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Facebook takes down Fabrications About the PAP page ahead of GE due to violation of policies

SINGAPORE — Facebook has taken down the Fabrications About the PAP (FAP) page, as part of its actions against accounts which violate the social media platform’s policies ahead of Singapore’s coming General Election.

A Facebook spokesperson said that actions have been taken against “several accounts in Singapore for violating our policies”, without disclosing which accounts these were.

A Facebook spokesperson said that actions have been taken against “several accounts in Singapore for violating our policies”, without disclosing which accounts these were.

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SINGAPORE — Facebook has taken down the Fabrications About the PAP (FAP) page, as part of its actions against accounts which violate the social media platform’s policies ahead of Singapore’s coming General Election. 

The page, which had more than 250,000 likes, had been inaccessible recently. In response to TODAY’s queries, a Facebook spokesperson confirmed on Sunday (June 28) that the page has been unpublished. 

The spokesperson also said that actions have been taken against “several accounts in Singapore for violating our policies”, without disclosing which accounts these are. 

“These accounts were discovered during our ongoing proactive work to find and take action on accounts that violate our policies. This action is based on the behaviour of these accounts, not based on the content they posted,” the spokesperson added. 

The FAP page was largely regarded as being pro-People’s Action Party and was started by Mr Chua Chin Seng. It had been warned by police in 2017 for breaching election advertising rules during the Bukit Batok by-election.

Earlier this month, Facebook's head of public policy Clara Koh said that since July last year, there have been teams dedicated to Singapore's election, looking out for "coordinated" or "inauthentic behaviour" on the platform.

Among the actions which Facebook can take include removing accounts that clearly violate its policies: It does not allow people to misrepresent themselves on Facebook, use fake accounts, or engage in behaviors designed to enable other violations of its

Community Standards

Facebook can also validate the authenticity of an account where its behaviour indicates it may be misrepresenting itself. 

During this validation process, an account owner will need to provide additional information in order to continue using Facebook. Until this is done, the account cannot be used to reach others. If the account owner fails the verification, or if Facebook determines that there is a violation of its policies, the account will be removed.

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