US comedian ordered to carry Pofma correction notices on posts

Lebanese-Palestinian American comedian Sammy Obeid has been ordered to carry correction notices on social media posts he made on Aug 27, alleging that two planned stand-up shows in Singapore were cancelled due to government censorship.

- Kok Yufeng Correspondent

The Pofma Office, which administers the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act, has been instructed by Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo to issue the correction direction under Singapore's fake news law.

The Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) said on Sept 1 that Mr Obeid does not have to remove his posts on Facebook, Instagram and X, but will need to carry the correction notices on them so readers have a link to the Government's clarification.

"The cancellation had nothing to do with content," the ministry added.

MDDI also responded to Mr Obeid's latest Instagram post on Aug 31, in which he denied lying.

"We are aware of claims based on the recording of a private conversation. IMDA (Infocomm Media Development Authority) was not part of that discussion. It never had any discussions—directly or indirectly—with Mr Obeid or his representatives about his script, and certainly never asked for any edits or removals," MDDI said.

Mr Obeid's Aug 31 post carried two video clips, with one showing an unidentified person telling him over the phone to remove "anything that has to do with Palestine and Israel".

"They've given us until 3pm today," the person is heard saying in the other video clip that was posted. This was after Mr Obeid said he would agree to making edits to his script for the Singapore shows.