Singapore Orders Removal of Foreigners Facebook Posts Under New Election Rules

Before the national election that will take place on May 3, the government of Singapore ordered Meta, Facebook’s parent company to restrict access to social media posts made by foreigners by its users locally. These posts had been flagged for violations of Singapore’s new election rules and cited that these posts endorsed or compromised the electoral standing of political parties in the election.

The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) imposed corrective directions under the Parliamentary Elections Act (PEA) after interference with domestic politics was found by multiple posts from foreigners. Those posts were by Iskandar Abdul Samad, a national treasurer of Malaysia’s Islamist party Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) and Zulfikar bin Mohamad Shariff, an Australian who renounced his Singapore citizenship and were both political in intent. Zulfikar accused Malay-Muslim Members of Parliament of failing to represent the interests of the community and Iskandar expressed support for Singapore’s opposition Workers’ Party candidate Faisal Manap.

According to the authorities in Singapore, these posts seek to mobilize political action based on specified race and religion, threatening the multi-racial and multi-religious harmony that the Nation maintains. Singaporean authorities believed that these posts had the potential to create further division among society and were a direct challenge to the Nation’s secular and inclusive political system. The government also noted that Zulfikar had a history of radical activity, as Zulfikar had already been detained under the Internal Security Act in 2016, for promoting terrorism and glorifying ISIS.

The Singapore Elections Department, along with the Ministry of Home Affairs stated that it was objectionable for a foreign influence to interfere with Singapore’s electoral processes. Many of Singapore’s electorate engages with social media platforms and the government has stated that it would not tolerate any online election advertising (including by foreigners).

The action represents the first election under Singapore’s government’s strict social media guidelines since 2023.