Minister for Home Affairs Instructs POFMA Office to Issue Targeted Correction Direction to Twitter

1.   The Minister for Home Affairs has instructed the POFMA Office to issue a Targeted Correction Direction ^[1] (TCD) to Twitter, following Mr Jolovan Wham’s non-compliance with the Correction Order ^[2] (CD) issued to him on 8 October 2021.

2.   The TCD requires Twitter to alert users who had seen Mr Wham’s Tweet, that it contains false claims about Minister Shanmugam’s views on the rule of law. Mr Wham’s Tweet dated 6 October 2021 communicated the falsehood that the Minister for Home Affairs adopts the view that the rule of law does not operate anywhere in the real world, including in Singapore.

3.   For the facts of the case, please refer to the Factually article “Clarifications on Minister K Shanmugam’s comments during the Second Reading of Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Bill” at https://www.gov.sg/article/factually081021 .

^[1] A Targeted Correction Direction is a Direction issued to an Internet Intermediary (“II”) whose service was used to communicate a falsehood that affects the public interest. The Direction requires the II to communicate a correction notice by means of its service to all users in Singapore who access the falsehood through its service. This is so that users who see the falsehood on a platform also see the correction notice on that platform.

^[2] A Correction Direction is a Direction issued to a person who has communicated a falsehood (i.e. the recipient) that affects the public interest. It requires the recipient to publish a correction notice, providing access to the correct facts. The Direction does not require the recipient to take down their post or make edits to their content, and does not impose criminal sanctions.