singapore fake news law, in Singapore, the government again used the law related to fake news against the opposition, the matter related to ministers of Indian origin – singapore govt again uses fake news law on opposition for spreading fake news about indian origin ministers

singapore fake news law, in Singapore, the government again used the law related to fake news against the opposition, the matter related to ministers of Indian origin – singapore govt again uses fake news law on opposition for spreading fake news about indian origin ministers

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Singapore: The Government of Singapore on Sunday took action against a leader of the opposition party and a website (Zoom) under the Fake News Act. The government has asked for ‘correction of mistake’ under the law regarding fake news given through some articles and social media posts. The articles made false statements about the Ridout Road episode and the Indian-origin ministers of the ruling party renting government bungalows. According to a report in ‘The Straits Times Online’, the law ministry said that the second law minister Edwin Tong issued directions to Reform Party leader Kenneth Jayaratnam and Facebook user Thamil Selvan (both of Indian origin).

Uproar over the article
The orders are in relation to an article published by Jayaratnam titled ‘Will SLA issue statement to refute rumors it has given any contract to Shanmugam’s son’s company? This article has been published on their website ‘The Ricebowl Singapore’ on 2 July. Along with this, on July 1, it was posted by Thamil on his Facebook account. In the article and post, he “falsely stated that the Singapore Lands Authority (SLA) had awarded the contract for the renovation of 26 Ridgeout Road or/and 31 Ridgeout Road to home interiors company Livspace”. According to old media reports, these government bungalows were vacant for many years.

How did ministers get bungalows
He also claimed that this was done because the CEO of Livspace is the son of Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam. It was alleged that two colonial-era bungalows in Ridout Road were being given on rent by Shanmugam and External Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan. The Law Ministry said that Livspace and Shanmugam’s son were not appointed by the SLA to work for 26 Ridout Road or/and 31 Ridout Road, as stated by Tong during a parliamentary meeting on 3 July. Parliament debated how the bungalows were rented by the two ministers.

correction instructions
The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) probe found no evidence of corruption or criminal conduct in the renting of the Ridout Road properties by Shanmugam and Dr. Balakrishnan. The Law Ministry and the Ministry of Communications and Information said in a joint statement on Sunday that Tong issued a ‘correction’ instruction to the online publication Zoom. Under this, Zom will be required to publish a ‘correction’ notice stating that the article contained factually incorrect statements and provide a link to the factual article on several posts on its website and on several social media pages.

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