Singapore’s courts weaponised again journalism yet again as Bloomberg and reporter Low De Wei found liable for defamation

The case is a fresh example of how SLAPPs - short for "strategic lawsuits against public participation," abusive legal proceedings with the intention of silencing reporting on matters of public interest - are plaguing the news landscape in Singapore. On 14 July 2026, Singapore's High Court found the US media outlet Bloomberg and its reporter Low De Wei liable for defamation in a lawsuit brought by two government ministers and ordered them to pay 460,000 SGD (356,000 USD) in damages.

The case was filed by Kasiviswanathan Shanmugam, Singapore's Minister for Home Affairs and Coordinating Minister for National Security, and Tan See Leng, Minister for Manpower, over a Bloomberg article published in December 2024. The article examined a lack of transparency in Singapore's luxury property market and referred to property transactions linked to the two ministers.

In a statement following the ruling, Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait defended the article, arguing that the reporting "was accurate and served an important public interest." He added that Bloomberg "continue[s] to believe that the ministers have imposed an extremely strained meaning on what was a solid story."

Journalist in exile also found liable for defamation

The verdict against Bloomberg follows a broader pattern of legal pressure against journalists and media outlets in Singapore. In May 2026, the High Court ordered Terry Xu, editor-in-chief of Singapore-focused online outlet The Online Citizen (TOC), to pay more than $154,000 SGD (almost $120,000 USD) in legal costs to Ministers K. Shanmugam and Tan See Leng over a separate defamation case related to an article based on Bloomberg's reporting. Xu, who has faced repeated abusive legal proceedings from Singaporean authorities in retaliation for his journalism activities, has lived in exile in Taiwan since 2022.

While Singapore often presents itself as a model of economic development, it continues to be anything but a model when it comes to press freedom. The city-state is ranked 123rd out of 180 countries and territories in the 2026 RSF World Press Freedom Index.