Second round of Pofma sanctions for owner of The Online Citizen's website, social media accounts
Source: Straits Times
Article Date: 12 Jun 2025
Author: Aqil Hamzah
This is the second time that The Online Citizen has been slapped with the declaration, with its first due to expire in July 2025.
The people behind The Online Citizen's (TOC) website and Facebook, Instagram and X pages will continue to be barred from deriving any financial benefits from the running of its platforms till 2027.
In a statement on June 11, the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) said TOC's website and social media pages – which were labelled as Declared Online Locations (DOLs) – had been declared as such in July 2023, and the designation was due to expire on July 21, 2025.
DOLs have to comply with actions under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) that would prevent their operator from financially benefiting during the period they are listed as one.
However, said MDDI, TOC 'continued to communicate falsehoods through its online platforms over the past two years'.
Between July 2023 and June 2025, it received eight correction directions under the fake news law. These included one on Feb 25, after TOC published an article about modification works at the Ridout Road colonial bungalow leased by Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam's wife.
In its article, it said the Singapore Land Authority had given Mr Shanmugam assurances of a lease extension beyond its 2027 expiry, and that public funds were used to pay for the earthworks carried out at the bungalow since 2024, among other claims. These are falsehoods, said MDDI.
As a result of the eight correction directions, TOC's website and social media pages have again been labelled DOLs, a move necessary 'to ensure Singaporeans continue to be alerted to TOC's record of communicating falsehoods', said the ministry.
The new declaration comes into effect immediately after the current direction expires and will remain till July 21, 2027 at 12pm.
TOC will be able to continue its operations, but will have to carry a notice on its online platforms to notify its audience that it has been declared a DOL.
The notice will also have to state that it had 'communicated multiple falsehoods' and that its viewers should exercise caution when accessing it for information.
MDDI added that service providers, including digital advertising agencies, will have to take steps to ensure that their paid content on TOC's platforms is not made available in Singapore.
'Individuals and companies must also not provide financial support to TOC's DOLs to avoid promoting the communication of falsehoods in Singapore on these platforms,' it added.
There are three other outlets currently listed as DOLs. They are Transformative Justice Collective's website and social media pages, and Gutzy Asia's website and social media pages, as well as opposition politician Kenneth Jeyaretnam's website and social media pages.
A provision under Pofma allows the Government to order an internet intermediary to disable access to a DOL if the owner of the DOL does not comply with the declaration and paid content on the site continues to be displayed to users here. If an internet intermediary fails to comply and is convicted, it can be fined up to $20,000 for each day that the government order is not fully complied with, up to a total of $500,000.
The owner or operator of a DOL can however apply to the Minister for Digital Development and Information to suspend, vary or cancel the declaration. If the minister rejects the application, an appeal can be made to the High Court.
Aqil Hamzah is a journalist covering breaking news at The Straits Times, with interests in crime and technology.
Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
13 hours ago
- Straits Times
New S'pore jobs portal launched for North West District residents looking for work near home
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox The portal was launched on Aug 2 at the SkillsFuture Festival @ North West at Causeway Point in Woodlands. SINGAPORE – Job seekers in Singapore's northwest looking to work near their home can now find opportunities more easily, with the launch of a new online portal which curates jobs in the North West District. The district comprises Holland-Bukit Timah GRC, Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC, Nee Soon GRC, Sembawang GRC and Bukit Panjang SMC. The Jobs Anywhere @ North West portal, by NTUC's Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) and FindSGJobs, currently has about 10,000 job vacancies. Jobs on offer include those at heartland merchants, such as hairdressers, and at hawker stalls, for stall assistants. The portal was launched on Aug 2 at the SkillsFuture Festival @ North West at Causeway Point in Woodlands. Mr Alex Yam, the mayor of North West District, said the jobs portal was developed in response to feedback from residents over the years. 'We understand that many residents face challenges finding flexible and part-time work opportunities near home, due to caregiving duties or other circumstances,' said Mr Yam, who is also an MP for Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC. He hopes the portal will help such residents find suitable jobs at heartland merchants. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Opening of Woodlands Health has eased load on KTPH, sets standard for future hospitals: Ong Ye Kung Singapore New vehicular bridge connecting Punggol Central and Seletar Link to open on Aug 3 Business Property 'decoupling' illegal if done solely to avoid taxes: High Court Singapore HSA investigating teen who was observed to be allegedly vaping in MRT train Asia KTM plans new passenger rail service in Johor Bahru to manage higher footfall expected from RTS Singapore Tengah facility with over 40 animal shelters, businesses hit by ticks Singapore 60 years of building Singapore One such merchant is Mr Lim Kian Hong who runs Two Herbs, a herbal scalp treatment business. It has seven outlets, including one at Block 166 Woodlands Street 13. He typically advertises job vacancies by sticking job ads in his shop window. He said he has found it difficult to find Singaporeans to fill vacancies even though he offers flexible work arrangements. He decided to list the vacancy on the new jobs portal after being approached by Community Development Council staff. 'Hopefully more people will be coming in to interview for the job,' he said. He is hiring hair therapists, to help with tasks such as hair washing. The portal lists both full-time job opportunities and flexible 'microjobs' which typically refer to short-term or temporary work. A separate jobs portal, called the Heartland Job Portal, was launched in August 2024 for those looking to work near their home, though this portal lists job vacancies islandwide. Speaking at the launch of the portal, Mr Yam also acknowledged that the job landscape has become increasingly competitive, especially for the youth. 'Beyond securing employment, our youths continue to face significant stress in their search for fulfilling careers,' Mr Yam said. Mr Alex Yam, the mayor of North West District, said the jobs portal was developed in response to feedback from residents over the years. PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO Beyond job matching, the platform offers career guidance and employment resources, Mr Yam said. This is where youths can find 'the right advice and right upskilling opportunities as well', he said. Ten training providers, including NTUC Learning Hub, James Cook Institute and Republic Polytechnic had booths at the festival, highlighting courses in the digital, green and care sectors. The care sector includes social services, early childhood, healthcare and community care. Ms Kameeni Mehta, 56, visited the event to learn more about artificial intelligence courses on offer. She left having signed up for two AI courses held over the weekends, so she will not have to take time off from her job at an insurance company. She said she was keen to learn a new skill, and picked AI to 'keep abreast with changes'. 'At a certain age, you just can't be complacent', said the Woodlands resident. 'AI is keeping everybody on our toes, and it's fascinating.' The SkillsFuture Festival @ North West is being held at Causeway Point on Aug 2 and 3.
AsiaOne
15 hours ago
- AsiaOne
27-year-old who helps run family's hawker business opens own restaurant: 'I should maximise what I can do at this age', Lifestyle News
On a typical Friday night, many youths would either be hanging out with friends, preparing for a night out or heading to bed. And then there is Delonix Tan, who is just waking up and getting ready to go to the wet market at Kim Keat Palm Market and Food Centre. For the 27-year-old, this is a weekly routine that will only get more hectic when his new F&B venture at MyVillage called San Dai Yong Tau Foo, which sells hearty bowls of yong tau foo, opens in September. Prior to pursuing this project, Delonix juggled a full-time job at a catering company — which he recently resigned from — while helping his parents with the daily tasks at their family wet market stall, San Dai Fishball. In his free time, he manages and creates content for San Dai Fishball's social media platforms, in which he also shares the day-to-day routine of helping manage the stall and amassing a modest following of more than 23,000 and almost 9,000 users on Instagram and TikTok respectively. @sandaifishball Pros and Cons of Machine Made Fishballs ⚙️🐟 #sandaifishball ♬ Shipyard Sample - Official Sound Studio With so much on his plate, Delonix initially had been hesitant about pursuing something as adventurous, risky and challenging as a new F&B concept, he told AsiaOne when we paid him a visit at his uncle's yong tau foo stall, Xin Mei Cooked Food, where he is learning how to operate a yong tau food business. "I had been thinking about [setting up my own F&B business] for quite some time already, but I never really took action because I had a full-time job and I was struggling with all the social media stuff [for San Dai Fishball], so I was pretty maxed out," he revealed. But fast forward to March, and a collaboration with a popular local F&B brand would turn his dream into a reality. The pressures of being a third-gen hawker For the past eight years, Delonix's life has revolved around food, specifically fishballs and yong tau foo. He first dipped his toes in the industry by working part-time at San Dai Fishball while he was completing National Service. "When I first joined the business, it frankly was very brutal. I couldn't really get used to it," he told us bluntly. "But after some time, after I got used to the flow, it eventually became a part of my identity." Apart from the job being physically and mentally taxing, it put a strain on his relationship with his family, especially his father. While working in the family business did allow him to spend more time with them, this also led to more room for friction. "The headache part is handling the conflict. Initially, when I started out at the family business, my dad and I had a lot of conflict. It was a shaky period for us, especially since outside of the business, we have a very good relationship," he shared. There is the pressure to perform, too. "Being a third-generation hawker is a bittersweet experience. It's good in the sense that we already got a base so we don't need to start from zero," he shared. "But it's also very stressful, because let's say if I fail, I'm not only failing as a person, but I feel that I will tarnish my family's five decades of legacy." After several years of honing his skills, he had attempted to strike it out on his own in 2020 by opening a stall at Amoy Street Food Centre selling fishball noodles. Unfortunately, this was short-lived because a few months later, the Covid-19 pandemic happened. "We went into lockdown and the Central Business District virtually had nobody at all," he recounted. "I opened during Covid-19 and I closed during Covid-19 because I didn't know how long the pandemic would last. I'm lucky I closed it because I would have bled out even more money if I had continued." While Delonix tried to keep the business afloat during those dark times, the Circuit Breaker measures and drop in footfall didn't help his new business, so he eventually had to shutter it. During the pandemic, he also attempted starting a business outside the F&B scene: A photo studio called Pixslut. However, after a year of managing it, he sold it away. "I tried a few things and realised that all businesses are difficult," he shared. In December last year, Lau Wang Claypot, a popular chain restaurant specialising in traditional claypot dishes, asked Delonix if he could do a three-month collaboration with them. "They just reached out to me and I thought, why not give it a shot?" said Delonix. The collaborative event, which kicked off in March, featured two dishes — Curry Yong Tau Food and Collagen Soup — that were prepared with San Dai Fishball's 100 per cent yellowtail fish meatballs, yong tau foo and fishballs. And these were a huge hit with diners. "It reassured me that my idea of a retail arm for San Dai Fishball is workable and people want to eat our cooked food. In fact, a lot of our customers texted me saying they were happy with our collaboration with Lau Wang Claypot because now, they can eat our food without the inconvenience of coming down to the market in the morning to buy our products." So, after the collaboration was done and dusted in May, Delonix pitched the idea of opening a yong tau foo stall to Lau Wang Claypots founder Mark Jeremy Low, sharing that while it was something he has wanted to try for a long time, he "lacked the expertise". He offered to "run the show" while the folks at Lau Wang Claypot would teach him how to do branding and turn the business into a "small quick-service restaurant", and the two parties agreed to be business partners. Delonix's father will also be helping him with the yong tau foo production. Initially, Delonix had wanted to operate in a hawker centre but after some discussions, he and Mark agreed to open their very first outlet in a mall at Serangoon Gardens. "After I discussed this with Mark, I think this makes sense. We want to bring our food to the next level," he said. Delonix elaborated that by having an eatery in a mall as compared to a hawker centre, it's easier to hire manpower because potential employees would prefer working in an air-conditioned environment. Another reason is that a restaurant would give them more flexibility with the menu. "For example, in a coffee shop, there are many things I can't sell, such as drinks, because there will already be a drinks stall. But with my own restaurant, I can sell whatever I want and be more innovative with what I want to portray for my brand," he explained. Ungodly hours, 7 days a week To prepare for the opening of San Dai Yong Tau Foo, Delonix has had to tweak his day-to-day schedule. In the past, on weekdays, he worked full-time at his friend's catering company, Kitchen Haus Group, as a senior operations executive. And on weekends, he was at San Dai Fishball from 12am to 10am. Now, since he quit his job, he spends Mondays to Fridays at his uncle's yong tau foo stall at Hougang Hainanese Village Centre, learning the ropes from around 6.30am to 2pm. And over the weekends, he continues to help his parents with the family business at San Dai Fishball. On top of that, he and his partners at Lau Wang Claypot would meet to do research and development for the San Dai Yong Tau Foo, which includes trying out different recipes for the noodles. Things will only get busier for Delonix once his new yong tau foo stall officially opens next month. San Dai Yong Tau Foo will operate all seven days a week from 9am to 9pm, and though Delonix will be hiring employees to manage the day-to-day operations, he plans on working every day at the new eatery with no breaks until the business stabilises. This involves him producing fishballs and yong tau foo at San Dai Fishball in Toa Payoh from midnight to 7am and heading to his new eatery afterwards around 8am to prepare the food. He will only end work at about 3pm and after which, his staff will take over. To him, this arrangement is already quite "sustainable". "We are operating every day with no off days, Monday to Sunday. It's to increase our likelihood of breaking even," he elaborated. Apart from the ungodly hours, Delonix shared that running an F&B business will be much harder than what he is used to doing at his parents' wet market stall. "If you're talking about the difference between a wet market stall and a cooked-food store, it is very different. Working at a cooked-food stall is way more intense. At a wet market stall, once I've produced the fishballs, I can just sell them and go back home," he explained, adding that for an F&B business, there are additional steps such as preparing and cooking the food. "[A cooked-food stall] is more dangerous as well. The soup is hot so your hand may get burnt." Delonix also shared that the snippets of his life that he shares on San Dai Fishball's Instagram don't fully show how tough the nature of his job is. "Think twice if you want to work in F&B, it's not as easy as you think. It looks very glamorous. When people see my social media posts they think that I'm doing well, but they don't see the long hours and the sacrifices," he said. Preparing for something new In total, Delonix and his partners have pumped more than six digits into the business, with him being the majority shareholder. And with it being "unknown territory" for him, he's certainly feeling the pressure, especially since he's already run into some challenges. But Delonix still finds all this "very exciting" because he's learning plenty of new things. To cite an example, he talked about the renovation process and how he now understands that landlords have many different requirements. View this post on Instagram A post shared by DELON (@sandaifishball) He also has to settle things like manpower, furniture, electricity, pest control and his Singapore Food Agency License. And while preparations for the new eatery are going relatively smooth, Delonix admitted that he's still a ball of nerves. "Frankly, I'm very scared. Even now, I'm still scared. Because the risk level is way higher as compared to [running] a hawker stall," he explained. Some may wonder why Delonix is willing to spend his youth to pursue something so risky and taxing. But to him, it's all worth it. "It's my goal to carry on my family business. And I'm still in my 20s, so I should maximise what I can do at this age. I mean, I can't do this when I've got a wife and kids next time. "So now is the time to chase after my dreams and follow my passion. Now I can be more selfish with my time." [[nid:720688]] melissateo@
Straits Times
17 hours ago
- Straits Times
New vehicular bridge connecting Punggol Central and Seletar Link to open on Aug 3
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox The six-lane bridge between Punggol Central and Seletar Link will also come with upgraded junctions and cycling paths on both sides. SINGAPORE - Motorists living in Punggol West will have another access to Tampines Expressway (TPE) when a new six-lane vehicular bridge connecting Punggol Central and Seletar Link opens on Aug 3. This alternative route to enter and exit Punggol town will help relieve traffic pressure on existing major arterial roads like Punggol Way and Punggol Road, which feed into the TPE. The new bridge, located near Yusof Ishak Secondary School, comes with upgraded road junctions and barrier-free paths that link to the Punggol Park Connector, said Punggol GRC MP Sun Xueling in a Facebook post on July 31. It will form part of a new road called Seletar South Link. Ms Sun, who is Senior Minister of State for Transport and National Development, said in earlier social media posts that the bridge spanning the Sungei Punggol river will have cycling paths on both sides. 'Punggol residents can benefit from more transport options in and out of the town,' Ms Sun told The Straits Times on Aug 1. 'Punggol is a town which is still growing, and we have many young families who drive and use public transport to go to work, visit family and friends and manage household needs,' she added. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Tengah facility with over 40 animal shelters, businesses hit by ticks Singapore 60 years of building Singapore Asia 'Every day, we think about how to upgrade': China's factories see rise in robot adoption Singapore Sheng Siong to open first store in Orchard by end-August Sport Spurs captain Son Heung-min says he is leaving the English Premier League club Life Tastemakers: Burnt-out serial entrepreneur cooks up $16m success with Lau Wang Claypot Delights Asia 'This isn't some concubine selection': Why matchmaking events for rich Chinese have drawn flak Ms Sun said many Punggol residents use Exits 9 and 10 on the TPE to get in and out of the town. During peak hours, motorists can get stuck in traffic for five to 10 minutes at these exits before they can get onto the expressway, she noted. In January 2024, the Land Transport Authority opened the new Seletar Link Flyover , which connects Seletar Link to the TPE. This was to cater to an expected increase in traffic in parts of Punggol due to new developments there. The hope was that the flyover would improve traffic conditions, especially at the TPE exit near Punggol Way, with motorists having the option to use Punggol North Avenue and Seletar Link to get to the TPE instead. Ms Sun noted that there is land in the west of Punggol that has been set aside for future Build-To-Order flats. Hence, the extension of Punggol Central and the new vehicular bridge connecting to Seletar Link will meet the needs of both current and future Punggol residents, she said. According to the Urban Redevelopment Authority's 2025 draft masterplan , two plots of land next to Sungei Punggol on either side of Punggol Central road are zoned for residential use. Construction of the road extension and other related civil engineering work began in December 2018, after a $31.8 million contract was awarded by the Housing Board to Guan Joo Construction. Ms Sun had said in January 2024 that the vehicular bridge would open in the second half of that year. But this was pushed back to the first half of 2025, then later to July, and now Aug 3. Ms Latashni Gobi Nathan, who lives in Northshore Crescent, said traffic from her home to the TPE is not so bad because she and her husband can avoid Punggol Way and use Seletar Link instead. But she said the problem is when they need to get to Sengkang, where her in-laws live. A 10-minute drive can take 20 minutes when congestion hits. 'More exits and entries will help a lot,' added the 35-year-old, who works in communications. Punggol West resident Eddie Sia, 35, held a similar view. 'It used to be very bad, especially in the morning. But when Seletar North Link opened, the congestion was reduced,' the interior designer said. He added: 'Once Seletar South Link is open, it will definitely improve the flow of traffic.'
