Singapore orders Facebook, X to block Chinese tycoon Guo’s posts

Singapore directed social media platforms to block nearly 100 online accounts of exiled Chinese tycoon Guo Wengui over posts deemed detrimental to the interests of the city-state.

The directive was issued under the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act 2021 to X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok and seeks to block access of 95 accounts to users in Singapore, the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement.

Singapore government investigations found Guo and his affiliated organisations – the New Federal State of China and the Himalaya Supervisory Organisation – used social media to spread a variety of narratives that has the potential to undermine the island’s sovereignty and social cohesion.

One of the posts alleged that “Singapore is in the pocket of a foreign actor, and that the foreign actor was behind the scenes in the selection of Singapore’s fourth generation leader,” the ministry said.

The NFSC, according to the Home Affairs Ministry, is a right-wing political and lobby group created by Guo and Steve Bannon, a former adviser to Donald Trump. Also known as Ho Wan Kwok or Miles Guo, the businessman amassed a strong online following for his criticism of the Chinese Communist Party, and was this month convicted for a billion-dollar fraud after a trial in the US.

Singapore has laws dealing with foreign interference, which came into force in 2022. The nation has long defended the need for such laws, saying the city-state is vulnerable to fake news and hostile information campaigns given that it is a financial hub with a multiethnic population that enjoys widespread internet access. – Bloomberg