SINGAPORE – At first glance, the content looks innocuous.
A Facebook page posts fun facts, celebrity gossip or other “updates” on happenings in Singapore.
Amid the clickbait, the tone shifts.
Suddenly, the same page is amplifying inflammatory narratives claiming Singapore is being “taken over” by Indians.
An hour later, the page returns to seemingly innocuous content – a food review.
This pivot from casual clickbait to narratives that could undermine the Republic’s racial harmony and multiculturalism was among the patterns The Straits Times found after examining five of the accounts involved in 14 posts that the Government ordered blocked on YouTube, Facebook and X for targeting the Indian community.
This modus operandi – which was most pronounced on Facebook – resembles techniques seen in foreign influence campaigns, where social media accounts first draw followers with clickbait before introducing divisive messaging.
A screengrab of content on YouTube which selectively used images and footage of crowded streets in Little India.
PHOTO: MDDI
The posts selectively used images and footage of crowded streets in Little India and of Indian devotees at a religious festival here to back their claims that Singapore is “overcrowded” with Indians, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said.
One Chinese-language Facebook page, with its name translating to Singapore Fun House, has more than 86,000 followers and posts Singapore-related news daily.
Its history, however, suggests that it did not start as a Singapore-centric page.
Created in November 2020, it was known then as Xiu Jie Kai’s Love Manual, posting photos of the Taiwanese actor almost daily.
Less than a year later, it was renamed Malaysia Fun Facts Museum, before adopting its current name in June 2022.
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