SINGAPORE - Information circulating online that the Government is planning to reinstate a circuit breaker is false, said Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in a Facebook post on Dec 11.
He also said posts and messages showing him endorsing commercial products were deepfakes. “These are all falsehoods,” DPM Wong said, urging the public to “stay vigilant and discerning online”.
In 2020, the Government introduced a circuit breaker to stem the spread of Covid-19.
Singapore is seeing an increase in Covid-19 cases. In the week that ended on Dec 2, 32,035 people were diagnosed with the virus – the highest number of infections recorded up to that point in 2023. In the week of Nov 19 to 25, the estimated number of local Covid-19 infections doubled to 22,094, from 10,726 in the previous week, the Ministry of Health said in a statement on Dec 2.
There have been at least four other instances in 2023 when public figures were impersonated. In November, Senior Minister of State for Manpower Koh Poh Koon alerted his followers to a fake account on Instagram impersonating him, copying his posts and captions.
Fake WhatsApp accounts impersonating Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen were also spotted in October.
In September, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung and Ms Sun Xueling, Minister of State for Home Affairs, and Social and Family Development, were hit by fake social media accounts impersonating them. Like Dr Koh, who is also Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment, they had their photos and posts reproduced.
That month, Mr Saktiandi Supaat, an MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, alerted followers to several fake accounts on Instagram using his profile photo and versions of his name. At least three Instagram accounts and a Facebook account were made using versions of his name.
In 2017, The Straits Times reported that at least 13 People’s Action Party politicians, including Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam, current Education Minister Chan Chun Sing and MP Tin Pei Ling, were affected by fake social media accounts impersonating them.
