Singapore Orders Social Media to Block 95 China-Linked Accounts

The government of Singapore ordered five social media platforms to remove 95 accounts, largely tied to exiled Chinese millionaire Guo Wengui, on Friday

The direction was issued to X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok under the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act for accounts that published over 120 posts on Singapore’s leadership transition between April 17 and May 10.

The Home Affairs Ministry issued a media statement claiming that Singapore was “in the pocket of a foreign actor” and that the foreign actor was involved in selecting Singapore’s fourth-generation leader.

It was stated that they were published in a coordinated manner.

On May 15, Lawrence Wong was sworn in as the fourth prime minister of Singapore.

Guo, an exiled Chinese industrialist and an outspoken opponent of Beijing’s communist government, was associated with 92 of the 95 accounts. On Tuesday, he was found guilty in the United States of plundering hundreds of millions of dollars from his online followers.

He is a former real estate developer who departed China in 2014 due to an anti-corruption campaign. Guo compensated former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon with $1 million as part of a consulting agreement intended to provide legitimacy to his anti-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) movement.

In 2020, Guo and Bannon established the New Federal State of China, a right-wing movement that purportedly sought to replace the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as the government of China.

According to the Home Affairs Ministry of Singapore, Guo and his affiliated organizations, the New Federal State of China and the Himalaya Supervisory Organisation, have published various Singapore-related narratives.

“The network’s coordinated actions and precedent of using Singapore to push its agenda have demonstrated its willingness and capability to spread false narratives that are detrimental to Singapore’s interests,” the ministry reported.

It stated that there are reasonable grounds to suspect that Guo’s network would employ the 95 accounts to conduct hostile information campaigns specifically directed at Singapore and potentially “undermine social cohesion and sovereignty.”