Singapore orders foreigners' Facebook posts taken down under new election rules

The government says their posts interfere with domestic politics and influence citizens to vote on racial and religious lines

Singapore has ordered Facebook parent Meta to block Singaporeans' access to posts made by three foreigners accused of trying to influence a national election early next month on racial and religious lines.

Two of the people whose posts were blocked rejected the accusations.

The Infocomm Media Development Authority issued the orders after some posts by the foreigners were deemed as "intended to promote or prejudice the electoral success or standing of a political party or candidate", the Elections Department and Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement on Friday.

The Southeast Asian city-state's election on May 3, the first under the social media rules put in place by the government in 2023, is almost certain to be dominated by the People's Action Party, which has won the most seats in every vote since independence in 1965.

The rules bar foreigners from publishing online election advertising, which it defines as online materials that could help or hurt any political parties or candidates.

Friday's statement identified the foreigners as Iskandar Abdul Samad, national treasurer of the Islamist party Parti Islam Se-Malaysia; Mohamed Sukri Omar, the party's youth chief in the Malaysian state of Selangor; and Facebook user "Zai Nal", identified as Zulfikar bin Mohamad Shariff, an Australian who renounced his Singapore citizenship in 2020.

Iskandar had expressed support for the opposition Workers' Party's Faisal Manap in a social media post.

The authorities found that Zulfikar had accused Malay-Muslim members of parliament of failing to represent Muslim interests, saying Singapore did not need another Malay MP who did not represent their views. Sukri had reposted Zulfikar's post.

The government said their posts interfered with domestic politics and influenced citizens to vote on racial and religious lines.

In a Facebook post on Saturday about the takedowns, Sukri stated that he never intended to interfere with Singapore's elections.

"My calls and concerns were never aimed at intervening in the electoral affairs, but rather stem from my moral responsibility as a Muslim and as a person deeply concerned for the plight of the Malay-Muslim community in Singapore, a community increasingly marginalized in various aspects, whether in education, economy, or cultural freedom," he said.

Zulfikar, responding to the takedown request, posted on Facebook that the action shows the ruling PAP and its supporters were "scared" and that "desperation reeks". He said he was creating a WhatsApp channel and another website to advocate for issues.

The opposition Workers' Party said in a statement on Saturday that it does not have control over foreign parties who express support for its candidates. It said Faisal has spoken about how religion needs to be "kept aside, or apart from politics, so that religion will not be used to gain personal benefit or to benefit any political party".

The PAP did not immediately offer a comment. Meta, Iskandar, and the Parti Islam Se-Malaysia did not respond to requests for comment.