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Online group asks MDA to withdraw licensing regime

SINGAPORE — More than 20 individuals from various local websites have called on the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) to withdraw the new licensing regime for online news sites, and urged Members of Parliament to oppose the new rules.

SINGAPORE — More than 20 individuals from various local websites have called on the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) to withdraw the new licensing regime for online news sites, and urged Members of Parliament to oppose the new rules.

“The new regulations, and the manner in which they have been imposed by regulatory fiat, are unacceptable in any developed democracy,” the group said in a joint statement issued yesterday.

The statement was signed by 23 individuals — including well-known names in the blogosphere like Alex Au and Andrew Loh — who run websites that “provide sociopolitical news and analysis to Singaporeans”. These sites include The Online Citizen, TR Emeritus and publichouse.sg.

The group raised concerns that the new regime would impact “Singaporeans’ ability to receive diverse news information”.

They also questioned the manner in which the regime was introduced, noting it “has not gone through the proper and necessary consultation and had been introduced without clear guidance”.

“In a typical public consultation exercise, a government agency will publish a draft regulation with detailed explanation and issue a press release to invite members of the public to send in feedback for consideration. We observe this is not the case for the licensing regime,” the group said.

“These new regulations significantly impact Singaporeans’ constitutionally protected right to free speech, and they should not be introduced without the most rigorous public debate and discussion.”

On Tuesday, the Media Development Authority (MDA) announced that from tomorrow, websites which have “significant reach” — defined as having 50,000 unique visitors from Singapore each month over a period of two months — and publish an average of at least one article a week on “Singapore’s news and current affairs” over the same period would come under a new licensing regime.

Under the regime, operators of these websites have to comply within 24 hours to remove content found to be in breach of standards. These sites are also required to put up a “performance bond” of S$50,000. If operators of the news sites defy the order to apply for a licence, they can be fined up to S$200,000 or jailed up to three years or both.

The group said: “While the S$50,000 performance bond is a drop in the ocean for a mainstream news outlet with an online presence, it would potentially be beyond the means of volunteer-run and personal blogging platforms like ours. Hence, MDA’s claim that the licensing regime is intended to equalise the playing field between online and offline news is incorrect: The regulations will disproportionately affect us.”

Asked to respond to the statement, an MDA spokesperson said: “The regulation only concerns online news sites that meet the criteria of reach and content.”

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