By Law, Facebook Ordered to Block Page in Singapore

Facebook Inc has just spelled its ‘deep concern’ over a Singapore government order to block access to a blog page on its social media website under a new fake news law.

Earlier this week, the government had ordered Facebook to block the States Times Review's page in Singapore, saying the blog had repeatedly conveyed falsehoods and had not complied with any of the directions that it had been served with under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA).

In an e-mailed statement read by Reuters, Facebook said it was legally compelled to restrict access to the page.

"We believe orders like this are disproportionate and contradict the government's claim that POFMA would not be used as a censorship tool.

"We've repeatedly highlighted this law's potential for overreach and we're deeply concerned about the precedent this sets for the stifling of freedom of expression in Singapore," it added.

The States Times Review, run by Australia-based Singaporean political activist Alex Tan, has been censured under the fake news law three times, most recently for articles criticising Singapore's handling of the coronavirus outbreak, which the government said contained "entirely false" information.

The fake news law came into effect in October, while the government stressed that it will never be used to silence criticism, but rather the law only tackles falsehoods and that legitimate criticism and free speech would not be affected.

On another hand, the European Union is preparing to unveil today new rules governing data and artificial intelligence (AI) - including facial recognition.

Two days ago, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg visited Brussels to lobby top European officials in charge of digital policies.

The EU competition chief, Margrethe Vestager, and the commissioner for the internal market, Thierry Breton, discussed the EU's digital agenda with Zuckerberg, after the Facebook chief called for tighter regulation in elections, on harmful content, and on privacy and data portability.

"Even if I'm not going to agree with every regulation in the near term, I do think it's going to be the kind of thing that builds trust and better governance of the internet, and will benefit everyone, including us, over the long term," Zuckerberg said at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.