The Online Citizen has crossed its first fundraising milestone, raising over S$2,000 towards its legal challenge against the Correction Direction issued under Singapore’s POFMA law.
This case arises from TOC’s reporting on the Ridout Road property issue involving Minister K Shanmugam, where legitimate public interest questions were raised but met with a POFMA order labelling them as falsehoods.
The appeal is set to test the very boundaries of POFMA — particularly whether journalists can be penalised simply for asking questions.
During the 2019 parliamentary debate, Minister Edwin Tong had assured that opinions, comments, and criticisms would not fall under POFMA. This legal fight will now put that assurance to the test.
With commercial revenue channels blocked by the government’s Declaration of Online Location (DOL) order, TOC continues to rely on public support to fund the legal costs, which are estimated to reach up to S$30,000 if the case proceeds to the Court of Appeal.
The post Landmark POFMA Appeal: Over $2,000 Raised for Legal Challenge appeared first on The Online Citizen.
