Singapore orders social media firms to block 95 accounts

Singapore orders social media firms to block 95 accounts tied to exiled Chinese businessman. Singapore has ordered five social media platforms to block users in the city-state from accessing 95 accounts mostly linked to exiled Chinese tycoon Guo Wengui, the government said on Friday.

The direction was issue to X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok under the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act on accounts that published more than 120 posts between April 17 and May 10 on Singapore’s leadership transition.

The posts, published in a “coordinated manner”, alleged Singapore was “in the pocket of a foreign actor, and that the foreign actor was behind the scenes in the selection of Singapore’s fourth generation leader”, the Home Affairs Ministry said.

This is the first time that the foreign interference law that was passed in October 2021 has been use to block access to social media posts.

Singapore had on May 15 sworn in Lawrence Wong as its fourth prime minister.

Guo, who was link to 92 of the 95 accounts, is an exiled Chinese businessman and an outspoken opponent of Beijing’s communist government. He is found guilty in the U.S. on Tuesday on charges of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from online followers.

He is a former real estate developer who left China in 2014 during an anti-corruption crackdown. Guo had paid former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon $1 million as part of a consulting contract designed to lend legitimacy to his anti-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) movement.

Guo and Bannon launched a right-wing movement called the New Federal State of China in 2020 with a stated aim of overthrowing China’s CCP as the Chinese government.

Singapore’s home affairs ministry said Guo and his affiliated organisations – the New Federal State of China and the Himalaya Supervisory Organization – have posted a variety of other Singapore-related narratives.

“The network’s coordinated actions and precedent of using Singapore to push its agenda have demonstrated its willingness and capability to spread false narratives that are detrimental to Singapore’s interests,” the ministry said.