Wake Up Singapore admin to be charged with defamation over KKH miscarriage claims in online article

SINGAPORE: A 26-year-old man will be charged in court on Wednesday (Apr 24) for his involvement in the publication of an online article which propagated a "false story" of a miscarriage that occurred at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH).

The article, titled The baby is probably dead - Woman shares a harrowing account of her miscarriage at KKH A&E, was published on Wake Up Singapore's (WUSG) website as well as its Facebook and Instagram pages on Mar 23, 2022. 

The hospital lodged a police report regarding the article two days later.

"The article alleged that KKH’s mismanagement of healthcare services resulted in a female patient suffering a miscarriage after a four-hour wait for COVID-19 treatment and abdominal pains at KKH’s Accident & Emergency Department on Feb 28, 2022," said SPF in a news release on Tuesday. 

Upon receiving the police report from KKH, SPF said it consulted the Attorney-General’s Chambers and was authorised to investigate the matter.

"Investigations revealed that the 26-year-old man was purportedly the administrator for WUSG’s website, Facebook page and Instagram page. Subsequent investigations found that the allegations in the aforementioned article were untrue."

He will be charged with defamation for his involvement in the publication of the article which spread the "false story", said the police. 

If found guilty of defamation, he can be jailed for up to two years, fined, or both.

FALSE ALLEGATIONS

Wake Up Singapore apologised for publishing the woman's claims after she admitted to lying. 

"We now realise that we may have been fed lies at every turn," the alternative news source said at the time, enclosing a screenshot of a chat with the unidentified woman saying her "recollection is false". 

The woman said she had sent "things in the heat of the moment" because she was agonising over the loss of a previous miscarriage which was handled by the hospital. 

Wake Up Singapore said the admission came after it had informed the woman of the police report that KKH had filed.

"We have since realised that her call logs, her invoices, and her correspondence, may have all been doctored."

Wake Up Singapore was also issued a correction direction under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) in March 2022.

"These allegations are false," said the Ministry of Health (MOH) at the time. 

"KKH had identified the patient in question, based on a screenshot of a hospital bill accompanying WUSG’s posts, which contained discrepancies with the patient’s account of events.

"Subsequent investigations by KKH have confirmed that the patient had been seen by a doctor within an hour of her arrival at KKH in February 2022, and did not suffer any miscarriage."

Wake Up Singapore published the correction notices on Facebook and Instagram shortly after MOH issued its media release. The original posts have since been taken down.