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Appeals under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) (from 1 April 2022)

Find out how to appeal to the High Court (General Division) against a direction or declaration under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act.

Note

This page is for matters that the Rules of Court 2021 apply to. For content relating to matters that the Rules of Court 2014 apply, click here.

If you are uncertain as to which version of the Rules of Court applies to your matter, click here.

What is the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act

Under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA), the POFMA Office can issue directions or declarations to counter online falsehoods. Find out more on the POFMA Office's website.

Examples of directions or declarations that may be issued include:

Correction directions: to provide a notice that the statement is false or a notice that refers to a statement of fact, or both ⁽¹⁾.
Stop communication directions: to stop communicating the false statement ⁽²⁾.
Directions to internet intermediaries (such as Google, Facebook or Twitter) and providers of mass media services: to correct or disable access to a false statement ⁽³⁾.
Directions to internet intermediaries: to shut down any fake accounts and bots on its platforms ⁽⁴⁾.
Declaration of online locations ⁽⁵⁾.

Refer to the POFMA for more information.

When to appeal to the court

If you received a POFMA direction or declaration, you can appeal to the High Court only after both of the following have occurred:

You have applied to the relevant Minister to vary or cancel the POFMA direction or declaration.
The Minister has refused your application to vary or cancel the direction or declaration, in whole or in part.

You must file the appeal within 14 days after the Minister's decision to refuse your application.

If you file the appeal, you are the appellant.

Note

Estimated fees

You must pay both court fees and hearing fees to appeal.

Court fees

The court filing fees include:

Item or service	Fee
File the Originating Application	$200
File an affidavit (including exhibits)	(Up to 10 pages) $10 (More than 10 pages) $1 per page

Note: This table does not include additional fees payable to the LawNet & CrimsonLogic Service Bureau.

Refer to the relevant court fees in the Fourth Schedule to the Rules of Court 2021.

Hearing fees

The hearing fees vary depending on how long the case takes:

Days 1 to 3	No fees
Day 4	$6,000
Day 5	$2,000
Day 6-10	$3,000 per day
Subsequent days	$5,000 per day

Note: If you are unable to pay the fees, you may request a waiver or refund of the fees. This can be done at the appeal hearing, or by submitting a written request no later than 1 month after the appeal. The court will decide whether to waive or refund all or part of the fees.

How to file an appeal

Follow these steps to file an appeal in the General Division of the High Court:

File the following documents via eLitigation:

An Originating Application (OA) according to Form 1 of the POFMA Rules.
A supporting affidavit according to Form 2 of the POFMA Rules.

You may choose to file personally or through a lawyer. If you are not represented by a lawyer, you need to file in person at the LawNet & CrimsonLogic Service Bureau.

If you are represented by a lawyer, the documents will be filed by your lawyer. Refer to this Step-by-step guide to filing a POFMA appeal for filing online through eLitigation.

When: either on the day of filing or the next working day, depending on what time you filed

After you file your OA and supporting affidavit, go to the Supreme Court Legal Registry (located at Level 2 of the Supreme Court) to request a hearing date for the appeal. You will need to attend before the duty registrar. At the Legal Registry, take a queue number to see the duty registrar.

When you do so depends on what time you filed your OA:

If you filed...	Attend...
Within office hours of the Legal Registry	On the day itself
After office hours of the Legal Registry	On the next working day

The court will set the hearing date of the appeal on the 6th working day after one of the following dates, whichever is later:

After you attend before the duty registrar.
The date the OA and supporting affidavit are accepted by the registry.

Example

Note: If you do not attend before the duty registrar within the timeline, the registrar may schedule a pre-trial conference or a hearing date as the registrar deems fit. The hearing date of the appeal will be at least 6 working days after the OA and supporting affidavit are accepted by the registry. If you are unable to attend court on the scheduled date, you may request to change the court date, subject to the court's approval.

If you filed via the LawNet & CrimsonLogic Service Bureau, the Service Bureau will inform you to return there to collect the accepted copies of the OA and supporting affidavit after the court has scheduled the hearing date.

When: by noon of the next working day after your documents are accepted by the registry

You can serve the OA and supporting affidavit on the Attorney-General in any of these ways:

Electronically

Email the documents to AGC_POFMA@agc.gov.sg or serve via eLitigation.

If you are serving through eLitigation, indicate so when you file at the LawNet & CrimsonLogic Service Bureau.

In person

Leave a copy of the documents in an envelope marked "POFMA Appeal" at the reception counter of the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

You must file an affidavit of service or a registrar’s certificate of service via eLitigation within 2 working days after the date of service on the Attorney-General.

After you file the appeal

The Minister may file and serve an affidavit in response to yours within 3 working days after the date of service on the Attorney-General.

After this, no more affidavits can be filed or served without the approval of the court.

The court can still proceed with the appeal even if you do not appear at the hearing.

If the appeal is successful, the court will set aside the POFMA direction or declaration. You no longer need to comply with it.

If the appeal is unsuccessful, the court will confirm the POFMA direction or declaration. You must comply with it or you may be charged for non-compliance.

Need help?

The information here is for general guidance as the courts do not provide legal advice. If you need further help, you may want to get independent legal advice.

Find out more

Resources

Legislation associated with this topic includes:

Refer to Paragraph 11 of the Supreme Court Practice Direction 2021.

Footnotes

⁽¹⁾ Section 11 of the POFMA

⁽²⁾ Section 12 of the POFMA

⁽³⁾ Part 4 of the POFMA

⁽⁴⁾ Part 6 of the POFMA

⁽⁵⁾ Part 5 of the POFMA

Note

This page is for matters that the Rules of Court 2021 apply to. For content relating to matters that the Rules of Court 2014 apply, click here.

If you are uncertain as to which version of the Rules of Court applies to your matter, click here.

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