Online access to Asia Sentinel to be blocked in Singapore after site did not comply with Pofma order

SINGAPORE – Access to online publication Asia Sentinel will be blocked in Singapore, after it failed to comply with a

correction order on one of its articles,

The Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) said on Friday it has directed the Infocomm Media Development Authority to issue access-blocking orders. This requires Internet service providers to disable access for end users in Singapore to the online location where the falsehoods were communicated.

MCI’s statement came almost four hours after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had issued a statement of its own, on Friday morning, threatening to take further action against the Asia Sentinel.

MHA had issued a correction direction under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) on May 26 concerning an Asia Sentinel article on May 24, titled Singapore Kills A Chicken To Scare The Monkeys.

MHA had said then that the article contained false statements relating to several issues.

One was about a Nikkei Asia opinion piece, published in July 2021 criticising Singapore’s handling of the Covid-19 cluster linked to KTV outlets, which MHA had said was full of inaccuracies.

Other issues MHA had cited in the Asia Sentinel story involved suspended lawyer M. Ravi, and Mr Lee Hsien Yang and his wife, Mrs Lee Suet Fern, who are under police investigation for possible offences of giving false evidence in judicial proceedings.

Asia Sentinel then published an editor’s note on its article saying it had received MHA’s correction direction on May 27, but stood by its story.

It also posted a correction notice detailing the false statements, and a link to the government fact-checking website, Factually, with access to the correct facts.

On the same day, the website posted a separate article titled Singapore Government Demand For Correction, which contained the correction notice and a link to Factually.

Asia Sentinel then published an article on Monday, titled Asia Sentinel Answer To Singapore Government Demand For Correction, where it defended its assertions from the original story.

It carried MHA’s correction notices, but they were not placed at the top of the article and at the top of the website’s main page, as required.

Said MCI: “The correction direction issued to Asia Sentinel had required the facts to be juxtaposed against the falsehoods, so that end users in Singapore can read both versions and draw their own conclusions.”

The access-blocking orders will be cancelled should Asia Sentinel comply with the full requirements of the correction direction, it added.

The site could still be accessed on Friday afternoon.

Asia Sentinel had said in its article on Monday that the site is domiciled in California in the United States, and is not subject to demands or threats of the Singapore Government.

In response to that article, MHA on Friday said the original article published on May 24 contained false statements, is available to end users in Singapore, and is therefore being communicated in Singapore.

MHA added that Pofma’s primary tool to correct falsehoods is via a correction notice, which must be placed in a specified proximity to the original post with a link to the Government’s clarification.

This is akin to the right of reply practised by newspapers and magazines, it added.

The ministry said: “Pofma does not require the original post to be removed. Instead, the clarification sets out the falsehoods and facts for the public. Readers can read both the original post and the facts and decide for themselves what is the truth.”

It said similar requirements had been placed on other recipients of correction directions, and they had complied.

MHA added: “If Asia Sentinel truly believes in free speech, it should be happy for its readers to read both the article and the correction notice, and make up their own minds which is true.”