SINGAPORE: Singaporean bloggers blacked out their homepages yesterday to protest new licensing rules for news websites they say will muzzle freedom of expression.
Some 134 participants, including individual bloggers and community-based blogs, replaced their homepages with black screens featuring the words “#FreeMyInternet”, as well as the time and venue of a rally to be held Saturday. The 24-hour blackout was to last until midnight.
The protest comes after surprise regulations came into force on June 1 requiring news websites, including one operated by US-based Yahoo!, to obtain licences from the city-state’s official media regulator.
“This is not just a movement by socio-political blogs. The participating websites are from all genres from lifestyle and food, to technology,” said Choo Zheng Xi, a spokesman for the “Free My Internet” group that organised the protest.
Volunteer-run blogs focusing on social and political issues including poverty and immigration have gained popularity as an alternative source of news and opinion in Singapore, where the mainstream media is widely seen as pro-government.
The Media Development Authority said that blogs were not considered news portals. AFP
