A video of a man stepping on the Quran has been shared widely across social media, prompting the police to take action.
Meta has thus been directed to disable access to the content in Singapore, said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in a press release on Sunday (8 March).
Source: ROBIN WORRALL on Unsplash
The video in question is believed to have been taken on a public bus in Singapore, MHA said.
The original clip is no longer available but it was reposted and shared on other social media platforms.
MHA and the SPF have assessed that its content constitutes an offence of insulting the religion of another person in Singapore under Section 17F(4) of the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act 1990.
Accordingly, the authorities have issued five Disabling Directions (DDs) to Meta, which owns platforms including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Threads.
Source: Mariia Shalabaieva on Unsplash
Under the Online Criminal Harms Act 2023, the provider of an online service issued a DD must take all reasonable steps to disable access by users in Singapore to the relevant material stored, posted, provided or transmitted on or through its online service, any identical copies, or any relevant location.
Posts containing the video are now no longer accessible to end-users in Singapore.
MHA advised members of the public who come across such content to inform the authorities.
They should not repost the video to condemn the original poster’s actions, as doing so perpetuates the offensive content online.
Police investigations are ongoing.
During a doorstop interview with the media on Sunday (8 March), Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam described the video as “deeply offensive”, saying;
At any time it would have been offensive, let alone during Ramadan.
Source: K Shanmugam Sc on Facebook
The authorities had received a police report on the video and the police has taken action, he added.
Meta has complied with the DDs and has taken the video down.
Mr Shanmugam, who is also Coordinating Minister for National Security, revealed that the man who posted the video had likely posted similar videos previously.
He was convicted and jailed for doing so in July last year, during which “there was some evidence that he was mentally unwell”, the minister said.
He was released in December and is now overseas.
He will be interviewed by the police when he returns.
Also read: K Shanmugam Calls Out Facebook Page For Offensive Post Of Bible & Quran, Police Are Investigating
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Featured image adapted from K Shanmugam Sc on Facebook and ROBIN WORRALL on Unsplash.