Singapore — A POFMA (Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act) correction order was issued against the “Truth Warriors” website on Sunday (Oct 24) due to misleading statements on the site regarding Covid-19 vaccines and treatments, including ivermectin, a horse dewormer.
In a Facebook post on Monday morning, Madam Ho Ching, the wife of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, did not mince words about what she thought of the “Truth Warriors”, writing that they are “really snake oil salesmen and saleswomen with dubious motivations.
Some are downright wicked,” she added.
In her next statements, she allowed some leeway for others in the group, calling them “gullible” and adding that “Many live in their own world of imagined conspiracy and hollywood constructs.
But there are also a “few” who “want to be heroes the easy way. While others carry chips on their shoulders, or are blinded by hate or unhappiness.”
The “Truth Warriors” call themselves a local community who are presenting “the other side of the COVID picture that is rarely found in conventional news channels.” Their alleged aim is to provide information that would help people in their choices in getting Covid vaccine shots, claiming to “simply offer you perspectives beyond pro-vax or anti-vax” by providing works from professionals in the field.
However, according to the Ministry of Health, a Correction Direction is needed due to the untruths on the site concerning the ineffectiveness of vaccines in reducing Covid’s transmission rates as well as information about how ivermectin safe and effectively prevents viral infections and treats COVID-19.
“These materials are from unverified and dubious sources, and individuals who heed the advice of ‘Truth Warriors’ can endanger themselves and the people around them,” wrote MOH.
The site is now required to publish the correction notice at the top of each webpage containing the falsehoods.
MOH added that the government “takes a serious view of the deliberate communication of these falsehood,” adding that a criminal investigation will be held.
An article on the government site Factually was also published to clarify and correct the falsehoods published on the “Truth Warriors” site, including a warning on the use of ivermectin.
While the drug is used primarily for livestock, for human use it is a prescription-only medicine registered in Singapore particularly for the treatment of parasitic worm infections.
Ingesting ivermectin for other purposes can cause serious health effects, including nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, hypotension (low blood pressure), allergic reactions (itching and hives), dizziness, ataxia (problems with balance), seizures, coma and even death from overdose. /TISG