Tag Archives: Fake News

Mothership.sg wrote about a millennial who owns 12 credit cards and debit cards. Fortunately Singaporeans are financially savvy to call out Mothership's fake news about saving more money when spending.

I am rather surprised to find this line in the paper that states there was “corruption in the highest echelons” of the PAP leadership. That was never what I had written.

A concerned citizen informed All Singapore Stuff that he had filed a police report against Bukit Batok PAP candidate Murali Pillai. According to the report, the concerned Singaporean took issue with Murali Pillai for his video about the "scurrilous attack" on his family and son. This person also claimed he forwarded the police report to the POFMA office for them to follow up.

Illegal bookie predictions and forecasts for GE2020 are allegedly being spread through messaging apps. Based on an alleged screenshot of these odds, it appears that bookies are expecting the PAP to lose multiple constituencies by a small margin. However our readers are advised against spreading these messages as they are both illegal and fake news to cause panic.

Government sponsored content if done correctly can help raise the morale of the people. But being our government, they did it in a manner so out of touch with the common man that it immediately got condemnation from every kaypoh online. As it should. I mean "Fake News Buster" is clearly POFMA trying to rebrand himself as a force for security and totally not undermining the limited freedom of speech in this country.

Last week, some dubious FB pages made posts alleging that a prominent Progress Singapore Party (PSP) member, Mr Brad Bowyer, had quit the party. However, our anonymous sources debunked such fake news from these FB pages about Brad Bowyer quitting the party.. In fact they reaffirmed he remains a valued PSP member. They explained that Brad Bowyer had deleted his FB fan page simply because he does not want to be in the limelight at this moment.

But what about the Government themselves? Can they ever be issued with POFMA? After all, telling half truths and not the full facts is a common tactic used by governments the world over. So, to be better than the rest, why not the Singapore government come out with actual facts, with stats and reports to back up what they want to disprove, instead of just issuing Correction Orders?

I am concerned that there have been 3 instances of Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) being invoked - all against articles critical of the government. My view is that POFMA was indeed passed ahead of a General Election which is looming. The Government has a track-record of enacting laws targeting online criticisms and ahead of elections for the last 10 years.

A group of activists will be holding an event discussing the POFMA Bill and its impact on free speech in Singapore. Many people have been up in arms ever since the Bill was passed. Will it do more harm than good? Is it a means to curb fake news or is it only a tool to suppress free speech? What do you think?

3 NMPs have filed a Notice of Amendment to the POFMA in which they outlined various improvements they want to see in the Bill. They proposed that the relevant Minister must explain why something is considered a falsehood and why certain actions have to be taken. They also suggested for an independent council to oversee the decision-making process so that online falsehoods can be countered better and fairer. The next Parliament sitting is on 6 May. Will the people in power bother to listen? Singaporeans will wait and see.