Access to the States Times Review Facebook page was blocked for all Singapore users on Feb. 18.

Set up to disseminate anti-government commentary targeting Singaporeans since 2015, STR is the first Facebook page to receive the dubious honour of being blocked for users in Singapore.

With 54,000 followers, STR is run by Singapore citizen and Australian resident Alex Tan.

Will start new page

In response to queries from BuzzFeed News, Tan said he got the response he wanted from the authorities.

Tan told BuzzFeed News that despite having his page blocked, he is pleased with the outcome.

"[Facebook] has done well," Tan told the outlet in a message.

"I have also achieved what I intended which is exposing the hypocrisy of the Singaporean government. I believe I won."

Tan also said he believes that the order exposes the government's claims that the Protection From Online Falsehoods And Manipulation (POFMA) Act won't be used to censor dissent.

He also disagreed that his most recent flagged post contains falsehoods.

"People will now know words from the regime can't be trusted. Legalised corruption is very real, even in a democracy," he said.

Prior to Facebook's decision, Tan had attempted to circumvent the law by changing the page's vanity URL, and requesting to change the page's name.

He had been advising his audience to change their browser's DNS settings to still access his page and site.

Tan then told BuzzFeed News that he planned to start up a new page that he hoped wouldn't be subject to the government's order.

"Hah thanks. I will be busy from here on. New page from zero," he said.

A check on Tan's personal Facebook page showed he had been actively sharing content from another Facebook page with about 6,000-plus followers.

Background

Facebook was instructed to block the STR Facebook page on Monday, Feb. 17 by the office overseeing the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA).

Minister for Communications and Information S Iswaran directed the POFMA Office to order Facebook to block Singapore users from accessing STR’s page.

The STR page has repeatedly failed to comply with at least three correction directions since November 2019.

Facebook had issued a correction notice in November 2019 for one of STR’s post -- which was also a first for Facebook and STR.

STR’s Facebook page was then designated as a Declared Online Location (DOL) on Feb. 15, a day after Health Minister Gan Kim Yong ordered that the page be served a correction direction for a post containing false claims about the Covid-19 situation in Singapore.

A Declared Online Location is defined by the POFMA Office as “online locations that have carried three or more different online falsehoods that are the subject of active directions issued by POFMA Office”.

DOLs are required to carry a notice to warn readers to “exercise caution and do additional fact-checking” when accessing the sites for information.

The STR Facebook page failed to carry a single required notice.

Speaking at the sidelines of the Hindu Endowment Board’s briefing to leaders of Hindu temples on Feb. 18, Iswaran mentioned MCI’s recent actions against Tan and the STR Facebook page in the context of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Iswaran said the government needed to “act swiftly” to prevent falsehoods from causing anxiety, fear and panic.

He said Singaporeans faced “both a healthcare challenge and a psychological challenge”.