Facebook shuts down pro-PAP page Fabrications About the PAP before 2020 S'pore election

Making a statement of sorts.

Belmont Lay | June 28, 2020, 05:34 PM

The Fabrications About the PAP (FAP) Facebook page with partisan political interests has been taken down by the social media giant.

This move was part of Facebook's actions against accounts that violate the social media platform’s policies ahead of Singapore’s coming General Election in July 2020. 

The FAP page had more than 250,000 likes.

It has not been accessible recently.

Its demise was noted on forum pages where users speculated about what happened.

The FAP page is a pro-People’s Action Party platform used and run by an individual named Chua Chin Seng.

The page's posts can be perceived as undermining other opposition political parties in Singapore.

FAP got into trouble with the law once previously in 2017 for breaching election advertising rules during the Bukit Batok by-election.

It received a warning from the police.

Facebook response

In response to media queries, a Facebook spokesperson said on June 28 that the page has been unpublished. 

There is no indication if the page will be made public again after the election is over.

Facebook did not disclose which other pages have been taken down, but its spokesperson said that actions have been taken against “several accounts in Singapore for violating our policies”.

The spokesperson said: “These accounts were discovered during our ongoing proactive work to find and take action on accounts that violate our policies. This action is based on the behaviour of these accounts, not based on the content they posted.”

It was revealed in early June that teams in Facebook dedicated to Singapore's election have been looking out for "coordinated" or "inauthentic behaviour" on the platform since July 2019.

Facebook can remove such accounts that clearly violate its policies as part of its repertoire of actions it can take.

Facebook's guidelines

Its guidelines state that it does not allow people to misrepresent themselves on Facebook, use fake accounts, or engage in behaviors designed to enable other violations of its Community Standards. 

The authenticity of an account can be validated by Facebook.

During this validation process, an account owner will need to provide additional information in order to continue using Facebook.

The account cannot be used to reach others otherwise.

This is to determine if it may be misrepresenting itself through its behaviour.

The account will be removed if the account owner fails the verification, or if there is a violation of Facebook policies, as determined by the platform.