SINGAPORE: The Transformative Justice Collective (TJC) – an activist group that campaigns against the death penalty – was handed another Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) order on Saturday (Dec 14).
The latest order is its fifth in five months following previous orders issued on Aug 8, Aug 11, Oct 5 and Nov 26.
It relates to a false statement of fact concerning the scheduling of a prisoner’s execution made in posts by TJC on Facebook, Instagram, X and TikTok on Dec 3.
“These publications contain a statement that a death row prisoner was scheduled for execution before he had the opportunity to submit his clemency petition to the president. This is not true,” the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a media release.
“An execution will only be scheduled when a death row prisoner has exhausted all rights of appeal and the clemency process in relation to his or her conviction and sentence.”
Minister for Digital Development and Information and Second Minister for Home Affairs Josephine Teo therefore instructed the POFMA Office to issue a POFMA correction direction to TJC over the posts.
An article on the government fact-checking website Factually explains further why the assertions made by TJC are false.
TJC will be required to carry a correction notice alongside the posts with a link to the government’s clarification on the matter.
A targeted correction direction has also been issued to TikTok over the TJC post on the platform. This will require TikTok to communicate a correction notice to all end-users in Singapore who have accessed or will access the post.
