 Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) refuted the claims on Wednesday, calling them "untrue, baseless and preposterous".

 It added that the rope used for executions has never broken before and that prison officers do not receive any training to carry out the alleged brutal execution method.

 In its statement yesterday, MCI said the access blocking orders will ensure the falsehoods on LFL's website are no longer communicated in Singapore without the facts placed alongside them. It added that the orders would be lifted if the group complied with the correction direction.

 Apart from LFL, the MHA also issued correction directions to three other parties: Singaporean freelance journalist Kirsten Han, who had shared LFL's statement on Facebook, The Online Citizen (TOC), which had an article that contained the falsehoods, and Yahoo Singapore, which shared an article that had the falsehoods.

Ms Han said in a Facebook post on Wednesday that she had sent questions to the Singapore Prison Service about LFL's claims, but did not receive a response. She appended the correction notice to her post that same day.

 Yahoo appended the correction notice to its Facebook post yesterday, while TOC said it had filed an application to the Minister for Home Affairs to cancel the correction direction it received.

 Separately, Ms Han and lawyer M. Ravi both posted on Facebook yesterday that LFL would be taking legal action against Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam today in Kuala Lumpur.







Parliament: Use of fake news law against opposition politicians is 'the consequence of their actions', says Iswaran
By Rei Kurohi, The Straits Times, 7 Jan 2020

 In applying Singapore's fake news law, the focus is on whether there is a falsehood and whether it is in the public interest to act against it, rather than the identity of the person or entity responsible for the falsehood, said Minister for Communications and Information S. Iswaran yesterday.

 The fact that the first few directions to correct the falsehoods - issued under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) - were made against individuals who are either politicians or affiliated with political parties, or political parties themselves, is a "convergence, some might say an unfortunate convergence or coincidence", he told Parliament.

 "If you look at it in totality, we have to take into account the overall impact, then we have to consider what is the proportionate response, and then be prepared to take it.

 "If it so happens that some of the people involved are politically affiliated, that's just the consequence of their actions," he added.

He was replying to Nominated MPs Anthea Ong and Walter Theseira on the use of POFMA, which has been invoked four times since it came into effect last Oct 2.

 Ms Ong asked how the threshold for assessing public interest is determined and measured under POFMA, and whether Mr Iswaran's ministry would consider recommending that ministers state which public interest criteria under POFMA are met, and how so, when requesting a direction to be issued.

 Associate Professor Theseira asked whether the identity of the person or entity responsible for the falsehood matters when deciding whether it is in the public interest to act against it.

 Three of the four cases involved opposition parties or their members, including the Singapore Democratic Party, People's Voice Party leader Lim Tean and Progress Singapore Party member Brad Bowyer.

 POFMA was also used to correct a Facebook post made by Mr Alex Tan, the administrator of the States Times Review website.

 Mr Iswaran said these four individuals or entities had made false statements of fact about "issues of fundamental importance to Singaporeans". He added: "The falsehoods allege that the Government mismanaged public funds, abused police powers and discriminated against Singapore citizens in favour of foreigners."

 Failing to deal decisively with such falsehoods will erode or even undermine public trust in Singapore's institutions, with serious consequences for its democracy, said the minister.

The Government and MPs have a duty to ensure Singaporeans are not misled or misinformed by such falsehoods, he said, adding that correction directions have been issued in all of the POFMA cases so far.

 "These directions require that the facts be placed alongside the original posts, so that Singaporeans can read both versions and draw their own conclusions," Mr Iswaran said.

 He said ministers who order directions under POFMA are required to provide the legal basis for determining a statement is a falsehood.

 "In the recent cases, the falsehoods and the reasons for using POFMA were made clear in the clarifications that were issued by the respective ministries.

 "If the recipient of the POFMA direction disputes the facts, quick and inexpensive recourse to the courts is available. These provisions ensure transparency and accountability in the POFMA process," he added.

 Ms Ong asked if the ministry would consider having a central listing on the POFMA website of all issued directions.

 Mr Iswaran said all corrections issued under POFMA are already compiled in a section of government fact-checking website Factually. "In addition, the POFMA Office website has a list of the press releases issued together with POFMA directions."

 Ms Ong also asked if the POFMA Office is monitoring and flagging fake news that is not partisan, which may also be in the public interest. She cited the example of the Nussu-NUS Students United Facebook page, which parodies the National University of Singapore Students' Union (Nussu).

 Mr Iswaran said: "There is some effort to monitor, but primarily I think we are looking at those cases which are egregious, and those that are egregious will pop up naturally."















Parliament: POFMA rules apply to all political ads, not only those containing falsehoods, says Iswaran
Transparency code applies to all political ads
By Rei Kurohi, The Straits Times, 7 Jan 2020

 An advertising code of practice under Singapore's fake news law, which took effect in October last year, applies to all political advertisements.

 This includes even those ads that are not accused of containing falsehoods, Minister for Communications and Information S. Iswaran told Parliament yesterday in his reply to Workers' Party MP Sylvia Lim (Aljunied GRC).

 The Code of Practice for Transparency of Online Political Advertisements sets out measures that certain intermediaries, such as social media platforms, must implement to ensure the transparency of online political advertising.

 For example, it requires these intermediaries to ensure that online political ads carry disclosure notices to inform readers of the person or organisation that had placed or paid for the ads.

Mr Iswaran said intermediaries are also required to put in place other accountability measures, such as maintaining a database of online political ads, and providing channels for members of the public to report ads that are not disclosed.

 Ms Lim also asked why the POFMA Office requires companies to maintain such records, including a copy of the ad, the name of its originator, the amount paid, a description of its intended target audience and the number of viewers reached, among other things.

 "If the advert has nothing fake or alleged to be fake in it, what is the interest of the POFMA Office to know these things?" she asked.

 Mr Iswaran replied: "The requirement is imposed on the intermediaries to keep the information. It doesn't mean that the POFMA Office has to have access to this information, but the information must be available so that in the event action is required, the relevant information is available."

He noted that major platforms such as Google and Twitter do not allow political ads at all.

 On Facebook, the information disclosed to the public about political ads on its platform already goes beyond that required by the advertising code.

 The Facebook Ad Library offers information about who paid for an ad - not just political ads - how much they spent and how many people saw it, among other things. The library was launched in March last year.

 Said Mr Iswaran: "Our objective is to ensure the information is captured because if you don't spell it out clearly and you want it after the fact, it may not be available, which will then thwart the intent of the legislation."






Singapore Government officials rebut Bloomberg, South China Morning Post articles on POFMA
They make the point that the Govt has not restricted free debate through its use of law
By Royston Sim, Deputy Political Editor, The Straits Times, 1 Jan 2020

 Government officials have rebutted articles by Bloomberg and the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on Singapore's fake news law, the latest in a series of such responses to media outlets.

 In her reply released yesterday, Ms Ho Hwei Ling, press secretary to Minister for Communications and Information S. Iswaran, said all three versions of an article Bloomberg ran had alleged that the Singapore Government uses the law to suppress dissent and the right to free expression.

 This is untrue, she said, noting that the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) was used to issue correction directions. This allows the public to access both the original posts and corrections, and decide for themselves which is true.

 "No information or view has been suppressed," she stressed.

Ms Ho also said that the Bloomberg article published on Dec 27, Singapore Goes On Global Offensive To Defend 'Fake News' Law, had criticised government responses to foreign media stories on POFMA.

 "We have never shied from answering our foreign critics on any issue. They can say what they please. All we insist upon is the right of reply," she said.

 In a separate letter published by the SCMP yesterday, Ms Foo Teow Lee, Singapore's Consul-General to Hong Kong, similarly made the point that the Government has not restricted free debate through its use of POFMA, which has been invoked four times to date.

 On foreign critics, she said: "All we insist upon is the right of reply. That same logic applies to POFMA."

Their rebuttals follow earlier ones by Singapore's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Foo Chi Hsia, its Ambassador to the United States Ashok Kumar Mirpuri, and Ministry of Communications and Information director for information policy Bernard Toh.

 Ms Ho said the Government has written to Bloomberg as its article "still contains multiple factual errors despite three attempts to get the facts right".

 She cited how the article had presented the decisions on political advertising to "suggest that these decisions had been prompted by the Singapore Government's action".

 While the POFMA Code of Practice imposes transparency requirements on political advertising, it does not ban such advertisements.

 Google decided on its own not to accept such advertisements in Singapore, she noted.

 Facebook continued to accept such advertisements but imposed advertising transparency measures globally.

 Meanwhile, Twitter banned political advertisements altogether globally.

 "Three giant social media companies, three different global decisions on political advertising - yet your report linked them all with the Singapore Government and alleged 'opposition fears' over POFMA," Ms Ho said.

With online falsehoods and manipulation now a serious problem, societies everywhere look to the mainstream media, including global players like Bloomberg, to maintain high standards of integrity and objectivity, she added.

 "Regrettably, in your zeal to attack a law that calls for the maintenance of such high standards, your own report has been cavalier with the truth."

 In her reply to SCMP over its Dec 21 article, Singapore's Fake News Law: Protecting The Truth, Or Restricting Free Debate?, Ms Foo said the Government detailed the falsehoods and the public interest involved in each instance when it issued correction notices.

 "Far from being matters of 'interpretation of statistics' or 'opinion of facts', the statements corrected were all demonstrably factually false," she wrote.

 It is "telling", she said, that none of the parties who have received POFMA directions - including the Singapore Democratic Party - have appealed or taken the matter to court thus far.

 "That would settle, simply and conclusively, whether the posts are opinions or facts and, if they are facts, whether they are true or false. Why have they not done this?"

She also noted that Human Rights Watch (HRW) deputy Asia director Phil Robertson, who was quoted in the SCMP article, has repeatedly declined offers to argue HRW's position and "show up the Singapore Government's errors face to face".

 "We repeat here, for the fourth time, our invitation to him to debate a Singapore minister," she said. "If he is so convinced we cannot withstand HRW's withering arguments, surely he should not hesitate to accept our invitation."




Instagram expands fact-checking globally in fight against misinformation
The Straits Times, 18 Dec 2019

 SAN FRANCISCO • Instagram has gone global in its fight against misinformation, expanding its third-party fact-checking network around the world.

 The Facebook-owned social media platform launched a fact-checking programme in the United States early this year.

 "Today's expansion is an important step in our ongoing efforts to fight misinformation on Instagram," it said in an online post on Monday. "Photo and video-based misinformation is increasingly a challenge across our industry, and something our teams have been focused on addressing," it added.

 Facebook and Instagram, like other social media firms, have come under intense pressure in the US and globally for allowing misinformation to spread.

 Instagram initially began working with third-party organisations in the US to help identify, review and label bogus posts.

 Facebook began its version of the scheme in December 2016.

Agence France-Presse is working with Facebook's fact-checking programme in almost 30 countries and nine languages. It will now fact-check Instagram posts as well.

 About 60 media outlets, including news groups and specialised fact-checkers, work worldwide on the Facebook programme.

 Under the programme, content rated "false" by fact-checkers is downgraded in news feeds so fewer people will see it.

 If someone tries to share a post found to be misleading or false, Facebook presents them with the fact-checked article. No posts are removed from Facebook and fact-checkers are free to choose how and what they wish to investigate.

Instagram uses the same methods. Content deemed to be false is ignored by Instagram's search or recommendation tools and is shown with a warning label if users come across it.

 "When content has been rated as false or partly false by a third-party fact-checker, we reduce its distribution," Instagram said.

 "It will be labelled so people can better decide for themselves what to read, trust and share."

 Once a post is found to be deceptive, software searches for it across Instagram's platform to brand it accordingly.

 "We use image-matching technology to find further instances of this content and apply the label," Instagram said. "If something is rated false or partly false on Facebook, starting today, we'll automatically label identical content if it is posted on Instagram (and vice versa)."

 Instagram will also expand an anti-bullying feature developed earlier this year.

 AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE





 POFMA no. 4: 16 Dec 2019

FACTUALLY: Corrections and clarifications regarding falsehoods and misleading statements in Mr Lim Tean’s FB posts of 12 December 2019
Misleading and false statements were made by Mr Lim Tean comparing Government spending on foreign and Singaporean students
Opposition politician Lim Tean told to correct Facebook posts alleging Govt spends more on foreign than local students
MOE says posts wrongly imply Govt spends more on foreign than Singaporean students
By Clement Yong, The Straits Times, 17 Dec 2019

Opposition politician Lim Tean was asked yesterday to put up correction notices on two of his Facebook posts, which the Ministry of Education (MOE) said implied wrongly that the Government spends more on foreign than on Singaporean students.

 Mr Lim, who is the founder of political party People's Voice, had contrasted in two Dec 12 Facebook posts the amount of money the MOE spent on Singaporean and foreign students.

 He wrote that "the total pot available for Singaporean students (is) $167 million compared to the $238 million that is spent on foreign students". He further stated: "PAP (People's Action Party) spends $167 million on grants and bursaries for Singaporeans but $238 million on foreign students??"

 The "false and misleading" comparison led Education Minister Ong Ye Kung to instruct the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office to issue a correction directive to Mr Lim yesterday morning.

 The directive requires Mr Lim to carry the full correction notice at the top of both Facebook posts.

 It is the fourth time POFMA is being used since it came into effect two months ago.

In response, Mr Lim, who put up the correction notices at about 10pm, said he is considering his legal options.

 The government notice, on its website Factually, pointed out that the $167 million cited by Mr Lim refers only to bursaries for Singaporean tertiary students and "grossly understates MOE's total spending on Singaporean citizens for education".

 It said "almost all" of MOE's annual budget of $13 billion was spent on Singaporeans. The figures of $167 million and $238 million are therefore not comparable, it added.

 "The more appropriate comparison should be (the) nearly $13 billion spent on Singaporean students to provide subsidised education for all Singaporean students at all levels, as against the $238 million attributed to foreign students referred to by Mr Lim Tean, which is less than 2 per cent of the total education budget" it said.

The notice also said that much of MOE's budget goes towards costs such as infrastructure, facilities, laboratories and teaching staff, "which are either fixed or non-variable up to the medium term to provide education for Singaporean students".

 It added: "A large part of the $238 million attributed to foreign students comprises these fixed and non-variable costs we have to incur anyway, whether or not we admit a small proportion of foreign students in the system."

 Foreign students now make up 5 per cent of all the students, it noted.

 The Straits Times has asked MOE for a breakdown of spending on Singaporean students.

 When contacted, Mr Lim, who is a lawyer, said the Government's response was "absurd". "Anyone who read my post and the series of posts I made on this subject last week would have been under no mistaken impression that I was discussing the amount of money spent on grants and scholarships and not the overall spending on all Singaporean students," he told The Straits Times.

"It is clear to me that POFMA is being used by this Government ahead of the upcoming general election to silence its opponents and chill public discussion of unpopular government policies," he added.

 He also said the Government was spending nearly $500 million on grants and scholarships for foreign students until it was halved to $238 million.

 Before Mr Lim, the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) was directed last Saturday to correct two Facebook posts and an article on its website on manpower issues.

 The following day, SDP posted an online letter citing news sources that it claimed backed up its allegations that more local professionals, managers, executives and technicians were being retrenched.

 The SDP said it will apply to cancel the correction directions.

 Directives have been issued to Progress Singapore Party member Brad Bowyer and the States Times Review too.

 Correction notices include a link to Factually, where the Government makes corrections and clarifications on what it sees as "false and misleading" statements. But the posts do not have to be taken down.











Singapore High Commissioner to the UK rebuts Economist article on fake news law
Rather than limit free speech, it boosts quality of public discourse, she says
By Linette Lai, Political Correspondent, The Straits Times, 20 Dec 2019
An Economist article on Singapore's fake news law has drawn a rebuttal from Singapore's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Foo Chi Hsia.

 In a letter published on the magazine's website this week, Ms Foo stated that the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) does not limit free speech - rather it enhances the quality of public discourse.

 She added that the law "strengthens and safeguards proper public accountability that must necessarily underpin democracies".

 "Online posts that have been corrected remain available in full, but with links to the Government's response appended," she said.

 "Readers can see both and decide for themselves which is the truth. How does twinning factual replies to falsehoods limit free speech?"

 Ms Foo was responding to an article published on Dec 7, which characterised POFMA as an addition to the Singapore Government's "criticism-suppressing arsenal" and referenced two recent uses of the law.

 The first use of POFMA was against opposition politician Brad Bowyer, who had questioned the independence and investment decisions of Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC and investment company Temasek.

 The London-based Economist wrote that while Mr Bowyer's post had contained errors - on which the authorities "seized" - its main contention that the Government's investments were not as well managed as they could be "is clearly a subjective matter".

 The second use of POFMA was against socio-political website States Times Review, which alleged that the Republic's elections are rigged and that the next one could "possibly turn Singapore into a Christian state".

 In her letter, Ms Foo said The Economist had misrepresented the falsehoods that the Government had corrected. The States Times Review article also made false claims that the Government has arrested specific critics, she said.

 Meanwhile, Mr Bowyer's post "did not only question the 'investment nous of Singapore's sovereign wealth funds', but was based on false allegations of losses that never occurred", she added.

 The High Commissioner noted that fake stories have influenced British politics, "notably in the Brexit campaign".

 She added that legislatures around the world have been grappling with this problem.

 Singapore, as an English-speaking, multiracial and multi-religious society open to the world, is more vulnerable to the threat of online falsehoods than most, she said, reiterating a point made by the Republic's Ambassador to the United States in a recent letter to The Washington Post.

 "Having observed in Britain and elsewhere the cost of doing nothing, we decided to act."

 She added: "Singapore's laws are designed to meet our own context and needs. We have no ambition to set any example for other countries, but neither do we make any apologies for defending our own interests."

 Separately, a Singapore Government spokesman yesterday said non-governmental organisation Human Rights Watch has not responded to its invitation to debate the fake news law.

The Washington Post ran a Dec 2 article on POFMA, in which it quoted Human Rights Watch's deputy director of Asia division Phil Robertson as saying the law is designed "specifically to put Internet companies like Facebook in a headlock to comply with these rights-abusing edicts", among other things.

 Singapore's Ambassador to the United States Ashok Kumar Mirpuri subsequently wrote a letter to the Post to rebut its article, which the newspaper ran parts of.

 On Monday, an official from the Ministry of Communications and Information sent a letter to Mr Robertson reiterating the Government's offer to debate POFMA with him at any university forum in Singapore and livestream the exchange on Facebook.

 The letter also reiterated how Human Rights Watch had been invited to appear before the Parliamentary Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods last year.

 It had originally accepted the invitation but declined after being told it would also be questioned about a report issued in December 2017, which stated that the Singapore Government was suppressing freedom of expression.

 The organisation was offered eight alternative dates and the option of speaking via video-conference but repeatedly came up with excuses to decline, the official said.

 Mr Robertson could not be reached by The Straits Times for comment.






Govt calls out Washington Post for 'perpetuating false allegations' over POFMA article
By Linette Lai, Political Correspondent, The Straits Times, 17 Dec 2019

The Government has called out The Washington Post for "perpetuating false allegations" after the American newspaper ran only parts of a letter from Singapore's ambassador to the United States.

 Mr Ashok Kumar Mirpuri had responded to a Dec 2 article in the online edition of the Post about Facebook complying with the Government's directive to issue a correction under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) last month.

 The article had pointed out that POFMA could have a "chilling effect on online free expression" and "open the door to broad government censorship", points which Mr Mirpuri rebutted.

 Yesterday evening, the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) made public a letter that Mr Bernard Toh, director of the ministry's information policy division, had written to The Washington Post publisher Fred Ryan.

 Mr Toh had noted that the Post declined to publish Mr Mirpuri's response on the grounds that it ran only letters on articles that appeared in its print edition. The Government was then directed to the article's author, Ms Cat Zakrzewski.

 But Ms Zakrzewski declined to carry the ambassador's response in full, including only a "brief quote" from the letter that ignored the crux of the reply, Mr Toh said.

 "It is ironic that the Post should have responded thus, given that your article had accused us of censorship.

 "By refusing to carry our letter or report it more adequately, the Post is perpetuating false allegations."

 Mr Toh added that the ministry was making the letter public "in the interest of transparency".

The Post's article was published shortly after Facebook put up a notice on a post on the States Times Review page, reading: "Facebook is legally required to tell you that the Singapore Government says this post has false information."

 In his letter to the Post, Mr Mirpuri said censorship entails banning or suppressing offending material.

 But the Government has "only required Facebook to append to the offending post a link to a factual correction. The original post remains intact", he noted.

 "Readers can read it together with the Government's response, and decide for themselves which tells the truth," he said.

 "This can no more have 'a chilling effect on online free expression' than your publishing this letter can stun The Washington Post into silence."

 Mr Mirpuri wrote that Singapore, as an English-speaking, multiracial and multi-religious society open to the world, is more vulnerable to the threat of online falsehoods than most.

 "POFMA seeks to restore balance to the debate, by requiring tech companies to carry clarifications to reach the same target audience as the false statements."

 Part of this response was included in the Post's article.

 Mr Toh wrote that Ms Zakrzewski had "ignored the crux of (the Government's) response: that contrary to allegations that the Singapore Government had censored a Facebook post that it deemed to be false, the original post remained intact and accessible".

The Government also issued a response to Mr Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch.

 The non-governmental organisation is headquartered in New York and investigates human rights abuses around the world.

 Mr Robertson was quoted in the Post's article as saying that POFMA is designed "specifically to put Internet companies like Facebook in a headlock to comply with these rights-abusing edicts".

 "With huge, onerous fines and the possibility of even prison time, it's going to be hard for any company to not comply," he said.

 In a separate letter to Mr Robertson, which was also made public yesterday, Mr Toh reiterated points that Mr Mirpuri made in his response to the Post, including that Human Rights Watch had been invited to appear before the parliamentary Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods last year.

 The Select Committee was convened to come up with suggestions on how Singapore can tackle fake news, with the public encouraged to write in on causes, consequences and possible countermeasures.

 Mr Toh noted that Human Rights Watch had originally accepted the invitation.

 However, it had declined after being told it would also be questioned about a report issued in December 2017, which stated that the Singapore Government was suppressing freedom of expression.

 The organisation was offered eight alternative dates and the option of speaking via videoconference, Mr Toh said, but "repeatedly came up with excuses to decline".

 He added that the Government is willing to debate the issue with Human Rights Watch at any university forum in Singapore.

 "To ensure full publicity for this debate, we will livestream this exchange on Facebook," Mr Toh added. "We hope that you do not refuse our invitation yet again."



POFMA no. 3: 14 Dec 2019

 FACTUALLY: Corrections And Clarifications Regarding Falsehoods Posted By The Singapore Democratic Party
The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) published two Facebook posts and an article on the SDP’s website regarding Singapore’s population policy that contain falsehoods.
SDP asked to correct claims of fewer local PMETs in jobs
Employment of locals has in fact increased since 2015, says MOM which initiated the corrections
By Tham Yuen-C, Senior Political Correspondent, The Sunday Times, 15 Dec 2019
The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) was asked yesterday to correct two of its Facebook posts and an online article that claimed local PMET employment has plunged, in the third use of the law against fake news in recent weeks.

 The Ministry of Manpower (MOM), which initiated the corrections, said employment of local professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) has in fact increased since 2015.

 Criticising the motive behind the online posts and article on Singapore's population policy, MOM said: "These false and misleading statements by the SDP have a singular objective - to stoke fear and anxiety among local PMETs.

 "It is important to set the facts straight so that Singaporeans are not misled," it added.

 It also noted that the SDP had paid for both posts to be boosted as advertisements on Facebook. Both posts were linked to the article.

 The party had recently criticised Google over its decision to stop accepting political ads in Singapore, saying it relies heavily on social media to reach out to voters.

 The Sunday Times has contacted the SDP for comments.

The use of the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) was announced by the POFMA Office. It said it had issued three correction directions to the SDP under the instruction of Manpower Minister Josephine Teo.

 This means the opposition party will have to put up corrections alongside the posts and article, and link to the facts provided by MOM on the Government's fact-checking website Factually.

 Among the false statements by the SDP was a graphical illustration wrongly showing local PMET employment had gone down, said MOM. Citing the Comprehensive Labour Force Survey, MOM said the number of local PMETs employed has increased from 1.17 million in 2015 to 1.3 million this year.

 Another of the falsehoods was in an article on the SDP's website titled, "SDP Population Policy: Hire S'poreans First, Retrench S'poreans last". MOM said the article contained a wrong statement claiming that "the SDP's proposal comes amidst a rising proportion of Singaporean PMETs getting retrenched".

 Contrary to this, said MOM, there has been no rising trend of local PMET retrenchment since 2015.

 It added that the number of retrenched local PMETs has declined from 6,460 in 2015 to 5,360 last year, the lowest since 2014.

MOM also said local PMETs retrenched, as a proportion of all local PMET employees, has also declined since 2015.

 Acknowledging the uncertain economic climate, MOM said: "It is understandable that some Singaporeans feel anxious about employment prospects and retrenchments."

 But despite the economic headwinds, the economy is still creating jobs, it added. "Local PMET employment has increased consistently. There is no rising trend of retrenchment, whether amongst PMETs or otherwise," said MOM.

 Given people's worries, "this makes it all the more critical that public debate on the important issue of jobs is based on accurate facts, and not distortions or falsehoods", added the ministry.

 "POFMA has been used to place the facts alongside the falsehoods," said MOM.

POFMA was invoked for the first time on Nov 25, when Progress Singapore Party member Brad Bowyer became the first person to get a correction direction over a Facebook post about investments by GIC, Temasek and other government-linked companies.

 He complied on the same day.

 In the other incident, the owner of the States Times Review Facebook page did not comply and Facebook was issued a direction to put up a correction on his post. Facebook complied.

 In all three uses of POFMA, the recipients of the correction directions were not required to take down their posts or make edits to their content. The directions also do not impose criminal sanction, said the POFMA office.

 Those who do not agree with a minister's decision can challenge it in court. An appeal can be heard in the High Court as early as nine days after a challenge is first brought to the minister. Such a challenge could cost about $200.

 A correction direction is among the remedies available under the law, designed to give the Government the tools to deal with falsehoods on the Internet.

 Under POFMA, websites, social media platforms and individual users can also be asked to take down the false information completely. In serious cases, people who are found to have spread falsehoods intentionally to destabilise society can be charged.

 Additional reporting by Clement Yong





SDP complies with POFMA orders but will seek to cancel notices
MOM rebuts claims, says it is acting to ensure jobs debate is based on accurate facts
By Goh Yan Han, The Straits Times, 16 Dec 2019

 The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) complied yesterday with corrections mandated by the Government on three of its online posts, which dealt with the issue of employment of local professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs).

 But the opposition party said it plans to apply to cancel the correction notices, which the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said it would consider if the application was submitted.

On the SDP's Facebook page, the party continued to argue its case in a letter addressed to Manpower Minister Josephine Teo, which was signed off by SDP vice-chairman John Tan.

 The SDP posted the letter yesterday afternoon at about 2.30pm, in response to the correction orders, which were sent to the opposition party by the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office under Mrs Teo's instruction the day before.

 Then, at around 5pm, the SDP issued the correction notices, but continued to argue that the "conclusions that Manpower Minister Josephine Teo has come to are disputable".

 "Under POFMA, we have to comply with the order, but we will be applying to cancel the correction directions," said the SDP.

 This statement came after each of the three correction notes.

 To cancel the correction direction, the SDP will have to apply to the Manpower Minister. If the application is refused, it can then file an appeal with the High Court.

 The SDP has to comply with the correction direction even if its application or appeal is pending.

On Saturday, the SDP had been asked to correct two of its Facebook posts and an online article that claimed local PMET employment had plunged, in the third use of the law against fake news in recent weeks.

 This meant the opposition party had to put up corrections alongside the posts and article, and link to the facts provided by the MOM on the Government's fact-checking website Factually.

 The SDP, in its letter yesterday, cited a Straits Times report from March with the headline "PMETs make up rising share of retrenched locals" as one reason why it had said in its own online article that its proposal had come "amidst a rising proportion of Singapore PMETs getting retrenched".

 MOM, in a rebuttal last night, said that SDP's statement was wrong.

 The ST report had referred to all retrenched locals, of which there were 7,070 last year. Among them, the number of PMETs had risen.

 "This is fundamentally different from what the SDP says, which is that among Singapore PMETs (1,254,000 in 2018), the number getting retrenched has risen," MOM said in its statement.

 Among local PMETs, it noted, the number retrenched had declined from 6,460 in 2015 to 5,360 last year. In fact, the number last year was the lowest since 2014.

 The ministry also said that it had explained in Parliament in April that because there are now more locals in PMET jobs, more of them could be affected in a retrenchment exercise.

 "However, retrenchments have not been rising," it added.

 MOM reiterated the two key points it had highlighted in its correction notice - that there is no rising trend of local PMET retrenchment, and that local PMET employment has been increasing consistently, and continues to do so.

 "This is very different from the picture painted by the SDP," it said.

 "In this period of economic uncertainty, it is understandable that Singaporeans are concerned about jobs.

 "MOM's objective in pointing out false and misleading statements is to ensure that public debate on the important issue of jobs is based on accurate facts."

The ministry also noted that SDP had responded to the correction directions and stated its intent to apply for their cancellation.

 "We will consider the grounds of their application should it be submitted," the ministry said.

 MOM had criticised the motive behind the online posts and article on Singapore's population policy.

 It said on Saturday: "These false and misleading statements by the SDP have a singular objective - to stoke fear and anxiety among local PMETs.

 "It is important to set the facts straight so that Singaporeans are not misled."




* SDP appeals against correction notices by Manpower Ministry in first court challenge of fake news law
By Yuen Sin, The Straits Times, 9 Jan 2020

 The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) yesterday filed an appeal in the High Court against correction notices issued by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) - the first court challenge against an order issued under the fake news law.

 The party's appeal comes after Manpower Minister Josephine Teo on Monday rejected its application to cancel three correction directions issued under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA).

 A hearing is scheduled to take place at 10am on Jan 16, said the SDP yesterday. It added that it will not be engaging lawyers to argue the case.

The MOM said it has been informed of the SDP's appeal.

 In a statement posted on its website, the SDP said it had set out its case for the cancellation of the notices in a detailed submission, and accused Mrs Teo of failing to back up her allegations in her rejection of the party's application.

 "We are therefore left with no choice but to pursue the matter in the High Court. We look forward to Mrs Teo explaining her decision on the witness stand," said the party.

 "The SDP would rather focus on the coming election campaign. But we have deliberated the matter at length and we undertake this legal action because, as difficult as it may be, we must stand up for our fellow Singaporeans and fight for what little space we have left in Singapore to uphold our democratic freedoms," it said.

 The MOM had issued the correction directions to the SDP over two Facebook posts and an online article last month.

 On Dec 2 last year, the SDP began running a series of sponsored posts on Facebook, including two about local professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs).

 Both posts were linked to an article on the SDP website titled "SDP Population Policy: Hire S'poreans First, Retrench S'poreans Last", with each accompanied by a different infographic.

 One contained a graph labelled "local PMET employment" along with a downward-pointing arrow, while the other contained text that read "local PMET unemployment has increased".

On Dec 14, the ministry, on the instruction of Mrs Teo, asked the SDP to correct the posts and the article.

 The MOM took issue with two claims it said were falsehoods, including the graph in the Facebook post depicting the number of Singaporean PMETs employed as having fallen sharply.

 The ministry also stated that a sentence in the online article, claiming that a rising proportion of Singaporean PMETs are getting retrenched, was false.

 Last Thursday, the SDP defended the posts and article, saying that the statements it made "are, in fact, true and correct".

 It argued, among other things, that the MOM had accused the party of making statements it did not make. The party then made an unsuccessful application last Friday to cancel the correction directions.

 The fake news law has been invoked four times to date.

 It costs $200 to file a court appeal against a POFMA order. There will be no charge for the first three days of the court hearing.


































Rights to free speech not hit by use of fake news law: Ministries
Law invoked twice recently, but in both cases, original posts that were corrected can still be read
By Tham Yuen-C, Senior Political Correspondent , The Straits Times, 12 Dec 2019

The recent use of Singapore's fake news law to correct a Facebook post by Progress Singapore Party (PSP) member Brad Bowyer does not affect his rights to free speech, said the Ministry of Law (MinLaw) and Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) yesterday.

 Their joint statement comes amid scrutiny over the use of the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA), which has attracted media attention across the world.

 Critics have raised the spectre of the law being used to squelch dissent after it was invoked twice in recent weeks, but some others have pointed out that in both instances, the original posts that were corrected have not been removed.

 This was pointed out by MCI and MinLaw, which said in a statement posted on Facebook that Mr Bowyer's original Facebook post remains available for anyone to read.

 After he was required to put up a correction alongside his post, he went on to issue repeated clarifications in further posts, the ministries added.

 "Requiring a factual statement to be posted in order to correct a false statement does not curtail anyone's free speech," they said.

Their statement was sparked by PSP's criticism that the law falls short of the values of transparency, independence and accountability, after it was used on Mr Bowyer.

 On Nov 25, he became the first person to get a correction direction under POFMA for a Facebook post about investments by GIC, Temasek and other government-linked companies.

 He had to put up a note on his post as well as link it to the correct facts on the Government's fact-checking site Factually. He complied on the same day.

 In the other incident, the owner of the States Times Review Facebook page did not comply and Facebook was issued a direction to put up a correction on his post.

 Facebook complied.

 On Tuesday, the PSP, responding to Mr Bowyer's incident for the first time, said a minister has the power to declare something as false without any "justification, criteria or standards".

 "This does not measure up to the standards of transparency and accountability. And where the news involves the Government, it also fails the standard of independence," the party added.

 Rebutting this, MCI and MinLaw said the law explicitly requires ministers to state why the specified statements are false and there are legal precedents on how falsehoods should be determined.

 The ministries added that the law also states clearly it can be used only when clear criteria are met: If there is a false statement of fact and it affects the public interest.

 "When POFMA was used recently, the reasons why the statements were false were explained clearly. Significantly, PSP and Mr Brad Bowyer do not deny that his post contained falsehoods," they noted.

 They also said a minister's decision can be challenged in court "at minimal cost", setting "a high standard of accountability".

The PSP had also said that while it agrees the Government needs to be able to act swiftly to prevent fake news from going viral, it is the courts that should decide what is false and what penalties to impose for independence.

 "The courts would also have an established system and precedents of determining falsehood from its handling of cases like fraud, thereby ensuring transparency and accountability," the party said.

 MCI and MinLaw replied that it was untrue that ministers can impose any penalties they wish.

 If a minister's direction is not complied with, only the courts can impose penalties after due process is followed and in accordance with established legal principles, the ministries added.

 They also took issue with a picture in the PSP post that depicted people's mouths being taped shut.

 Noting that Mr Bowyer's post remains online, the ministries said: "Readers can make up their own minds as to what is the truth.

 "How has Mr Bowyer's mouth been taped? His original post remains available for anyone to read. His rights to free speech remain unaffected."

 Separately, the Finance Ministry responded yesterday to a Forum letter on The Straits Times website on Monday, to explain the distinction between fact and opinion.

 Letter writer Avantika Narayan said some of Mr Bowyer's claims seemed more like opinion than fact, like the recently scrapped Amaravati City project between India and Singapore.

 The ministry's director of reserves & investment Lim Zhi Jian said Mr Bowyer had made several false assertions, including that a substantial part of $4 billion had been poured into the project.

 Mr Lim added: "POFMA was not used against Mr Bowyer's opinion on the performance of the specific investments. Mr Bowyer is entitled to his opinion.

 "But the Government has to clarify Mr Bowyer's false statements of fact, which he used to build a misleading narrative about our reserves to discredit the Government and smear the reputations of Temasek and GIC."

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