Archived version
The Singapore Times, which was one of six inauthentic websites blocked by Singapore authorities for posing as local mainstream news outlets, is linked to a Chinese company, an investigation by CNA has found.
The other fake websites are also likely a coordinated cluster, based on findings by CNA Verification.
The six websites were blocked by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) on Thursday (Apr 23) over their potential to be used in hostile information campaigns against Singapore.
CNA Verification also uncovered a Chinese-language companion to sgtimes.com. This website runs on a direct Alibaba Cloud IP address in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.
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The site, cn[dot]sgtimes[dot]com, actively impersonates Lianhe Zaobao's search engine optimisation (SEO) – its meta keywords explicitly include Lianhe Zaobao’s name in Chinese characters – suggesting an attempt to hijack Singapore Chinese language news search traffic. It is understood that this website could be blocked as well.
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A registration number displayed at the bottom of the sgtimes.com homepage was traced to a company named Jiangsu Nanfang Digital Technology. Chinese authorities issue Internet Content Provider (ICP) licences to permit China-based websites to operate in the country; the ICP filing linked from sgtimes.com lists the site under a registration number associated with the company.
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Apart from sgtimes. com, the other five are singaporeheadline. com, singaporeweek. com, singapore24hour.com, nanyangweekly. com and singaporebuzz. com.
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CNA Verification also found no signs of an English-language social media network promoting these seven fake websites and their content.
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