Singapore government orders Facebook to correct post under anti-fake news law

Singapore: The Singapore government on Friday ordered social media giant Facebook to correct a post made by one of its users, marking one of the city-state’s first attempts to enforce its new law to combat so-called “fake news.” The Singaporean minister for home affairs, K Shanmugam, said in a statement that he had instructed the office administering the law “known as the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act” (POFMA) to issue a Targeted Correction Direction, which requires the company to publish a correction notice on the user’s Facebook page.

The post in question had been published last Saturday on the States Times Review page, administered by blogger Alex Tan Zhi Xiang.

The post included allegations surrounding the detention of a supposed whistleblower as well as accusations of election tampering, which the Singaporean government derided as “scurrilous” and “false” claims.

The POFMA office on Thursday told Tan to correct his post, but the blogger, who has said he is an Australian citizen, refused to do so, Efe news reported. (IANS)

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