2nd Pofma order issued to activist group in Aug over online posts

It had made false claims on social media about treatment of death row prisoners

- Ang Qing

A Singapore-based activist group urging abolition of the death penalty has been issued its second correction order in August over false statements about the treatment of death row prisoners here.

On Aug 11, Minister for Home Affairs K. Shanmugam instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) Office to issue a correction order to Transformative Justice Collective for social media posts on Aug 6.

This comes after the group was issued an order on Aug 8 under Singapore's fake news law concerning posts on a Singaporean who was executed on Aug 2.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Aug 11 said professional networking platform LinkedIn also has to put up a correction notice on a post on its platform by self-styled whistle-blower Julie O'Connor, who shared the group's Aug 6 claims.

MHA said the Pofma direction was made to address two false statements of fact in the Aug 6 social media posts concerning executions in Singapore, which could erode public trust in the Government and the judiciary.

First, the group had falsely claimed that the executions of two Singaporean death row prisoners on Aug 2 and Aug 7 were scheduled without regard for due legal process.