Read on Twitter
The States Times Review refused to comply with the #POFMA order, so the #Singapore government has issued a directive to Facebook to publish a correction on the post. https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/govt-directs-facebook-run-correction-notice-states-times-review-post-after-page-owner
Will Facebook comply or take a stand? First, let’s look at the penalties for failure to comply: as a company, Facebook could be liable for a fine of up to S$1 million (US$731,915).
Will they think standing up to the #Singapore government on free speech grounds is worth that?
Will they think standing up to the #Singapore government on free speech grounds is worth that?
Facebook *could* challenge this order in court. But they'd first have to write to the minister who issued the directive (in this case, the hard-nosed Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam) to ask him to reconsider. Only after he refuses can FB apply to the High Court.
And, even if Facebook does want to take it to the High Court, they would have to comply with the order first—a direction that is under appeal is still considered in effect until the High Court sets it aside or the minister changes his mind.
In my @asiatimesonline piece covering #POFMA coming into force, the sense was that the big tech companies would comply, because the cost of *not* complying seems far higher than the cost of complying. https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/10/article/singapore-to-decide-whats-fake-and-whats-real/
What would be the cost of complying? Would the outcry be loud enough to damage Facebook’s brand? Would it lead to Singaporeans boycotting Facebook en masse (and even if this happened, is Singapore even a significant enough market in the grand scheme of FB’s global reach)? 
My educated guess is that, if Facebook does comply, it wouldn’t even cause a big enough ripple in #Singapore itself, much less internationally where people barely notice our lack of civil and political rights.
Anyway, we’ll find out pretty soon what Facebook is going to do. STR got its directive yesterday, and then the minister issued the directive to Facebook today, suggesting the window for compliance is not very long.
Here we go: Facebook has compiled with the targeted correction direction. #POFMA
That should have said complied*, not compiled arghhhh
