60 Dictating the Internet: Case of The Online Citizen (i) In December 2018, Terry Xu, editor of independent news website The Online Citizen (TOC), and Daniel De Costa, author of a letter posted on TOC, were charged with criminal defamation for an article posted on TOC’s website which had alleged “corruption at the highest echelons” within the Singapore government.185 The charges under sections 499 and 500 of the Penal Code were made on the basis that the allegation was made with knowledge that “such imputation would harm the reputation of the members of the Cabinet of Singapore”.186 De Costa was also charged under the Computer Misuse Act for unauthorized access to an email account, which he had reportedly used without the individual’s consent to communicate the article.187 In November 2018, police searched the homes of Xu, De Costa and a third individual named ‘Willy Sum’ and seized electronic equipment. Terry Xu and ‘Willy Sum’ were also brought into the police station for questioning.188 De Costa’s constitutional challenge against the criminal defamation charge against him is due to be heard on 27 November 2019. The challenge concerns the question of whether the phrase “the reputation of such person” under section 499 of the Penal Code should read to be limited to “natural persons” alone, and cannot be extended to the Cabinet.189 185 Shaffiq Alkhatib, ‘TOC editor Terry Xu and alleged contributor to site charged with criminal defamation’, Straits Times, 13 December 2018, Available at: https://www.straitstimes.com/ singapore/courts-crime/toc-editor-terry-xu-and-alleged-contributor-to-site-charged-with-criminal 186 Coconuts Singapore, ‘The Online Citizen editor Terry Xu charged for defaming Cabinet of Singapore members’, 12 December 2018, Available at: https://coconuts.co/singapore/news/online-citizeneditor-terry-xu-charged-defaming-cabinet-singapore-members/ 187 Shaffiq Alkhatib, ‘TOC editor Terry Xu and alleged contributor to site charged with criminal defamation’, Straits Times, 13 December 2018, Available at: https://www.straitstimes.com/ singapore/courts-crime/toc-editor-terry-xu-and-alleged-contributor-to-site-charged-with-criminal 188 Coconuts Singapore, ‘The Online Citizen editor Terry Xu charged for defaming Cabinet of Singapore members’, 12 December 2018, Available at: https://coconuts.co/singapore/news/online-citizeneditor-terry-xu-charged-defaming-cabinet-singapore-members/ 189 Kathleen F., ‘Court to hear Daniel de Costa’s constitutional challenge in criminal defamation charge on 27 November’, The Online Citizen, 12 September 2019, Available at: https://www. theonlinecitizen.com/2019/09/12/court-to-hear-daniel-de-costas-constitutional-challenge-incriminal-defamation-charge-on-27-november/