TOC's repeat falsehoods and offline spread risk cited for Straits Times print order

The Government's decision to require The Online Citizen (TOC) to publish a correction notice in The Straits Times — rather than solely on its own pages — was driven by TOC's persistent record of spreading falsehoods and the risk that false content can influence public understanding beyond its original online audience, Minister for Digital Development and Information Mrs Josephine Teo said on Wednesday (8 April). 

The explanation came in a written parliamentary reply to the Workers' Party MP Fadli Fawzi, who had asked what considerations guided the requirement under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Correction Direction issued on 23 March 2026.

Mrs Teo set out two broad grounds for the print order. The first was TOC's cumulative history under POFMA. She noted that TOC "has a history of publishing falsehoods" and that, due to its "repeated pattern of behaviour of spreading multiple online falsehoods," TOC's website and its Facebook and X pages have been designated as Declared Online Locations under POFMA on more than one occasion — first in July 2023 and again in July 2025.

Despite those designations, the Minister stated, TOC "has continued to disseminate false and misleading content." Over the past six years, she added, TOC and its affiliated pages have been issued 25 Correction Directions in total.

The second ground was the Government's assessment that online falsehoods do not remain confined to digital spaces.

Mrs Teo said falsehoods "can go beyond digital boundaries and spread through offline discourse — influencing public understanding even among those who have not encountered the original false content online." It was on this basis that the Ministry determined a print correction in The Straits Times was necessary "so that the facts are made accessible beyond the online audience," she said.

Mrs Teo also explained the broader framework within which such decisions are made. POFMA provides the Government with tools to address online falsehoods, including directions to publish correction notices on both online and, where necessary, offline channels, as well as the power to designate persistent communicators of falsehoods as Declared Online Locations — requiring those platforms to carry standing notices cautioning readers to exercise discretion.

These tools, she said, address the distinctive risks that online falsehoods present: their "potential for rapid proliferation and viral transmission, permanence in digital environments, and tendency for false information to achieve broader circulation than facts."

The Minister did not provide any fixed threshold or published criteria for when a print correction notice would be required in future cases. Mrs Teo indicated that the Government "will assess the need for a print correction notice depending on the circumstance of each case, to ensure corrections are effective in reaching the relevant audiences."

Editor's note: This article was written solely based on the Parliamentary question asked by MP Fadli Fawzi and the written reply provided by Minister Mrs Josephine Teo in Parliament on 8 April 2026.