Singapore (VNA) - Singaporean authorities have blocked access to six inauthentic websites after finding they were operated by foreign actors and could potentially be used in hostile information campaigns (HICs) against Singapore.
A joint statement issued on April 23 by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) said the websites masquerade as Singapore websites by spoofing or using terms associated with the country in their domain name.
During the general election 2025, four of them carried election-related news over the course of the 10-day campaign period before the May 3 polls, the statement said.
Notably, most of these websites became active only after the Writ of Election was issued on April 15, 2025, it added.
MHA said the level of exposure to these six websites was assessed to be low in Singapore, adding that all six have also not been used in a hostile information campaign against Singapore so far.
However, the websites are associated with networks of inauthentic websites that have been reported to have conducted such campaigns as well as influence campaigns in other countries, and may potentially be used by foreign actors to mount them against Singapore.
Five of the sites are associated with a network of inauthentic news websites flagged by Google’s Threat Analysis Group and Mandiant, Google’s cybersecurity subsidiary, the authorities said in their statement. They had been picked up for inauthenticity and spreading misinformation and disinformation.
MHA said the six spoofed websites were detected between 2024 and 2025 through its regular monitoring. The websites were revamped in June 2025, where they were not accessible for a few days before becoming live again with a different look.
This is not the first time Singapore has moved to block such websites using the Broadcasting Act. In 2024, the Government blocked 10 websites that also mimicked news publications./.
