Singapore Again Blocks Australian Academic Website East Asia Forum

Fake news law spurring foreign pushback and criticism

By: Andy Wong Ming Jun

Singapore, which has fiercely defended itself from what it considers malicious reporting with a draconian law called the “Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act.” known universally as POFMA, finds itself facing growing pushback in a series of high-profile spats, including with the international business news agency Bloomberg and now the East Asia Forum, ordering internet service providers to block access to the Australia-based academic website, which refused to comply with a correction demand over an article written by Flinders University Associate Professor Michael Barr. The Prime Minister’s office also demanded correction notices be carried by Meta Platforms, LinkedIn, and X (Twitter), which carried EAF’s post.

There may soon be a bigger brouhaha. The US Council of Foreign Relations (CFR) on January 23 published a scorching article by two of its senior academics, Joshua Kurlantzick and Abigail McGowan, describing the PAP government as using gerrymandering with multi-member electoral constituencies as well as suing and bankrupting opposition critics in the country’s compliant courts to maintain its grip on power. CFR published the article in its short summarized format, with the full article published in World Politics Review, a publication owned by the US-based GlobalPost Media Corporation. There has been no action taken yet against CFR but given the prickly attitude of the government against criticism, action seems likely…