Singapore orders blocking of online content targeting Indians

AUthorities in capital of singapore directed john r. Major societal media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and X on sabbatum to cube access to content targeting the Indian community and undermining the country’s model of multiculturalism.The directive from Singapore’s home ministry, said police, have targeted 14 specific posts that appeared to promote a narrative that Singapore is being over-run by Indians.One post featured Singapore’s Indian-origin President Tharman Shanmugaratnam to make a claim that there is over-representation of Indians in the city state’s government.While the directive did not state whether anyone was behind the promotion of the narrative, it noted that posts began circulating online last month “in the Chinese information space that [suggested] Singapore is displaying anxiety over our cultural identity and ethnic politics”.This was followed by online content with “inflammatory narratives about Singapore’s cultural diversity and suggesting that Singapore was being overrun by Indians”.Investigations revealed the content “likely originated from a China-based platform and was subsequently carried on other platforms and websites”. There were also “deliberate efforts” to spread more such content in Singapore’s local information space.Singapore’s second minister for home affairs, Edwin Tong, told reporters that “from what we know so far, the content originated from overseas”.The home ministry further said these social media posts suggested that ethnic Indian politicians in Singapore, “whose numbers are growing, would act in favour of Indian immigrants”, and that Singapore’s culture is “fundamentally Chinese, and the government’s approach of ‘decoupling’ itself from China while neglecting the threat of a growing Indian community would lead to a negative outcome”.The posts also suggested that “Singapore’s multiracial policy is a façade meant to appeal to Western values” and its “stability cannot be attributed to its multiracial policy, but to its majority Chinese demographics”.There have been several instances in recent years of social media posts targeting Indians and Indian-origin communities in Asia originating in the Chinese information space, people familiar with the matter said.The order to block the social media posts, including videos, was issued under the Online Criminal Harms Act (OCHA) and Facebook, YouTube and X are required to “take all reasonable steps to disable access by Singapore users to these posts”, the directive said.Tong, who is also Singapore’s law minister, said: “These videos attack our multiracial society and they try to divide people based on race. This, however, is not who we are. Every community in Singapore here is valued and everyone has an equal place.”He added, “These videos strike at the very foundation of what makes Singapore home for all of us and they undermine the very basis of our society.”The Singapore government does not tolerate narratives seeking to undermine the country’s racial harmony, “especially when it is propagated by foreigners”, Tong said.The official directive noted that Singapore firmly opposes “nativism and xenophobia” and made it clear that any attempt to pit one community against another “must be firmly rejected”. It added: “These attacks coming from a foreign source are doubly unacceptable.”However, Tong said there is currently no evidence to suggest this is a coordinated campaign by any government. Investigations had shown the content was likely generated organically by various foreign netizens, he said.The posts featured images and footage of crowded streets in Singapore’s Little India district, “likely taken on a weekend when migrant workers spend their day off”, and Indian devotees at a religious festival in Pagoda Street, to back claims that the country is “overcrowded” with Indians, the directive said.The posts used “derogatory and demeaning language to refer to the Indian community in Singapore”, including comparing increases in their numbers to “concentration of curry”.“These are malicious efforts to sow discord by inciting ill-will against the Indian community in the country,” the directive said. “This includes Indian migrant workers in sectors such as construction who are here to make an honest living. They contribute to Singapore’s growth and development, and are valued members of our society.”The social media posts amounted to a breach of Section 298A of Singapore’s Penal Code for “knowingly promoting feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different groups on grounds of race, or committing an act prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony between different racial groups in Singapore”.This offence carries a punishment of up to three years in jail and a fine.Tong also said the Singapore government will continue to monitor the sites closely and will not hesitate to take further steps “if we regard it to be in Singapore’s interests”.