POFMA issued to local podcast for false claims regarding prison treatment

A correction order under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) has been issued to podcast Plan B over statements that were made by a hacker on one of the episodes of the show, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

Former inmate James Raj Arokiasamy supposedly made several false claims in three of the podcast’s episodes which were uploaded onto streaming platform Spotify on 6 September 2023. The claims were regarding his treatment in prison, said the Ministry of Home Affairs.

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“In the Spotify podcast episodes, Arokiasamy made several false statements. Some of the false statements were also reproduced on Plan B’s Instagram posts on 7 September 2023,” said the POFMA notice.

As a result, Plan B will be required to carry correction notices on their Spotify and Instagram accounts. “These notices will state that the said podcast and videos contain false statements of fact and provide a link to the government’s clarifications,” said the notice.

Arokiasamy, a hacker who went by the pseudonym “The Messiah”, claimed to be part of the hacktivist group, “Anonymous” which was behind a number of hacking incidents in late 2013. Additional clarifications published by MHA on Singapore’s government checking website Factually listed six falsehoods in Arokiasamy’s contributions to the podcast.

One such clarification was that Arokiasamy was arrested and imprisoned for protesting the regulation of Internet censorship, among others.

Along with Plan B, Australian academic website East Asia Forum (EAF) was also recently issued a correction direction by the POFMA office.

According to the notice, an article by EAF titled “A spate of scandals strikes Singapore”, which was published on 18 August 2023, contained false statements in relation to various matters. These matters include the independence of the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau, and the Prime Minister’s approach in addressing certain matters.

Moving forward, EAF will be required to carry a correction notice at the top of the article and the main page of their website, as well as at the top of the corresponding Facebook post and on their Facebook page.

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