Non-compliance with Pofma order leads to East Asia Forum's website being blocked

SINGAPORE - Access to online academic platform East Asia Forum has been blocked in Singapore following its non-compliance with a correction direction issued by the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) office earlier this week.

However, if the platform subsequently complies with the full requirements of the correction direction, the orders to block access to its website will be cancelled, said the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) on Saturday.

Attempts to access the East Asia Forum website were unsuccessful as at Saturday afternoon.

The Pofma office said it had directed the Australia-based platform on Wednesday to put up a correction notice for an article titled “A spate of scandals strike Singapore”.

The article, written by National University of Singapore Assistant Professor Chan Ying-Kit, contained false statements in relation to various matters, including the independence of the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau, and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s approach in addressing certain matters.

Pofma’s direction requires East Asia Forum to carry a correction notice at the top of the article, the main page of its website, the top of its Facebook post and on its Facebook page.

The notice must also provide access to the Government’s correction on its fact-checking website Factually.

As East Asia Forum did not comply with the correction direction, MCI on Saturday directed the Infocomm Media Development Authority to issue access blocking orders, which require Internet access service providers to disable access for end-users in Singapore to the platform’s website, where the falsehoods are communicated.

“The Sept 13 correction direction issued to East Asia Forum had required the facts to be juxtaposed against the falsehoods, so that end-users in Singapore can read both versions and decide for themselves,” said MCI in a press statement on Saturday.

“East Asia Forum did not comply with the correction direction. While East Asia Forum carried the Government’s response at the bottom of its article within the comment section, this was not done in compliance with the requirements of the correction direction for the respective correction notices to be situated at the top of the article and on the main page of the website.”

Separately, the Pofma office also issued a targeted correction direction (TCD) on Saturday to Facebook owner Meta Platforms, following an instruction from Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah.

The TCD requires Meta Platforms to publish a correction notice to Facebook users in Singapore who access, or had accessed, the Facebook post of East Asia Forum dated Aug 18, which contained the shared article by the East Asia Forum.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.