Singapore invokes 'fake news' law for first time over Facebook post

Monday, 25 November 2019 10:21

In a first, Singapore has directed political leader Brad Bowyer to correct a Facebook post under the country's new "fake news" law.

The government said his post displayed misleading and false statements about state investor Temasek Holdings and sovereign wealth fund GIC.

In a directive under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA), the government asked Bowyer, a member of the Progress Singapore Party, to carry in full the correction notice at the top of his Facebook post.

"I have no problem in following that request as I feel it is fair to have both points of view and clarifications and corrections of fact when necessary," Bowyer said in a statement on Facebook.

The new law came into effect in October.

More from International News

Netanyahu orders deeper Israeli incursion into Lebanon

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he had ordered troops to move further into Lebanon in the battle against Hezbollah, despite a ceasefire announced more than six weeks ago.
US military says it turned away blockade runner trying to reach Iranian port

The US military has announced that it fired a missile into the engine room of a vessel trying to get through the US blockade of Iran on Friday.
Two hundred hurt in post-game violence as Paris hails second Champions League triumph

More than 200 people were injured and one person died in Paris following Paris Saint-Germain's second consecutive Champions League win, the interior ministry said on Sunday, reviving France's heated debate about street violence.
Illegal mine collapses in China, killing five just days after Shanxi disaster

A mine shaft collapse during an illegal mining operation in China's southwestern Yunnan province killed five people and injured one, state media reported, days after the country's deadliest mining accident since 2009 left at least 82 dead.