Singapore govt orders investigation into Indian-origin activist's ‘inaccurate' social media posts

The Singapore government has called for the investigation of an Indian-origin activist here for not posting a correction to her social media posts related to the execution of drug-related convicted prisoners, which the authorities said, contained false statements.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said it would refer Kokila Annamalai to the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office for “investigations into her non-compliance with the correction direction that was issued to her on October 5”.

Annamalai was issued the order for posts she had made on Facebook and X.

The posts falsely stated that “the government schedules and stays executions arbitrarily and without regard for due legal process, and that the State does not bear the legal burden of proving a drug trafficking charge against the accused person,” MHA said on Friday.

The two social media platforms have been issued with targeted correction directions after the activist did not comply with a POFMA order issued to her last week, according to a report by Channel News Asia.

An article on the government fact-checking website, ‘Factually’, explained further why the assertions made by Annamalai were false.

Under the order, Annamalai was required to put up a correction notice on the two posts but she has not done so.

“The Minister for Home Affairs has instructed the POFMA Office to issue a targeted correction direction to Meta Platforms and X, following Kokila Annamalai’s non-compliance,” MHA said in a press release.

The targeted correction order requires Meta and X to alert users who have seen the posts that they contain false statements, it said.

It also requires the platforms to provide users with the link to the article on Factually, said the ministry, according to the Channel report.