While observers note Singapore’s authorities have been swift to draw “a red line” against foreign interference, the multiracial city state is susceptible to influence from online material, particularly regarding pro- or anti-China media content.

Among the 4.15 million resident population in Singapore, about three-quarters are Chinese, 13.5 per cent are Malays and 9 per cent Indians. The resident population comprises citizens and permanent residents.

The ministry said that between April 17 and May 10, 92 of these accounts published more than 120 posts containing videos on Singapore’s leadership transition “in a coordinated manner”.

The posts alleged that Singapore was “in the pocket of a foreign actor”, and that the “foreign actor” was involved in the selection of Singapore’s fourth-generation leader “behind the scenes”, the ministry added. Singapore’s fourth Prime Minister Lawrence Wong was sworn in on May 15, taking over the reins from now-Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who said Wong was chosen by his peers within the ruling People’s Action Party as the country’s leader.

Investigations found that the network of 92 accounts were linked to Guo and his affiliated organisations, the New Federal State of China and the Himalaya Supervisory Organisation. The other three accounts belong to a Singapore chapter under the Himalaya Supervisory Organisation.

The New Federal State of China is a right-wing political and lobby group created by Guo and Steve Bannon, the ex-White House chief strategist for former US president Donald Trump. The Himalayan Supervisory Organisation is a non-governmental organisation started by Guo and Bannon in support of the lobby group.

The ministry also cited a 2021 study by social media analytics firm Graphika which found Guo was at the centre of a vast network of interrelated media entities and social media accounts that disseminated disinformation across multiple platforms.

Who is Guo?

Guo, an outspoken critic of China’s government, was convicted on Tuesday in a US federal court on charges of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from online followers.

The former real estate tycoon is wanted by Beijing for a range of crimes including bribery and sexual assault, charges he has claimed are politically motivated. He fled China in 2014 and became an ardent supporter of Trump.

Last September, three of Guo’s media companies – GTV Media Group, Saraca Media Group and Voice of Guo Media Inc – were ordered by a judge to pay US$539 million in penalties related to illegal cryptocurrency sales.

He declared bankruptcy in February 2022 after a state judge ordered him to pay a fine of US$134 million or face arrest as he had violated a court order to keep his luxury yacht in American waters linked to a dispute over debts that he owed.

Experts who spoke to This Week in Asia said Guo’s extensive network and track record of misinformation campaigns were likely to have prompted the Singapore authorities to act.

Shashi Jayakumar, founder and executive director of geopolitical risk consultancy SJK Geostrategic Advisory, said Guo’s network had come under the radar of those who followed such issues. “This is an influence network orchestrated at an international scale by an actor or actors with a political agenda, keen to condition the mindsets of others.”

The network is very large and the Singapore chapter is a “small part of the overall ecosystem”. “The tentacles range from the US to Germany to Japan and many others,” Jayakumar added.

Bilveer Singh, a political scientist from the National University of Singapore (NUS), said: “Guo, with his network ... can change many minds because the majority of society is dependent on social media and on this digital way of living, and he is the master of it.”

“It’s a hydra snake; you cut one, another will resurface,” added Singh, referring to the extensiveness of Guo’s network.

Ethnic Chinese majority

Ja Ian Chong, an associate professor of political science at NUS, noted that aside from Singapore’s ethnic Chinese majority, the common use of Chinese languages and relatively fewer Chinese-language media offerings in the country meant there was a demand for Chinese media content.

“This demand presents a potential vulnerability. Similar risks may apply to media in other non-English languages common to Singapore, but the size of these audiences relative to the population is smaller,” said Chong.

Benjamin Ang, Head of the Centre of Excellence for National Security at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, concurred: “We can expect that foreign entities, whether businesses, partisan groups, wealthy individuals, or even countries, would try to influence Singaporeans in either pro-China or anti-China directions because of our large ethnic Chinese and Chinese-speaking population, and also because it’s highly profitable for the clicks.”

Singh noted recent events, including TikTok’s Singaporean chief executive Chew Shou Zi being grilled by US lawmakers on his nationality during a hearing earlier this year, meant that the Singapore government would want to dispel misconceptions about affiliations with China. During the hearing, the lawmakers also pressed Chew on whether he had links to the Communist Party of China, which he denied.

Singh said: “As a new prime minister, Lawrence Wong will want to put his foot down and bare his teeth so that the international community plus his local constituents know that he cannot be messed with.”

Under FICA, social media platforms that do not comply with an order can be found guilty of an offence which could entail a fine of up to S$1 million (US$740,000). In the case of a subsequent offence, they could face a fine of up to S$100,000 for every day after conviction.

This Week in Asia has reached out to the five platforms on whether they would comply with the order.

YouTube said it was reviewing the order from the Singapore government. A spokesman said: “We review government removal requests when notified through the correct legal processes… Where appropriate, we restrict or remove content in keeping with local laws and our Terms of Service after a thorough review.”

TikTok confirmed it had complied with the directive. The platform said it had restricted access for end-users in Singapore to one account that was involved.

Eugene Tan, associate professor of law at the Singapore Management University, said the providers were likely to comply since the direction only applied to users in Singapore. “It would be surprising to me if they sought to challenge the direction all the way to the review tribunal. They may opt to appeal to the Minister to assert some agency.”

Ang pointed out that social media companies had complied with orders under the city state’s fake news law and he expected they would cooperate again.

In 2020, Facebook expressed “deep concern” after it was “legally compelled” to comply with an order to block access to alternative media States Times Review’s Facebook page under the fake news law.

Regardless of compliance, it was significant that Singapore had signalled it had “legal tool kits to deal with what we assume to be very real foreign interference threats in our domestic politics”, Singh said.

“The signal is very clear. We have drawn a red line and this type of deliberate and calculated internal interference is unacceptable.”

The NTUC would be the third organisation designated as a politically significant person under Singapore’s foreign interference law, which would require the labour movement to make annual disclosures on political donations of S$10,000 (US$7400) or more, as well as foreign affiliations.

“The Registrar has assessed that given NTUC’s close nexus and symbiotic relationship with the People’s Action Party, it is in the public interest for countermeasures under FICA [Foreign Interference Countermeasures Act] to be applied to NTUC,” the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement on Thursday.

Its designation was a “pre-emptive measure”, the ministry told local media outlets. “It is not because NTUC has been compromised by a foreign actor, or has committed any wrongdoing nor anything of concern.”

The manpower ministry has also said it will “continue to work with NTUC as a key tripartite partner” and that the labour movement has complied with the Trade Union Acts, according to local media reports.

Kasthuri Prameswaren, a Singapore University of Social Sciences lecturer specialising in Singapore and Southeast Asia politics, said the government had clarified the designation “does not signal that the person or entity has been singled out for nefarious activities”.

“Its core activities are concerned with labour’s interest and welfare, as well as industrial relations … Given its significance on the political landscape in Singapore, such pre-emptive, protective measures are well put in place to avoid any such complications in the future and to ensure that NTUC will be able to continue, with accountability and transparency,” she said.

The move also signalled that the home affairs ministry would not “discriminate against entities”, said Eugene Tan, a law professor from the Singapore Management University.

“It is even-handed because FICA cannot discriminate between entities that are closely connected with the ruling party and those that are not,” he said.

“It is pre-emptive in that it signals that the unique position and standing of NTUC in the political landscape necessitates specified transparency declarations to prevent it from being a proxy of a foreign actor.”

Singapore’s foreign interference law was passed in parliament in 2021 after a 10-hour debate and is a tool to combat foreign interference in domestic politics. It can be used against groups and individuals that are either directly involved in political processes or have been found to conduct activities directed towards a political end.

Earlier this year, Philip Chan Man Ping, 59, a naturalised citizen and businessman, was designated as a politically significant person, after authorities assessed he had “shown susceptibility to be influenced by foreign actors, and willingness to advance their interests”.

Last year, human rights group Maruah and non-governmental organisation Think Centre were designated as politically significant persons.

It was standard practice to “pre-emptively regulate” the registration and activities of entities such as NGOs, think-tanks and human rights groups or even individuals, said Kasthuri.

“In some cases, such entities are found to be outright fronts for foreign interference, such as propaganda mills, while in other cases, they can be subject to foreign manipulation, particularly if it involves foreign funding.”

NTUC was served a notice of the home affairs ministry’s intention to designate it as a politically significant person on Thursday, and it has two weeks to submit representations to the Registrar of Foreign and Political Disclosures.

An NTUC spokesperson told local media outlets the group did not accept donations from political entities, adding it was “aligned with national safeguards to prevent foreign interference” and would ensure that operations “remain free from foreign influence”.

NTUC is an umbrella group of workers’ groups that has ties with the PAP since 1961 when it was founded by pro-PAP unionists. It is currently led by its Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng, a PAP member who is a former government minister.

As part of the country’s tripartite framework, the PAP works closely with NTUC to implement labour policies.

“During the Cold War, it was well known that communist states use trade unions as proxies to advance ideological interests and economic interests,” said Alan Chong, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS).

The decision to designate NTUC as a politically significant person was “a long time coming”, given its sizeable political influence, Chong said.

“Foreign interference has always been a concern but in this day and age, it has become more intense and the government, society and business sector have been walking a fine line – how far can you accept that a friendship can be instrumentalised by one of the parties?” he said.

While the move may not be directed at any particular country, Tan, the independent politics observer, pointed out that there have been cases of naturalised citizens joining these groups and using them as a platform to push a political agenda.

“Not all immigrants do this but there is concern that given how open Singapore society is, this is just some countermeasures to ensure that new immigrants know where they stand and what they should not do,” he said.

“It sends the message that we need to be wary that any one of the institutions in Singapore can be [the target of] foreign interference.”

SMU’s Tan said that NTUC could not “wish away the potential vulnerabilities of being targeted by foreign actors”.

“It comes with the turf of being closely allied with the ruling party. Some may say that it is a prime target and our labour history can testify to that.”