Pofma order issued to Meta, X over US comedian's posts

MDDI says he failed to comply with earlier order over his claims about cancelled shows

- Samuel Devaraj

Meta and X have been directed to communicate correction notices to all end-users in Singapore who accessed or will access comedian Sammy Obeid's posts that were the targets of a direction under Singapore's fake news law.

This is as the Lebanese-Palestinian American comedian failed to comply with the correction direction issued under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) on Sept 1, the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) said in a statement on Sept 4.

Mr Obeid made posts on Aug 27 alleging that his two planned stand-up shows in Singapore were cancelled due to government censorship, which the Government says is not true.

MDDI said Mr Obeid's original posts falsely claimed that the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) had required multiple rounds of edits to his material, including removing all references to Israel, Palestine and the conflict in Gaza, but rejected his script even after he had complied with all required removals.