The Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office have issued five Correction Directions (CD) on Sunday evening (5 July) to the following online posts:
• Video “NUSS Pre-General Election Forum 2020”, published by NUSS on 3 July 2020 on YouTube
• Facebook post and video titled “Dr Paul Tambyah reveals MOM’s role in outbreak of COVID-19 within dormitories”, published by TOC on 4 July 2020
• Video “TOC GE2020 Livestream – Afternoon session 2 July 2020”, published by TOC on 2 July 2020
• Online article “GE2020: Focus on public health could have been lost in March amid talk of early election, suggests SDP’s Paul Tambyah”, published by CNA on 4 July 2020
• Audio recording titled “An Interview with Dr Paul Tambyah”, published by New Naratif on 5 July 2020
The CDs which was instructed by Aubeck Kam, Permanent Secretary for MOM and Alternate Authority for the Minister for Manpower, will require NUSS, TOC, CNA and New Naratif to each carry a correction notice by 6 July 2am, stating that the above-mentioned online content contains false statement of facts.
As of publication of this article, all five posts have had the CDs published as required.
According to POFMA Office’s press release, the NUSS video, TOC’s Facebook post and videos, CNA’s online article and New Naratif’s audio recording contain the following statements by Dr Paul Ananth Tambyah:
• Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) email advisory to employers on testing of migrant workers was made without the advice from public health medical professionals
• MOM‘s advisory stated that employers would lose their work pass privileges if they brought their workers for COVID-19 testing
• MOM actively discouraged the testing of workers
POFMA office states that these statements are false.
In the order issued to TOC, it is said that the statement by Dr Tambyah in one of the video implied that MOM did not consult the Ministry of Health or public health professionals before informing employers that they would be penalised for testing their workers.
The justification given by Aubeck Kam is that the then-Manpower Minister Josephine Teo had clarified in a Facebook post that the MOM advisory was sent out at the request of MOH.
For more information of its claims, visit https://www.gov.sg/article/factually050720a.
Also this was the email that was sent to the employers.
For what the CD was issued against, below is a sample of the post which contains the alleged false statement.
