Outcome of Applications Received by POFMA Office for Variations, Cancellations or Suspensions of Directions or Remedial Orders Issued

18 Ms He Ting Ru asked the Minister for Communications and Information since the enactment of the Prevention from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) (a) how many applications were received by the POFMA Office for variations, cancellations or suspensions of directions or remedial orders issued; (b) of these applications, how many were successful; and (c) how many resulted in an appeal being filed with the High Court.

Mrs Josephine Teo: Since POFMA was first invoked in November 2019, a total of 12 applications have been submitted – nine for cancellation of directions, and three for variation of directions. They constitute about 15% of all directions issued.

Two of the applications for variation were accepted, as they were unable to comply with the directions for technical reasons. Of the remaining 10, five did not appeal. Of the five appeals filed with the High Court, one was withdrawn, two are pending, and two have concluded after appealing further to the Court of Appeal.