Singapore orders TikTok, Meta to disable former ISA detainee's accounts over posts inciting racial tensions
Zulfikar Mohamad Shariff falsely alleged that Malay/Muslims were forced to abandon Islam and assimilate into the Chinese community in Singapore, says the Home Affairs Ministry.
Zulfikar Mohamad Shariff on his TikTok account, which has been disabled in Singapore. (Screengrab: TikTok/Zulfikar Mohamad Shariff)
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SINGAPORE: Authorities have ordered TikTok and Meta to disable in Singapore the accounts of a former Internal Security Act (ISA) detainee, after he repeatedly made posts stirring up discontent within the local Malay/Muslim community against the Chinese community.
Zulfikar Mohamad Shariff, who renounced his Singapore citizenship in 2020 and is now an Australia citizen, has incited feelings of “enmity, hatred, ill-will and hostility against, contempt for and ridicule of different racial and religious groups in Singaporeâ€, said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Wednesday (Nov 26).
In one example cited by MHA, the 54-year-old posted a TikTok video on Jun 19, falsely alleging that Malay/Muslims were forced to move away from Islam and assimilate into the Chinese community in Singapore.
The ministry said several other posts carried similarly inflammatory messages.
“The government has received numerous feedback from members of the public, including several police reports, that Zulfikar’s posts threaten racial and religious harmony in Singapore,†it said.
The Singapore police have issued an Account Restriction Direction and a Disabling Direction under the Online Criminal Harms Act. TikTok has been directed to restrict access to Zulfikar’s account and Meta has been ordered to disable his Facebook page in Singapore.
“This would stop Zulfikar’s accounts/pages from further communicating in Singapore, and harming our racial and religious harmony,†said MHA.
The ministry added that the police have also initiated investigations into Zulfikar for his “egregious conductâ€.
As of 2.30pm on Wednesday, his TikTok account was no longer accessible.
Zulfikar was detained under the ISA in 2016 for his promotion of terrorism and online glorification of the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and his actions had contributed to the radicalisation of at least two other Singaporeans.
He had also called on Muslims to reject the constitutional, secular, democratic state in favour of an Islamic state governed by Syariah law, and believed that violence should be used to achieve this goal if necessary, said MHA.
Responding to queries from Â鶹, MHA said that in October 2020, Zulfikar was sentenced to six weeks’ imprisonment under the Passports Act.
He had made a false declaration that he did not hold the citizenship of another country when he applied to renew his Singapore passport in 2013.
His detention under the ISA was cancelled following his conviction for the Passports Act offence, and he was released from prison on Nov 5, 2020.
Zulfikar was repatriated to Australia on the same day, given that he was no longer a Singapore citizen.
MHA added it is not the first time that such directions have been issued under the Online Criminal Harms Act.
Since the start of the Act in February 2024, the police have issued directions, including account restriction directions and disabling directions, to restrict the exposure of Singapore users to online criminal activities such as scams and malicious cyber activities.
The Act allows the relevant authority to issue directives to online service providers to put in place any system, process or measure, if the authority is satisfied that this is necessary or expedient to address a relevant offence.
During the 2025 General Election, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) issued corrective directions under the Parliamentary Elections Act to Meta to disable Singapore users' access to online election advertising published on Facebook by Zulfikar.
According to MHA and the Elections Department, Zulfikar had, in his post, accused several Malay-Muslim Members of Parliament of failing to represent the interests of the Muslim community, and said that the local Muslim community did not need another Malay MP who did not represent their views.
"Foreigners must not direct, fund or in any way influence Singapore’s elections. It is an offence under the Parliamentary Elections Act for foreigners to participate in election activity or publish online election advertising," said the authorities then.
"Singapore’s politics must be for Singaporeans alone to decide."
