Kenneth Jeyaretnam's pages made Declared Online Locations due to Multiple Online Falsehoods

11 DEC 2023

  1. The Minister for Communications and Information has today declared Mr Kenneth Jeyaretnam's (“Mr Jeyaretnam”) website titled The Ricebowl Singapore (TRS) (“TRS website”) and his social media pages on Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly known as Twitter) and LinkedIn (the “online locations”) as “Declared Online Locations” [1] (“DOLs”) under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act 2019 (“POFMA”). The Declaration will come into effect on 12 December 2023.

  2. The Declaration was made following multiple falsehoods communicated on the online locations. In the last six months, Mr Jeyaretnam has made false claims and repeatedly shared falsehoods about various Government policies and processes, such as fiscal and manpower policies, the Singapore Police Force’s and Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau’s investigation practices, and state property rentals. Mr Jeyaretnam has been issued POFMA Correction Directions in five instances (see Annex for details).

  3. The Declaration will be in effect for two years, until 11 December 2025. During the period that the Declaration is in effect, Mr Jeyaretnam’s TRS website as well as his Facebook page, Instagram page, X account page and LinkedIn page are each required to carry a notice, stating that each of these online locations has been declared as a DOL. With the notice, visitors to these DOLs will be warned that Mr Jeyaretnam has a history of communicating falsehoods on these online locations (see Annex for details).

  4. The Declaration does not mean that the DOLs will need to cease operations. Mr Jeyaretnam’s TRS website, Facebook page, Instagram page, X account page and LinkedIn page may remain in operation. However, the statutory requirements under Part 5 POFMA relating to, amongst others, the de-monetisation of the DOLs must be complied with. POFMA prohibits a person from deriving financial benefit from operating a DOL, thereby preventing operators of DOLs from profiting from the communication of falsehoods.

  5. During the time that the Declaration remains in effect:

    a. It shall be an offence for the operator of the DOLs to derive financial or other material benefit from operating the online locations.

    b. Service providers [2] and digital advertising intermediaries [3] must take reasonable steps to ensure that paid content that they include or cause to be included on the DOLs are not communicated in Singapore.

    c. Individuals [4] and companies must not provide financial support to the DOLs if they know or have reason to believe that by doing so, they will support, help or promote the communication of falsehoods in Singapore on the DOLs.

  6. Members of the public are advised to be alert to Mr Jeyaretnam’s history of communicating misinformation on these online locations, and to fact-check information published at these DOLs.

Annex – Overview of POFMA "Declared Online Locations"

Background on "Declared Online Locations"

  • Under Section 32 of POFMA, an online location may be declared as a “Declared Online Location” (“DOL”) if:

    i. It has carried three or more different false statements of fact that are the subject of active Part 3 or Part 4 Directions (e.g., POFMA Correction Directions); and

    ii. At least three of these false statements of fact had been communicated on the online location within six months before the date of the Declaration.

  • A notice must be published in the Government Gazette when a Declaration is issued. A registry of DOLs can be found at the POFMA Office website.

  • There are four other online locations that are currently DOLs with effect from 22 Jul 2023 up to 21 July 2025:

    i. The Online Citizen Asia’s (TOCA’s) website

    ii. TOCA’s Facebook page

    iii. TOCA’s X (formerly known as Twitter) account page

    iv. TOCA’s LinkedIn page

  • The owner or operator of a DOL, or any person with editorial control over the DOL, may apply to the Minister for Communications and Information to vary or cancel the declaration. If the Minister refuses the application, an appeal can be made to the High Court.

Correction Directions issued to Mr Jeyaretnam

  • Mr Jeyaretnam’s TRS website, Facebook page, Instagram page, X account page and LinkedIn page have each met the requirements to be declared as a DOL. Each of these online locations carried at least three different false statements of fact communicated within six months prior to the Declaration, that are the subject of active POFMA Directions. These included at least three different false statements of fact, which were the subject of POFMA Correction Directions issued on 16 Jul, 2 Aug, 22 Aug, 30 Aug, and 2 Nov 2023.

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[1] See Annex for an explanation of when online locations are declared as Declared Online Locations under POFMA.

[2] Examples include digital advertising agencies.

[3] Examples include advertising exchanges.

[4] This includes members of the public.