Singapore Orders Facebook And Twitter To Correct False Claims About A Non-Existent Covid Variant - Forbes

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Topline

Singapore on Thursday ordered Facebook and Twitter to issue a correction notice to users in the country over what it claims is a false statement circulating on the platforms that suggests a new variant of the coronavirus has originated from the city-state, a move that comes two days the chief minister of the Indian state of Delhi claimed on Twitter that a new “Singapore” variant could lead to a third wave of cases in India.

Key Facts

In an order issued under the controversial Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA)— Singapore’s Health Minister Ong Ye Kung instructed the two social media companies and a popular online forum HardwareZone to issue the correction.

The minister said there was no new “Singapore” variant of Covid-19 and the strain detected in a recent spurt of cases in the city-state was actually B.1.617.2 variant which was first detected in India.

Both companies confirmed the receipt of the order and said they have complied with it as per local law, Reuters reported.

Facebook users in the country saw a prompt appear on their news feeds linked to a government website which said that there was no Singapore variant and Twitter sent notifications to account holders in Singapore which included a tweet from the government’s official account @POFMA_Notice.

Singapore Press Holdings, which runs the online forum HardWareZone, also received the notice and it has issued a correction notice to its users.

Key Background

The controversy around the issue began on Tuesday when Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted that a new coronavirus variant in Singapore is said to be extremely dangerous for children and could result in a third wave of the pandemic in India. Kejriwal did not provide any evidence to support his claim and instead, he appealed to the country’s federal government to suspend all flights from Singapore. Kejriwal’s comments sparked a diplomatic incident between the two countries and triggered a swift retort from both the Singapore government and the Indian government. Singapore’s health ministry dismissed these claims and the country’s foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan, said in a tweet that “Politicians should stick to facts!”

Tangent

The Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) which was passed in 2019 has been a subject of controversy as activists argue that it gives the Singapore government broad powers to censor online content without adequate checks and balances. Facebook had previously expressed concern about the law’s impact on free expression on their platform. The Asia Internet Coalition a trade group representing Internet and technology giants like Google, Facebook, Apple and others had also warned of “significant implications” the law could have on the tech industry, media and civil society in Singapore.