POFMA orders issued over online posts falsely stating that Committee of Privileges was convened to look into Pritam Singh
The correction directions were issued to Andrew Loh, the former editor of The Online Citizen, for his Facebook post and to TikTok, where user “jansenng1” reproduced the same post.
Screengrab of the Facebook post which contained a false statement of fact that a Committee of Privileges was convened to look into Workers' Party (WP) secretary-general Pritam Singh’s alleged non-disclosure of his knowledge of former party member Raeesah Khan’s lies. (Image: Facebook/Andrew Loh)
SINGAPORE: Correction directions have been issued over social media posts that stated a Committee of Privileges was convened to look into Workers' Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh’s alleged non-disclosure of former party member Raeesah Khan’s lies.
This assertion is false, according to the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah, who on Friday (Jul 21) said she had instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office to hand out correction directions to Mr Andrew Loh, former editor of The Online Citizen, for his Facebook post, as well as TikTok.
THE FALSEHOOD
In his Facebook post, dated Jul 18, Mr Loh asked why a Committee of Privileges had not been convened to look into Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's non-disclosure of former Speaker Tan Chuan-Jin's extramarital affair, when one - Mr Loh asserted - had been convened for Mr Singh's alleged non-disclosure in the Raeesah Khan case.
A statement on the government fact-checking website Factually said this assertion is false. While a Committee of Privileges had been convened over the conduct of Ms Khan - a former Member of Parliament - Mr Singh himself was not the subject of the Committee of Privileges.
The statement added that the committee, however, had found that Mr Singh wanted to suppress the fact that he had known about Ms Khan’s lies in parliament. Mr Singh has rejected these findings and the case, which also involves WP vice-chair Faisal Manap, is now being investigated by the police.
CORRECTION DIRECTIONS
Mr 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, an order Mr Loh has complied with.
In addition, a targeted correction direction has been issued to TikTok in relation to a post by TikTok user “jansenng1”, which reproduced the Facebook post. By reproducing the Facebook post on TikTok, “jansenng1” has propagated the false statement of fact, said the Prime Minister's Office on Friday.
A targeted correction direction is a direction issued to an internet intermediary whose service was used to communicate a falsehood that affects the public interest.
TikTok will also be required to place a similar correction notice against the post by “jansenng1”, an order which the platform has also complied with.
