Wake up Singapore Facebook page restored after week-long suspension by Meta
Alternative news site Wake Up Singapore (WUSG) had its Facebook page restored on Oct 3 after a week-long suspension by Meta.
Access to the Facebook page, which has over 181,000 followers, was first blocked on Sept 26.
Meta told The Straits Times on Oct 8 that it had it recently experienced a technical issue that resulted in some Facebook Pages being temporarily disabled. ST understands this includes WUSG.
“This issue has been resolved, and impacted pages were reinstated shortly after we were notified,” said a Meta spokesperson.
ST has asked Meta how many Facebook pages in Singapore were affected.
WUSG founder Mr Ariffin Sha said he immediately submitted an appeal to restore the page via an appeal form on the Facebook app.
On Oct 3 morning, he received a reply stating that the WUSG page did not meet the community standards on cybersecurity.
“We know this is disappointing, but we want to keep Facebook safe and welcoming for everyone,” according to the reply on the appeal review page.
The tech platform did not provide any details about the exact nature of the cyber security lapses or breaches, he added.
According to Meta’s community standards on cybersecurity, prohibited content and behaviour include phishing tactics to get someone’s login information, accessing accounts or profiles through deceptive means or without explicit permission, and attempts to share, develop, host or distribute malicious or harmful code.
“There were no hacking or phishing attempts by us,” said Mr Sha. “I don’t even know what the breaches are.”
But on the night of Oct 3, Mr Sha received an email that the page had been restored after review of the appeal. No reasons were given for the restoration, he said.
“How do we learn our lesson when we don’t even know what caused the ban on the page in the first place?” said Mr Sha.
In Aug 2024, Mr Sha was fined $8,000 for criminal defamation over an untrue story about a miscarriage at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital that was published on WUSG.
Mr Sha also stood in the recent General Election under the Singapore Democratic Party banner for Marsiling–Yew Tee GRC.
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