SINGAPORE – Information circulating online that the government is planning to reinstate a circuit breaker is false, said Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in a Facebook post on Dec 11.
He also said that posts and messages showing him endorsing commercial products were deepfakes.
“These are all falsehoods,” DPM Wong said, urging the public to “stay vigilant and discerning online”.
In 2020, the government introduced a circuit breaker to stem the spread of Covid-19.
Singapore is currently seeing an increase in the number of Covid-19 cases. In the week that ended on Dec 2, 32,035 people were diagnosed with the virus – the highest number of infections recorded up to that point in 2023.
In the week of Nov 19-25, the estimated number of local Covid-19 infections doubled to 22,094 from 10,726 in the previous week, MOH said in a statement on Dec 2.
There have been at least four other instances in 2023 when public figures have been impersonated.
In November, Senior Minister of State for Manpower Koh Poh Koon alerted his followers to a fake account on Instagram impersonating him, copying his posts and captions.
Multiple fake WhatsApp accounts impersonating Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen were also spotted in October.
Earlier in September, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung and Minister of State for Home Affairs and Social and Family Development Sun Xueling had fake social media accounts impersonating them, and similarly to Mr Koh, also had their photos and posts reproduced.
That same month, Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC MP Saktiandi Supaat alerted followers to several fake accounts on Instagram using his profile photo and versions of his name.
At least three Instagram accounts and a Facebook account were made using versions of Mr Saktiandi’s name.
In 2017, The Straits Times reported that at least 13 People’s Action Party politicians, including Mr K. Shanmugam, Mr Chan Chun Sing and Ms Tin Pei Ling, had fake social media accounts impersonating them.