14 DAY TRIAL // The United States is “deeply concerned” by the new restrictions put in place by Singapore regarding the websites that cover local news.
Singapore introduced new rules that applied to sites reporting an average of at least one Singapore-related news article per week over two months, and which get 50,000 unique IP addresses from Singapore each month.
According to the new policy, these sites must comply within 24 hours to remove content that has breached the standards. All sites that fall under the new law should also put up a performance bond of nearly $40,000/€31,000.
The US State Department spokesperson Jen Paksi said during a press briefing that the United States was concerned by the application of such press restrictions to the online world.
“We urge Singapore to ensure that freedom of expression is protected in accordance with its international obligations and commitments,” she said.
Just a few hours prior, it was revealed that Internet giants such as Google, Yahoo, Facebook and eBay issued a letter under the Asia Internet Coalition that says the Singapore government’s new policy for online sites could hamper its ability to continue to drive innovation, develop key industries in the technology space and attract investment in this key sector.
Tech companies have claimed surprise with the new regulations and noted that these have already impacted negatively on the state’s image on a global level.
The local government defended the new licensing rules reiterating that the regulations are not targeted at bloggers that continue to be free to comment whatever they want on government policies.
They believe that the new rules would raise the bar for news sites that will have to do their job well and accurately, particularly when reporting for the benefit of Singaporeans.