Singapore tells social media sites to block accounts linked to Chinese exile Guo Wengui
- The five social media giants were ordered to restrict 95 user accounts, in the first such use of Singapore’s foreign interference law
The move marked the first time the law has been invoked by the city state to issue directions to social media providers.
In February, it was used to designate businessman Philip Chan Man Ping, 59, as a “politically significant person” after the naturalised citizen was found by the authorities to have urged the Chinese diaspora to tell “China’s story”.
While observers note Singapore’s authorities have been swift to draw “a red line” against foreign interference, the multiracial city state is susceptible to influence from online material, particularly regarding pro- or anti-China media content.
Among the 4.15 million resident population in Singapore, about three-quarters are Chinese, 13.5 per cent are Malays and 9 per cent Indians. The resident population comprises citizens and permanent residents.
