Janil Puthucheary said Singaporeans “trust the news that the government is putting out, but they also trust the media platforms”.

Speaking to a visiting Malaysian media team recently, Putucheary said the Protection of Online Falsehoods and Manipulations Act requires that corrections are displayed alongside reports containing false information so that “people can read and come to a conclusion about what is the truth”.

The law was extensively used during Singapore’s 2020 general election and the Covid-19 pandemic, with correction notices issued to opposition figures, including Alex Tan, who was required to correct false statements regarding cross-border travel arrangements.

“I think it’s important for us to find ways for people to trust what they’re reading online, to trust what they’re reading in print,” said Putucheary, who is one of two senior ministers of state at the digital development and information ministry. (A minister of state in Singapore is a junior minister roughly equivalent to a deputy minister in Malaysia.)

“All we are requiring is that, if people put up information which is false, and demonstrably false, that they put up a correction notice,” he said. “And I think that’s a standard I imagine many journalists will hold themselves to.”

He added: “If you look at countries that don’t have these types of approaches to online misinformation and fake news, actually you see it’s quite the opposite – falling levels of trust in the media and falling levels of trust in journalists.”

Putucheary had been asked for comments on critics who have argued that the Singapore law restricts freedom of speech and impedes journalistic work.

Malaysia previously had an Anti-Fake News Act which was largely criticised for being overly broad until its repeal in 2019.