SINGAPORE – Socio-political website The Online Citizen (TOC) and its various social media channels were taken offline on Thursday morning (Sept 16), ahead of a 3pm deadline set by the Infocomm and Media Development Authority (IMDA).
Attempts to access the TOC website returned an “access denied” error. The website was also not accessible from outside Singapore.
TOC’s Facebook and Twitter profiles were deactivated, while its Instagram account was made private. All video content on TOC’s YouTube channel was delisted.
This comes after IMDA on Monday suspended TOC’s class licence to run its website and social media channels due to its repeated failure to comply with legal obligations to declare all sources of funding.
TOC has not fully complied with this obligation since 2019, IMDA had said. It set a deadline of 3pm on Thursday for TOC to disable its website and social media channels, adding that it would take steps to block access to TOC in Singapore otherwise.
The authority also threatened to cancel TOC’s class licence by Sept 28 if it “does not provide further information to bring it into full compliance”. It added that TOC’s officers may be held liable for criminal offences under the Broadcasting Act.
The Straits Times understands that IMDA had not yet taken steps to block TOC in Singapore when the website went dark.
ST has contacted TOC for comment.
Founded in 2006, TOC had styled itself as Singapore’s longest-running independent online media platform.
Since at least 2016, it has largely been a one-man show run by its chief editor Terry Xu.
On Sept 1, Mr Xu was ordered by the High Court to pay Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong $210,000 for defamation over an article published on the TOC website.
According to Mr Xu’s lawyer Lim Tean, a crowdfunding effort to help Mr Xu pay the damages had raised close to $195,000 as at Wednesday night.
