Australian based Singaporean dissident refuses to take down post government wanted deleted

An Australian resident could face up to 10 years in a foreign jail after refusing to comply with a controversial fake news law on Facebook.

Singapore has forced Facebook to brand a post from an Australian resident as fake news for its “scurrilous allegations” against the government, including “absurd” accusations of censorship and election manipulation.

The city-state introduced new laws earlier this year that gave the government powers to order the take down or correction of material posted online it deems as false.

Last week it used those powers against The States Times Review (STR), run by 32-year-old Australian resident Alex Tan and aimed at providing “independent and accurate news reports” about Singapore.

Mr Tan runs several other websites and previously ran unsuccessfully for parliament in Singapore in 2011, before a self-imposed exile to Australia where he became a permanent resident.

He told news.com.au he recently passed his Australian citizenship test and is looking forward to his ceremony.

“It’s the right thing for me to do to become a citizen and to contribute to the country,” Mr Tan said.

The Singaporean government has accused Mr Tan’s websites of spreading misinformation.

“This is not the first time that these websites, as well as STR, have perpetuated outright fabrications, such as misrepresenting Singapore’s position in foreign relations with other countries and casting aspersions on the integrity of public institutions,” a statement from Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs read.

The Singaporean government released a screenshot of the post with a dramatic stamp declaring it false.

A similar notice was given to a member of the opposing Progress Singapore Party Brad Bowyer, who accused the government of mismanaging Singapore’s sovereign wealth funds.

Mr Bowyer quickly amended his 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,” Mr Bowyer said on his Facebook page.

“I do my best to use public facts and make informed statements of opinion based on the details I have access to. I am not against being asked to make clarifications or corrections especially if it is in the public interest,” he added.

Mr Tan refused to comply with the order but said he understood why Mr Bowyer would.

“It’s the right thing to do for him because he’s in Singapore. To be honest, he’s an opposition politician so he has to play by the rules and be a good boy, he can’t defy openly.”

Mr Tan said he is an Australian and isn’t subject to the Singaporean law.

“I am happy to go to 10 years jail for it, so there shall be no compliance. I will defy and resist every unjust law,” Mr Tan said in a post on the STR ’s Facebook page.

“The site is based in Australia and it obeys only Australian jurisdiction. No foreign government orders or censorship demands will be acceded with,” he said in the same post, where he also “swore to bring revenge to the perpetrators for my wrongful convictions and exile from my birth place”.

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He then went on to share the article in question on Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Docs.

Another post on the STR page said Australian authorities haven’t contacted Mr Tan, and said Singapore’s fake news orders made it “like North Korea”.

We have not received any request from the Australian Federal Police or the authorities to take down any article. States...

Posted by States Times Review on Wednesday, 27 November 2019

Earlier this year, another article on Mr Tan’s personal blog was ordered offline by Singapore’s Info-Communications Media Development Authority, an order he also refused to comply with.

“The Singapore government will need to issue a legal court order, and enforce it under the New South Wales Government of Australia, where I am legally binded and based at,” Mr Tan said in a blog post.

“I thank Google and Facebook for refusing to comply with the Singapore government’s censorship order, which is clearly a vile attempt to obstruct freedom of speech,” he added.

Facebook did not remove the STR post but embedded a message saying the company “is legally required to tell you that the Singapore government says this post has false information”.

That message is reportedly only visible to users in Singapore, where the States Times Review website is also blocked.

The post, which claimed a whistleblower had been arrested and an activist was under investigation, was also updated several days after going live to say the government denied those claims.

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“The Singapore government claimed that no arrest was made. This runs in contrary to the tip off we received,” the update read.

“I was told that someone was called up to the police complex for an investigation, but the government did not specify if an investigation has been performed or called up, basically no details, just saying it’s fake news,” Mr Tan explained to news.com.au.

He raised concerns the powers the “pretty backward” Singaporean government had given itself under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) would be used even more in the future than they already were.

“This is not an isolated incident. POFMA has been used like three times in a week, it’s not even the election period. I think we will see more take-down notices during the election period. Facebook did not give the government what it wanted, if the Singapore government says it’s not enough, will Facebook do that?”

POFMA has previously raised concerns from Facebook regarding the “broad powers” it gives the government.

Facebook has also been vocal about its reticence to fact check political advertising, arguing users should be able to see what candidates are saying, regardless of whether it’s true, and decide for themselves.

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Facebook and Google both have their Asia offices in Singapore, and both opposed the introduction of POFMA.

Mr Tan said both platforms should move out of Singapore or risk being “held hostage” by the demands of the government.

“Multinational companies need to think beyond the dollars and cents, they have to understand the political environment that Singapore is in. To be fair Singapore has a great business environment, but if your business involves political matters, especially social media, they’ve got to think twice before setting up a business in Singapore.”

Despite its status as a financial hub and a highly developed nation, Mr Tan said Singapore was “not a Western country” and the government did “not like being questioned”.

“Singapore is not a Western country even though its language is English. It’s still pretty backward on matters of freedom and civil liberties. The state media and Singapore press is basically a propaganda arm for the government.

“They get to control public opinions. The online alternative news media, we don’t really play by the rules, like any decent media around the world we ask simple questions and we demand accountability on behalf of the public, like what the rest of the world is doing.”

Several human rights and legal groups have previously raised concerns the POFMA powers would be used to silence people speaking out against the government.

International press freedom non-profit Reporters Without Borders recently ranked Singapore 151st out of 180 countries on its World Press Freedom index, on which Australia ranks 21st, having fallen two places from the year before.

Do you think the government should be able to demand content be taken off the internet if it decides they’re false or misleading? Let us know what you think in the comments below.