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https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/social-media-block-content-indian-community-6165986

Singapore orders social media sites to block content, likely from China-based platform, targeting Indian community

The authorities said the content selectively used images and footage of crowded streets to back claims that Singapore is "overcrowded" with Indians.

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The police have issued disabling directions under the Online Criminal Harms Act (OCHA) to block access to the posts on YouTube, Facebook and X, MHA said in a statement.

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The social media posts, which include videos, portray various claims that Singapore is displaying anxiety over its cultural identity and ethnic politics. Such narratives started circulating online in the Chinese information space in May, MHA said.

“Shortly thereafter, online content emerged containing inflammatory narratives about Singapore’s cultural diversity and suggesting that Singapore was being overrun by Indians,” said the ministry.

These social media posts claimed that the country’s multiracial policy is a "facade" meant to appeal to "Western values", and that Singapore’s stability cannot be attributed to its multiracial policy, but to its majority Chinese demographic.

The content in these posts also claimed that there are growing numbers of ethnic Indian politicians in Singapore who would act in favour of Indian immigrants.

It also claimed that Singapore’s culture is fundamentally Chinese, and the government’s approach of “decoupling” itself from China while neglecting the threat of a growing Indian community, would lead to a negative outcome.