SINGAPORE, Apr 2: Meta is investigating unauthorised activity on Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan’s Facebook page after a “like” from his account appeared on a controversial post on relocating pro-Palestine activists to Gaza, according to a media report on Wednesday.
The Minister’s press secretary said a report had been filed with Meta over the unauthorised activity.
“Meta is investigating,” the secretary was quoted by The Straits Times newspaper as saying.
The account was found to have “liked” a Facebook post on March 13 by former Nominated Member of Parliament Calvin Cheng who proposed sending a group of activists to Gaza as long as they never returned.
On Wednesday, Balakrishnan denied liking Cheng’s post. Balakrishnan also said he did not share Cheng’s views and that he had taken measures to “enhance account security”.
Cheng in the March 13 post said that he would sponsor members of the local activist group ‘Monday of Palestine Solidarity’ to relocate to Gaza.
Although it is no longer listed among reactions, Balakrishnan’s official Facebook page had previously liked the post, as evidenced by a screen recording shared on Instagram.
Tan Kiat How, Senior Minister of State for National Development and Digital Development and Information, had also “liked” the post.
Tan later said he had done so accidentally, after ‘Monday of Palestine Solidarity’ questioned him about it on one of his Instagram posts. He then “unliked” Cheng’s Facebook post.
Meanwhile, Cheng said he would take legal action on defamatory statements against him.
These include statements by former Singapore Democratic Party chairman Jufrie Mahmood, Reform Party secretary-general Kenneth Jeyaretnam and online publication The Online Citizen.
The statements accuse Cheng of being an Islamophobe, with Jufrie filing a police report on March 28, describing Cheng as a “danger to our precious racial and religious harmony”.
In the police report, it is alleged that Cheng’s Facebook post made a “threat on the lives of anyone that is against the ongoing genocide”, adding that a one-way trip to Gaza would imply instant death.
Cheng, however, said his post was a response to the actions of the activists from the ‘Monday of Palestine Solidarity’ group and specifically aimed at those who showed up at Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam’s meet-the-people session on March 12. (PTI)
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