Pofma’s command published more than 40 social media posts about drug trafficking and executions in S’pore

SINGAPORE – Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam has ordered that targeted correction instructions be issued to tech giant Meta after several individuals again posted falsehoods about drug trafficking and executions on its platforms.

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

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

The TJC’s messages contained false statements regarding the planning of executions in Singapore and the prosecution of drug trafficking charges, the ministry said.

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

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 therefore instructed the Pofma Office to issue targeted correction instructions to Meta Platforms, requiring the technology company to warn users who have seen the reposts that they contain false statements.

Users should also be provided with the link to the government’s clarification entitled “Corrections regarding false statements regarding legal processes for prisoners awaiting the death penalty and the prosecution of drug trafficking charges.”

The clarification sets out the falsehoods and facts that the public can investigate without having to remove the original posts, MHA said.

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

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

MHA had said on October 31 that Ms Kokila chose not to follow the October 5 correction directive despite repeated reminders.

She has also not challenged the correction order in court, even though she has the right to do so if she believes that she has not made any untruths public.

Under Pofma, individuals found guilty of failing to comply with a corrections directive without reasonable excuse may be fined up to $20,000, imprisoned for up to one year, or both.

Individuals convicted of communicating a false statement of fact may be fined up to $50,000, imprisoned for up to five years, or both.