Rationale for Correction Direction Issued on 23 March 2026 for Correction Notice to Be Published in The Straits Times
Ministry of Digital Development and InformationSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns the rationale for requiring a POFMA correction notice to be published in The Straits Times regarding a direction issued to The Online Citizen on 23 March 2026. Minister for Digital Development and Information Mrs Josephine Teo explained that POFMA tools include offline notices to counter the rapid proliferation and permanence of falsehoods that may spread beyond digital boundaries. She highlighted that The Online Citizen is a repeat offender with 25 Correction Directions and multiple designations as Declared Online Locations, necessitating measures to reach a broader audience. The Minister stated that a print notice was essential to ensure facts are accessible to those who may not have encountered the original online content. The Government evaluates the need for print corrections case-by-case to ensure they are effective in reaching relevant audiences and maintaining public trust.
Transcript
28 Mr Fadli Fawzi asked the Minister for Digital Development and Information what were the considerations behind the requirement in the correction direction issued by the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office on 23 March 2026 to publish the correction notice in The Straits Times, rather than only on pages and posts carrying the false statements of facts.
Mrs Josephine Teo: Countries worldwide continue to grapple with the persistent challenge of online falsehoods, which can spread quickly. Falsehoods can polarise societies, undermine public trust in institutions and threaten the foundations of democratic discourse by attacking the shared factual basis upon which debate can take place.
The Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) provides the Government with targeted tools to address online falsehoods. These include directions to publish correction notices on both online and, where necessary, offline channels, to correct falsehoods and inform the public of the facts. In addition, persistent communicators of falsehoods may be designated as Declared Online Locations, with readers cautioned to exercise discretion when accessing such sources for information. These tools address the distinctive challenges that online falsehoods present, namely their potential for rapid proliferation and viral transmission, permanence in digital environments, and tendency for false information to achieve broader circulation than facts. Falsehoods can go beyond digital boundaries and spread through offline discourse, influencing public understanding even among those who have not encountered the original false content online.
In assessing what measures were necessary in the specific case highlighted by the Member, the Government took into account the overall context. The Online Citizen (TOC), which received the Correction Direction issued on 23 March 2026, has a history of publishing falsehoods. Due to this repeated pattern of behaviour of spreading multiple online falsehoods, TOC's website, Facebook and X pages have also been designated as Declared Online Locations under POFMA on more than one occasion – first in July 2023 and again in July 2025. Despite these measures, TOC has continued to disseminate false and misleading content. Over the past six years, TOC and its affiliated pages have been issued 25 Correction Directions.
To mitigate against the impact and reach of the falsehoods communicated by TOC, it was necessary to supplement the online correction notices with a print correction notice in The Straits Times, so that the facts are made accessible beyond the online audience.
The Government will assess the need for a print correction notice depending on the circumstance of each case, to ensure corrections are effective in reaching the relevant audiences.