Wake up Singapore’s Facebook page restored after week-long suspension
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Access to the Facebook page, which has over 181,000 followers, was first blocked on Sept 26.
PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM WAKE UP SINGAPORE/FACEBOOK
- Alternative news site Wake Up Singapore's (WUSG) Facebook page was suspended on Sept 26 and restored on Oct 3.
- The founder of WUSG said Facebook had indicated the suspension was because the page did not meet community standards on cyber security.
- Meta stated a technical issue caused the temporary disabling of some Facebook pages and the issue has since been resolved.
AI generated
SINGAPORE – Alternative news site Wake Up Singapore (WUSG) had its Facebook page restored on Oct 3 after a week-long suspension by Meta.
Access to the Facebook page, which has over 181,000 followers, was first blocked on Sept 26.
Meta told The Straits Times on Oct 8 that it had recently experienced a technical issue that resulted in some Facebook pages being temporarily disabled. ST understands this includes WUSG.
“This issue has been resolved and impacted pages were reinstated shortly after we were notified,” said a Meta spokesperson.
ST has asked Meta how many Facebook pages in Singapore were affected.
WUSG founder Ariffin Sha said he immediately submitted an appeal to restore the page via an appeal form on the Facebook app.
On the morning of Oct 3, he received a reply stating that the WUSG page did not meet the community standards on cyber security.
“We know this is disappointing, but we want to keep Facebook safe and welcoming for everyone,” the reply stated on the appeal review page.
The tech platform did not provide any details about the exact nature of the cyber-security lapses or breaches, Mr Ariffin said.
According to Meta’s community standards on cyber security, prohibited content and behaviour include phishing tactics to get someone’s login information, accessing accounts or profiles through deceptive means or without explicit permission, and attempts to share, develop, host or distribute malicious or harmful code.
“There were no hacking or phishing attempts by us,” said Mr Ariffin. “I don’t even know what the breaches are.”
But on the night of Oct 3, Mr Ariffin received an e-mail that the page had been restored after review of the appeal. No reasons were given for the restoration, he said.
“How do we learn our lesson when we don’t even know what caused the ban on the page in the first place?” he added.
In August 2024, Mr Ariffin was fined $8,000 for criminal defamation
Mr Ariffin also stood in the recent general election
