Information time bombs: Foreign actors flying local colours

Regulation alone won't stop hostile information campaigns. Singaporeans need to know who's pulling the strings and think twice about what they read and share.

- Bhavan Jaipragas

What caught your attention when the Singapore Government announced on Oct 22 that it was blocking 10 websites linked to foreign actors?

At first glance, the sites seemed unrelated - each with its own domain, design, and a mix of everyday content. But after looking through the Government's statement and The Straits Times' reportage, some patterns quickly became clear.

For example, despite their efforts to appear distinct, seven of the sites were likely part of the same network - seemingly connected by the same invisible hand.

These seven portals shared content from the same newswire and dressed it up with a local spin.

All 10 websites tried to pass off as Singaporean, with names like zaobaodaily.com mimicking the Republic's largest Chinese-language paper, or Alamak.io, with a popular Singlish term as its domain name to make it seem it was run by locals. Most articles also did not have bylines.

Then there was the glaring similarity that the authorities didn't spell out but was impossible to ignore: These sites had clear allegiances.

Alamak.io, for instance, ran five commentaries by Russian Ambassador Nikolay Kudashev - subsequently shared on the social media accounts of Moscow's Singapore and Asean embassies - making its alignment with Russia evident.

The other nine, through the nature of their curated content and pro-Beijing messages subtly tucked into otherwise-harmless stories, suggested Chinese involvement.

It is understandable why the Government didn't directly name China or Russia, leaving the rest of us - citizens, media, academics and civil society - to draw our conclusions from the clues provided. This approach is nothing new in Singapore.

Since foreign interference became more discernible in the 2010s, the Government has consistently avoided naming the states involved, even when it was clear who they were.