The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) responded after owner of The Online Citizen, Terry Xu, said that he was going to relocate his website operations to Taiwan.
IMDA said that TOC’s class license was cancelled because it had repeatedly refused to comply with requirements to declare their funding sources, as well their foreign funding.
They said that they are aware of the new foreign0based website and its social media accounts, and added that the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) and the Foreign Interference Countermeasures Act (FICA) will continue to apply to the website.
TOC responds to IMDA responding to TOC
What Terry Xu previously said
Dear supporters, past, present and future, we are back.
While operations of The Online Citizen Asia (TOC) were shut down by Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) last year on 16 Sept, the ruling of the Singapore courts has made clear that we are not prohibited from operating from outside of Singapore.
Furthermore, both the operation of the website along with its social media platforms have been transferred to a new company that is registered in Taiwan while the old Singapore entity is in the midst of closure.
We are pleased to be back and look forward to serving you as an independent media platform once more.
There will however be some changes. There will not be any daily news reportage from TOC as the site will now focus on providing commentaries and analysis on current affairs in the Asian region.
I am currently overseas and will be relocating to Taiwan to start up a news media outlet which will provide daily news coverage in Asia.
More will be announced in due course and we look forward to serving you again very soon!
Rgds,
Terry Xu