The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) has expressed serious concern following Singapore’s decision to renew restrictions on The Online Citizen (TOC), a long-standing independent media outlet.
In a statement issued on 13 June 2025, FORUM-ASIA’s Executive Director Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso voiced alarm over the Singapore authorities’ move to extend TOC’s ban from deriving any financial benefits via its website and social media platforms until 2027.
The extension follows TOC’s continued designation as a Declared Online Location (DOL) under Singapore’s Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA), which first came into effect for the platform in July 2023.
Originally scheduled to expire on 21 July 2025, the renewed designation was announced by the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) on 11 June 2025.
Government officials claim the move was necessary due to TOC’s persistent dissemination of alleged falsehoods.
Enacted in 2019, POFMA allows the Singapore government to issue correction orders against individuals or organisations believed to be spreading false information. The law applies regardless of the nationality or location of the individual or entity involved.
Under Section 38 of POFMA, it is illegal to provide financial support to a DOL if the funds are used to promote false statements of fact.
The MDDI stated that TOC had continued to publish falsehoods on subjects such as the death penalty and financial and social assistance schemes over the past two years.
Authorities pointed to the platform’s repeated failure to comply with correction directions as justification for the renewed DOL status.
An online location qualifies as a DOL if it has carried at least three different false statements of fact, all subject to active POFMA directions, and if these statements were communicated to the location within the six months prior to the declaration.
Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso criticised the move, stating, “It is alarming that the Declared Online Location status for TOC’s platform has been renewed. ”
“The continued use of POFMA laws to silence dissent and suppress freedom of expression is deeply troubling. We urge the authorities to refrain from further eroding Singapore’s already shrinking civic space.”
Terry Xu, chief editor of TOC, described the extended DOL as a clear act of oppression against independent media and a targeted attack on the outlet.
“If the DOL were applied strictly according to the letter of the law, then Bloomberg and The Edge should have been subjected to the DOL as well, since they were issued Correction Directions containing more than three statements deemed false,” Xu argued.
He also noted, “It is particularly noteworthy that the Correction Directions involved in the declaration are linked to Minister K Shanmugam — the very person who introduced the POFMA law in the first place.”
Founded in December 2006 in Singapore, TOC has since relocated its operations to Taiwan.
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