Sun Xueling: No Singaporean involvement found in Guo Wengui’s social media network

On 7 August Parliamentary sitting, Minister of State for Home Affairs Sun Xueling revealed that investigations have not found any evidence linking Singaporeans or people based in Singapore to the 95 social media accounts associated with exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui, which disseminated malicious narratives about Singapore’s leadership transition.

She noted that these social media posts had a low reach within Singapore’s information space and added that authorities have not detected any further posts from the network since 10 May 2024.

“Our investigations have not found any evidence that Singaporeans or persons based in Singapore are responsible for the 95 accounts, ” she said.

Ms Sun was responding to a parliamentary question filed by Mr Ang Wei Neng, Member of Parliament for West Coast GRC.

Mr Ang inquired about the reach of these posts and whether any of the three accounts belonging to Himalaya Singapore were operated by residents or foreigners stationed in Singapore.

He also asked whether there were additional posts initiated by the 95 accounts after 10 May, regarding Singapore’s leadership transition, and what lessons were learned from this episode.

Ms Sun noted that this episode is a reminder that Singapore is vulnerable to Hostile Information Campaigns (HICs) because of its small, open, and highly digitally connected society.

“The ubiquity of technologies such as the internet, social media and artificial intelligence has made preparing for and carrying out HICs much easier, ” she said.

She added that these campaign tactics range from polarizing societies by exploiting fault lines and manipulating public opinion on sensitive issues to undermining trust in government and institutions.

She emphasized that while legislative measures such as FICA, which prevent, detect, and disrupt hostile information campaigns, are important, they are not sufficient on their own.

“Public vigilance against foreign interference is equally important,” she said. “We urge Singaporeans to be discerning when consuming and disseminating information online.”

She added that Singaporeans should always fact-check information to verify its accuracy and authenticity against credible sources.

Mr Ang further asked about the resources devoted to monitoring such hostile interference and whether they are scaled up during sensitive periods. He also inquired if there were other instances of hostile interference, perhaps not on a large scale but state-sponsored.

In response, Ms Sun affirmed that authorities actively monitor the online space and will not hesitate to use FICA’s provisions when necessary.

However, due to national security reasons, she declined to disclose details of operations against foreign interference in Singapore.

On 19 July, The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) announced that five social media platforms — X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok — have been instructed to block these social media accounts from being accessible to Singapore users.

MHA noted that Between 17 April and 10 May this year, 92 accounts across five platforms published over 120 posts featuring videos on Singapore’s leadership transition.

This marks the first use of account restriction directions under the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act (FICA) since its enactment in October 2021.

The directions were issued after MHA identified a network of accounts linked to Guo and his affiliated organisations, the New Federal State of China (NFSC) and the Himalaya Supervisory Organisation, which are known to disseminate disinformation across multiple platforms.

These accounts primarily featured anti-CCP content. The main objective of the NFSC network is to drive traffic to Guo’s news sites, which then lead viewers to political content that is predominantly anti-CCP.

MHA noted that there are grounds to believe that Guo’s network can and may potentially use the 95 accounts to mount Hostile Information Campaigns directly targeting Singapore.

Guo Wengui was recently convicted on 16 July on nine of the twelve criminal counts he faced in the U.S., including charges of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from his online followers.

He faces the possibility of decades in prison, with U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres setting his sentencing date for 19 November.