122 Dictating the Internet: In his Communications to the Singapore government on the POFMA, the UN Special Rapporteur for freedom of expression highlighted serious concern that the law would “not only serve as a basis to deter fully legitimate speech, especially public debate, criticism of government policy and political dissent” but also “serve as a model for far-reaching restrictions on vague and discretionary grounds of falsity”.459 Case of Brad Bowyer In November 2019 – in the first reported case of the use of POFMA – Brad Bowyer, a member of a political opposition party, was ordered by the POFMA Office to issue a correction notice to a post he had made on Facebook less than two weeks before, in which he had reportedly questioned the independence of two government-linked companies, Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd and GIC Pte. Ltd460 and raised concerns on their investment strategies.461 The Correction Direction had been issued to Bowyer following an instruction from the Minister of Finance, on the basis that “(The) post contains clearly false statements of fact, and undermines public trust in the Government. … It is necessary to state this for the record: GIC and Temasek operate on a commercial basis, and the Government is not involved in their individual investment decisions”.462 Within a day of being issued the direction, Bowyer posted a correction notice on his Facebook post. He further noted that “I am not against being asked to make clarifications or corrections especially if it is in the public interest… (I)n general, I caution all those who comment on our domestic politics and social issues to do so with due care and attention especially if you speak from any place of influence”.463 459 Communication No. SGP 3/2019 from UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression to the Government of Singapore, 24 April 2019, Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/ Opinion/Legislation/OL_SGP_3_2019.pdf 460 PM Lee Hsien Loong is Chairman of the Board of GIC Pte. Ltd and his wife Ho Ching is the Executive Director and CEO of Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd. See https://www.gic.com.sg/about-gic/ governance/board-of-directors/; https://www.temasek.com.sg/en/who-we-are/our-leadership. html. 461 Channel News Asia, ‘POFMA Office directs Brad Bowyer to correct Facebook post in first use of ‘fake news’ law’, 25 November 2019 (‘CNA, 25 November 2019’) Available at: https://www. channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/brad-bowyer-facebook-post-falsehood-pofma-fakenews-12122952; Tham Yuen C, ‘Govt invokes fake news law for first time, asks opposition member Brad Bowyer to correct Facebook post on Temasek, GIC’, Straits Times, 25 November 2019 (‘Straits Times, 25 November 2019’), Available at: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/ pofma-office-directs-opposition-member-brad-bowyer-to-add-correction-notice-to-facebook 462 CNA, 25 November 2019. 463 CNA, 25 November 2019.