Singapore govt again uses fake news law on opposition

SINGAPORE, Dec 15, 2019, Bloomberg. The Singapore government again invoked its recently enacted law against false information, ordering the opposition party to correct social-media and website posts about local employment rates, Bangkok Post reported.

The Ministry of Manpower called for the changes to a Facebook post sponsored by the Singapore Democratic Party, the government agency said in a statement. The Dec 2 post carried a graphic showing falling employment of local executives and a report promoting the party’s population policy, according to the statement. There is a “a rising proportion of Singaporean” executives and managers being retrenched, the statement cited the report as saying.

Both the graphic and statement are incorrect, said the ministry. There is no rising trend in retrenchment of local professionals, managers, executives and technicians, it said.

“The number of local PMETs retrenched in 2018 was in fact the lowest since 2014,” the ministry said. The rate of retrenchment among this level of local employees has also declined since 2015, it 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.”

The Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act was enacted in October. It enables government ministers to order a correction to be carried for a false or misleading claim, and for material not in the public interest to be taken down.

Any company found in breach of the law and refusing to comply with corrective orders issued by the government could face fines of up to S$1 million (22.3 million baht), while individuals may face up to 10 years in prison.

Last month the government invoked the law three times, ordering Facebook Inc to correct posts deemed incorrect.

Tags: Singapore