Fine for blogger who claimed in video that Josephine Teo made offensive remarks against Malays
SINGAPORE: A blogger posted a video on TikTok claiming that Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo had made offensive remarks against Malays.
Manmeet Singh Bahadar Singh did so after he received a link from an unknown person to a WordPress blog with the alleged offensive content.
Singh, 57, then posted a commentary about the content without verifying its authenticity. He removed it once he realised that he had been "led on" by the unknown person, his lawyers S S Dhillon and Jasjeet Singh Harjindar Singh told the court.
Singh was fined S$6,000 (US$4,700) on Friday (Jun 6) after he pleaded guilty to one charge of knowingly committing an act which promoted disharmony between different racial groups.
Singh is a blogger who posts about socio-political issues on TikTok, among other social media platforms. He has been previously featured in the media as former presidential candidate Tan Kin Lian's bodyguard.
HOW THE OFFENCE HAPPENED
Before he posted the offending content on TikTok on Aug 12, 2024, he received a link to a WordPress blog post via WhatsApp from an unknown person.
The blog post alleged that Mrs Teo, when asked about racial progress during an interview with Chinese media on Singapore's 59-year development, had made an offensive remark against Malays.
Singh felt angry and offended.
On the morning of Aug 12, 2024, he posted a video on his TikTok account with a visible representation bearing the words "Minister Josephine Teo blurted 'Malays are i*****' in a Chinese interview".
He then repeated the blog post's allegations. Singh did not verify the authenticity of the claims on the blog post before making his video.
In the video, Singh repeats the allegations and tells viewers to "go look it up".
He then adds, "I have been voicing out for, you know, against racial discrimination in Singapore. And look what happened now? My prediction's right!"
He finishes the video with the phrase "bring them down", according to court documents.
At the time of the offences, Singh's TikTok account had around 9,054 followers. The video was available long enough for Mrs Teo's colleagues and a reporter to ask the minister about it.
Around four hours after the video was published, Mrs Teo told her press secretary about it. The press secretary then downloaded a copy of the video and lodged a police report.
Later that day, Singh suspected the allegations were false and removed the TikTok video by 1.40pm.
He then posted another video in which he apologised to Mrs Teo, noting that his previous allegation was probably false. By 3pm, however, TikTok removed this video.
Subsequently, Mrs Teo posted on social media platforms to state that the allegations were false.
The blog post that sparked the offences was not available as of 6.30pm on Aug 12, 2024.
Singh was arrested on Feb 4, 2025 and released on bail the next day.
In mitigation, Mr Dhillon told the court the circumstances under which his client had been "led on" by the unknown person who sent him the blog post.
Singh was on his way to work as a warehouse assistant when this person texted him and included the link to the offensive blog post. This person then encouraged Singh to do "what you need to do", said Mr Dhillon.
"At the time, Manmeet had just alighted from his bus and was walking to his then-workplace, which was about a 10-minute walk from the bus stop.
"Manmeet felt angry and offended and elected to take a snapshot of the blog post on his phone and proceeded to record a video of himself commenting on the alleged statement on his phone whilst walking," Mr Dhillon and Mr Singh said.
Singh then went about his work. As he was working, he started having second thoughts about his post, as he had a growing suspicion that its contents were fake.
However, as Singh's work involved sensitive information, he did not have access to his phone until lunch.
"To his surprise and shock, he realised that the unknown person who had sent him the WhatsApp message that morning had deleted his account as well as the said message," the defence lawyers said.
"This confirmed Manmeet's suspicions that he had been falsely led on."
Singh immediately removed his video and published an apology video on his TikTok account. Unbeknownst to him, TikTok removed this video by 3pm.
He subsequently posted a second video to apologise.
The defence lawyers said that Singh was "racked with guilt" over his actions.
"Manmeet is not in the business of making his videos for profit or clout. His content is akin to an extension of himself and his views, which he shares because he feels responsible to raise awareness," said the lawyers.
Singh has since "deliberately steered clear of associating with other politicians to avoid controversy", the lawyers said. He also actively vets his news sources.
The defence asked for a S$2,000 fine for Singh.
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