Falsehoods, foreign interference and free speech in Singapore

• Main Authors: CHNG, Wei Yao, Kenny, CHAI, Jeremy
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2022
• Subjects: Misinformation; POFMA; FICA; Singapore; online newspapers; Asian Studies; Internet Law; Law and Politics
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/4060
• Institution: Singapore Management University

The problem of online misinformation is one that jurisdictions worldwide have had to grapple with. Several countries have implemented legal strategies to counter online misinformation, in view of the threat that it poses to the foundations of liberal democracy. A leading example in this regard is Singapore, which enacted in quick succession the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act 2019 (POFMA) and the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act 2021 (FICA) — statutes which confer upon government authorities a range of powers to combat online misinformation of various stripes. These statutes, unsurprisingly, raise important issues relating to the constitutional right to freedom of speech in Singapore — several of which were directly addressed in the recent Singapore Court of Appeal decision of The Online Citizen Pte Ltd v Attorney-General [2021] 2 SLR 1358. This article will explore and analyse the interaction between the POFMA and FICA, on the one hand, and the right to free speech in Singapore, on the other, through the lens of this Court of Appeal decision.