SINGAPORE: Australian Ai Takagi, the former editor of The Real Singapore (TRS) website, was jailed 10 months on four charges under the Sedition Act on Wednesday.
The 23-year-old had been charged with seven counts of sedition for articles published on TRS between October 2013 and February last year, which were alleged to have promoted ill will and hostility between different races or classes in Singapore.
Facts about how she ran the news portal as an owner and chief editor emerged in court two weeks ago, as she pleaded guilty to four of the seven counts.
Among the four inflammatory articles was one where she falsely stated that a Filipino family had caused a commotion between the police and participants of last year’s Thaipusam procession.
The prosecution said that Takagi had intentionally posted these articles to drive up traffic and to profit from it. More than 95 per cent of the website’s readers were from Singapore.
The court heard that TRS received more than 134 million page views in total from May 2014 to March last year, double that of the preceding year.
Deputy Public Prosecutor G. Kannan said the website used advertising services by Google and Taboola, which display advertisements alongside articles. Each time an article is viewed on the site, an advertisement is displayed and TRS would be paid for it.
The maximum punishment under the Sedition Act is a $5,000 fine and three years’ jail on each charge.
The 23-year-old had been charged with seven counts of sedition for articles published on TRS between October 2013 and February last year, which were alleged to have promoted ill will and hostility between different races or classes in Singapore.
Facts about how she ran the news portal as an owner and chief editor emerged in court two weeks ago, as she pleaded guilty to four of the seven counts.
Among the four inflammatory articles was one where she falsely stated that a Filipino family had caused a commotion between the police and participants of last year’s Thaipusam procession.
The prosecution said that Takagi had intentionally posted these articles to drive up traffic and to profit from it. More than 95 per cent of the website’s readers were from Singapore.
The court heard that TRS received more than 134 million page views in total from May 2014 to March last year, double that of the preceding year.
Deputy Public Prosecutor G. Kannan said the website used advertising services by Google and Taboola, which display advertisements alongside articles. Each time an article is viewed on the site, an advertisement is displayed and TRS would be paid for it.
Between December 2013 and April last year, the website earned over A$473,000 (RM1.4mil) in advertising revenue from Google alone, he said.
The maximum punishment under the Sedition Act is a $5,000 fine and three years’ jail on each charge.
Takagi's Singaporean husband, Yang Kaiheng, 27, who also ran TRS, has denied his charges and is claiming trial. - TheStraitsTimes/ANN
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