The Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) has ordered The Real Singapore (TRS) to shut down on May 3, 2015.

According to The Straits Times, "No new articles can be posted on the site with immediate effect, and the site itself must be taken down by 8pm on Sunday".

The two owners, 24-year-old Australian Ai Takagi and 26-year-old Singaporean Yang Kaiheng, have been notified personally to immediately stop posting any more articles on TRS and related services, and within six hours, disable access to their website and related computer online services.

The MDA said it has suspended the statutory class licence for Ai Takagi and Yang Kaiheng to operate the website and other related computer online services such as its Facebook Page, Twitter account and mobile applications.

They were found to have contravened the Internet Code of Practice (ICOP) by publishing prohibited material as defined by the Code to be objectionable on the grounds of public interest, public order and national harmony.

If their licence is cancelled, Yang and Takagi will not be allowed to operate the website.

Prosecutors can also have the option of taking other actions, including blocking access to the site and working with social media channels to block access to TRS' social media pages.

The MDA said in a press release as reported by Channel News Asia:

"The MDA is satisfied that Ai and Yang have contravened the Internet Code of Practice. They have published prohibited material as defined by the Code to be objectionable on the grounds of public interest, public order and national harmony."

"The MDA has noted that TRS has deliberately fabricated articles and falsely attributed them to innocent parties. TRS has also inserted falsehoods in articles that were either plagiarised from local news sources or sent in by contributors so as to make the articles more inflammatory."

The press release also said: "The foreign editors were responsible for several articles that sought to incite anti-foreigner sentiments in Singapore."

It added: "The MDA believes this editorial strategy of deceiving readers and doctoring articles was an attempt to increase traffic to TRS, and thus boost advertising revenue. In so doing, TRS, including its two foreign editors, were seeking to profit at the expense of Singapore's public interest and national harmony."

"Thereafter, they are not to resume operations under any other name. They have also been given seven days to provide information relating to TRS' operations and to make representations as to why their class licence should not be cancelled".

Both Ai and Yang have both been charged with seven counts of sedition, as well as an additional charge of refusing to comply with written orders to produce documents considered by the police investigator to be necessary for the investigation, such as disclose how much advertising revenue they have been collecting.

TRS have stated that its website is hosted in Sweden, USA and Switzerland.

However, it is unclear how viable it is for the MDA to enforce the order.

The last TRS post on Facebook was at 2.30pm on May 3, 2015:

Related articles:

Media Development Authority statement on The Real Singapore

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Let’s set the record straight: The Real Singapore founder is Brisbane-born, not Japanese-born

Pair of errorists behind anti-S’pore website The Real Singapore charged with sedition

Top photo by Aristotle Eng

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