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The Transformative Justice Collective (TJC), a social justice and anti-death penalty group based in Singapore, announced on January 21 that it had been forced by the Singaporean government to shut down its website and social media accounts until December 2026.

TJC platforms were designated a “Declared Online Location” (DOL) under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulations Act (POFMA) on December 20 last year. The designation is set for two years, the maximum period that can be prescribed under the law.

POFMA is frequently used to stifle dissent and silence criticism of the authoritarian regime. TJC member Koki Annamalai told 91������̳ in November that POFMA “gives ministers direct power to decide what is true and false”.

POFMA legislation requires organisations or individuals post “correction notices” on their posts. If a site is given multiple POFMA directions within a short period of time then it can be designated a DOL. It is illegal to provide funding to a DOL.

The DOL designation means the TJC website, Instagram, Facebook, X and TikTok accounts have been censored. The TJC Instagram now has a government mandated disclaimer in its bio, which reads: “Multiple falsehoods have been communicated on this page. Click for more details”, followed by a link to the POFMA office website.

In a statement, TJC said: “Being DOL-ed means TJC and its members can face criminal liabilities under POFMA for any work that goes towards operating and maintaining its website and social media.

“Additionally, it potentially criminalises donors for supporting our work...

“We have therefore decided to temporarily cease operation of the DOLs. This decision will take effect immediately, and stay in effect for the full period of the designation.”

TJC uses its online presence to report on death penalty cases and executions in Singapore. “We have also been a rare platform for the voices of death row prisoners, their families, people who use drugs, and other oppressed communities who are impacted by state violence and punishment,” it said.

“TJC’s reportage on executions, death penalty cases, drug policy, policing, prisons, courts and other systems of oppression is something we know many of you value, and we are proud of the work we have done over the years.”

Most recently, TJC supported death row prisoner Syed Subhail bin Syed Zin, who was executed on January 23 with only four days’ notice, after being in custody for 14 years.

In a letter written to the TJC when he received his execution notice, Syed wrote about the impact of the group’s support. “They felt I deserved compassion. The love I felt was an unselfish kind … [it was] uncondition[al] and its intent [was] to encourage me to be the best version of myself.”

As access to news and information online becomes increasingly limited, with billionaires tightening their control over platforms, TJC said: “We cannot free ourselves from unjust systems without first being able to freely express ourselves, and have access to independent sources of information and diverse perspectives.”

It said fighting for these civil liberties is a “parallel but equally important struggle” with its work against Singapore’s punitive criminal system.

TJC said the censorship indicates that the authoritarian government is “afraid that Singaporeans will liberate our minds from their propaganda, and be stirred into action when they hear of the injustices the state perpetrates”.

It said POFMA, the Newspaper and Printing Presses Act and the proposed Maintenance of Racial Harmony Bill are all attempts to counter dissenting voices and are “the consequence of the government’s fear”.

“When the state suppresses access to information, we must be dogged in educating ourselves and others, on our own terms.

“We must find ways to create our own spaces of democratic education, knowledge exchange and dialogue.

“When the state’s assaults on freedom of expression intensify, we must resolve to express ourselves even more fully and fearlessly.”

TJC said it would continue to fight for a “free-er and more just Singapore” and would resume use of the censored platforms in January 2027.

[The Transformative Justice Collectives’ pages will remain , but inactive. is still active. You can sign TJC’s petition against the death penalty .]