Education Minister Ong Ye Kung instructed the Protection against Online Falsehoods and Manipulations Act (POFMA) office to take action against the Singapore States Times (SST) Facebook page and Alex Tan, in response to a "false statement of fact".

Falsehood implied students and teachers were infected in schools

According to a statement by the POFMA office on May 5, the subject is a post on the SST Facebook page, which was then shared by Tan on his personal Facebook page.

The statement from the post which was flagged as a falsehood reads:

“Education Minister Ong Ye Kung is responsible for numerous infections in schools after he refused to close down the schools. The schools were only closed on April 3rd, but at least 50 students and teachers were already infected.”

This had the effect of implying that the students and teachers were infected as a result of transmission in schools, according to a statement on government fact-checker site Factually on May 5.

Infections among students and staff of MOE schools were traced to non-school sources

The statement said that there were 69 students and staff in MOE schools among the confirmed Covid-19 cases in Singapore as of Apr 3, but in fact, none of these were traced back to MOE schools.

Instead, the infections were attributed to transmission via other sources, such as overseas travel, households, social settings, and "a non-school workplace".

Three of the cases, however, remain unlinked.

Directions issued by the POFMA office

The POFMA office issued two Correction Directions, to the SST Facebook page and to Alex Tan.

This means that they will be required to publish a correction notice.

Facebook has also been issued a Targeted Correction Direction, which will require the social media platform to place a correction notice to Singapore users who access the posts in question.

Clarifications about closing schools

The statement on Factually listed some "additional clarifications" about the school closures, stating that schools and teachers put in "tremendous effort" in the form of precautionary measures.

It also said that school closures from Apr. 8 "did not become a a major disruption to our lives" since most parents were working from home by that time, and that this would not have been the case if MOE had closed schools early.

The statement, which was also posted on the Ministry of Education Facebook page, said that "we have kept schools open as long as possible, while keeping our students safe".

The statement also said that students from vulnerable backgrounds, as well as those whose parents worked in essential services, were allowed to come back to school "for care and supervision, with the necessary safe distancing measures in place," and that these arrangements would continue during the May school holidays.

Other POFMA cases involving Alex Tan:

Top image via Ong Ye Kung, Alex Tan, and SST on Facebook