SINGAPORE: The Singapore government has blocked 10 websites set up by foreign actors which authorities said could be used to mount hostile information campaigns (HICs) here.
The websites have been observed to masquerade as Singapore websites by spoofing or using terms associated with the country in their domain name, while incorporating familiar local features and visuals, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) said on Tuesday (Oct 22).
“They also carried content on Singapore, some of which were generated by artificial intelligence (AI),” the organisations added in a joint press release.
“These are common tactics used by malicious foreign actors: Build websites which can attract a local following, that may subsequently be used as platforms to mount HICs.”
It is therefore “in the public interest” to disable access to the 10 inauthentic websites for users in Singapore, by issuing directions under the Broadcasting Act.
In response to media queries, MHA said investigations show that no Singaporeans are involved in operating any of the websites, and that none of the websites has mounted a HIC against Singapore.
“The level of exposure of Singaporeans to these 10 websites is assessed to be currently low. However, the websites could potentially be used to mount HICs against Singapore in the future,” the ministry added.
The government is also reviewing the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act (FICA), to see how it could be used to take preemptive action against websites.
FICA was used in July to block nearly 100 social media accounts linked to exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui.
LINKS TO GLOBAL NETWORKS
The blocked websites are:
- zaobaodaily.com
- singaporeinfomap.com
- Singaporeera.com
- Singdaotimes.com
- Todayinsg.com
- Lioncitylife.com
- Singapuranow.com
- Voasg.com
- Singdaopr.com
- Alamak.io
As of 5pm, access to all 10 has been disabled.
Most of them are associated with global networks of inauthentic news websites previously identified by cybersecurity researchers to have conducted HICs and influence campaigns in other countries, said MHA and IMDA.
Two of them – www.zaobaodaily.com and www.singaporeinfomap.com – have domain names closely related or similar to legitimate Singapore-related websites. For instance, the official website of Lianhe Zaobao, Singapore’s largest Chinese-language newspaper, is actually www.zaobao.com.sg.
The content on these sites may hence mislead audiences into thinking they reflect official positions or local sentiments in Singapore, said the two government agencies.
