[3] In March 2021, Second Minister for Home Affairs Josephine Teo announced that the government was considering the use of "legislative levers" to combat foreign influence.
[4] The act grants the Minister for Home Affairs the authority to investigate individuals suspected of being foreign agents engaged in "hostile information campaigns".
[5] Authorities will also be allowed to compel social media platforms and website operators to hand over user data,[6] without any justification in select instances.
[8] Reporters Without Borders described the act as "legal monstrosity with totalitarian leanings", while asserting that "(i)t is clearly independent media outlets that the FICA is targeting on national sovereignty grounds.
[13] Following K. Shanmugam's parliamentary speech on Fica, several activists, including Kirsten Han, Lim Tean, Jolovan Wham, and Terry Xu, were served with correction orders under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act for insinuating that he had said that "rule of law does not operate in Singapore".
[19][20] A second reading of the bill took place on 4 October,[7] during which Shanmugam gave a two-hour-long speech defending Fica,[21] while stating that the government would accept some of the 44 amendments proposed by the Workers' Party.