Shanmugam rejects TOC's application to cancel POFMA correction

Denied.

Sulaiman Daud | May 28, 2021, 09:58 PM

Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam has rejected an application by The Online Citizen Asia to cancel the correction direction he issued to one of their Facebook posts under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act.

According to a statement released by the Ministry of Home Affairs on May 28, this refers to the correction direction issued on May 21.

An Instagram user had shared a story falsely accusing police officers of "taunting" and "reprimanding" an elderly woman for not wearing a mask.

It was picked up and shared by TOC and another platform, Singapore Uncensored.

However, as it turned out, the officers were assisting the woman, who is believed to have dementia.

For the facts of the case, government fact-checker site Factually has provided the details.

All three were required to share new posts carrying the correction.

The statement added:

"The conditions for issuing the Correction Direction are satisfied, and the Application did not disclose any grounds to the contrary. After having carefully considered the Application, the Minister for Home Affairs has decided to reject it. (The Online Citizen Asia) has been notified of the rejection."

TOC Asia's explanation

Previously, TOC attempted to explain why they shared the allegations made by the Instagram user.

In a Facebook post on May 27, TOC said that it applied for the cancellation because it had updated its original post with the police's initial clarification.

They considered the original post "fair reportage based on the facts as they then appeared" and disagreed with Shanmugam's decision to use POFMA.

It also said that it had no agenda to sow falsehoods and undermine trust in the police.

Top image from @nichology's Instagram page. POFMA stands for the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act.