Singapore orders FB, Twitter to issue correction on variant
Singapore on Thursday ordered Facebook and Twitter to carry a correction notice to users in the country on statements claiming a new variant of Sars-Cov-2 originated in the city-state, a day after the remark by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to the effect led to a diplomatic row and a verbal tussle between the Centre and Aam Aadmi Party.
Singapore’s health ministry said a statement circulating online on media outlets and social media platforms implied a new, previously unknown variant originated in Singapore and risked spreading to India from the city-state.
“There is no new “Singapore” variant of COVID 19. Neither is there evidence of any Covid-19 variant that is ‘extremely dangerous for kids’,” said the ministry in a statement.
The correction order was issued under Singapore’s fake news law or the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA). Facebook and Twitter confirmed receipt of the order.
The controversy first began on Tuesday when Kejriwal said a Singapore variant of the virus could affect India in the third wave and appealed to the Centre to cancel air services with the city-state.
Hours later, Singapore’s health ministry dismissed his assertions, and said the variant prevalent in many Covid-19 cases in recent weeks was the “B.1.617.2 variant, which originated in India”.
On Wednesday, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said the chief minister “does not speak for India”, and external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the Indian high commissioner P Kumaran clarified the matter with his Singapore counterparts.
In response , Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia contended that the Centre and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were only concerned about their image globally, and not about the well-being of the country’s children.
It is rare for the external affairs ministry to acknowledge that an Indian envoy has been called in by a foreign government to lodge a protest, and to publicly criticise an elected Indian representative.
Singapore’s high commissioner Simon Wong later told a virtual news conference that his country was satisfied with the Indian government’s clarification, but reserved the right to invoke the domestic fake news law to prevent the spreading of misinformation.
People familiar with developments said on condition of anonymity that Singapore’s strong reaction to the incident was because of both public outrage and strong concerns that online comments could be passed off as facts.
After Kejriwal posted his tweet on Tuesday, several related issues dominated Twitter trends in Singapore, reflecting concerns among the public. The people cited above said there were concerns that, without a strong rebuttal, the local and international media could begin reporting about a new coronavirus strain and any number of clarifications at a later stage would be of little use.
These concerns were also conveyed to the Indian side, resulting in the public comment on the chief minister’s comments by Jaishankar.
Facebook and Twitter said they complied as per the local law.
A prompt on users’ Facebook news feeds linked to a government website that said there was no new “Singapore” variant of COVID-19. Twitter sent notifications to its account holders based in Singapore, which included a tweet from the government’s official account @POFMA_Notice.
FACEBOOK AND TWITTER SAID THEY COMPLIED AS PER THE LOCAL LAW