SINGAPORE, Jan 3 — A former Reform Party member has apologized to Minister for Law and Home Affairs K. Shanmugam, admitting that he had made a false statement about his alleged “extramarital affair”.
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In his apology, titled “Apology and Promise,” Thaddeus Thomas “acknowledges that he intended to post these falsehoods, and acknowledges that the statements were false and completely baseless.” said.
The apology was first posted on TikTok by user “thaddeusthomas81” on December 21, 2023, and posted on Facebook as “Thaddeus Thomas” on December 25, 2023.
Thomas continued in the note: “I regret my actions and unreservedly apologize to K. Shanmugam for the false and defamatory statements I made in my TikTok post. “I acknowledge that I received advice and encouragement to post this, and I regret taking this advice.”
Thomas also said that a letter sent by Shanmugam’s lawyer to his Facebook account via Facebook Messenger on August 25 was “deliberately ignored” because he thought Shanmugam’s team would not be able to identify him. “I did,” he said.
Mr Thomas said he responded to Mr Shanmugam on November 30 after reading an article in the Straits Times that Minister Shanmugam had applied for a court order forcing TikTok to disclose user information about him. .
In his memo, Thomas also said he had “kindly agreed” to Shanmugam’s request not to seek damages despite his “unwarranted allegations.”
Thomas said he would also pay Shanmugam’s legal costs.
today We first reported that Mr Shanmugam had filed a civil lawsuit against social media giant TikTok for failing to help identify three users who allegedly uploaded a video spreading false allegations about him.
On August 13, a TikTok user with the username “@trusted.seller” uploaded a video containing two images with the caption, “Sue me for defamation, sister #minister #SG #VIRAL #EXWIFE.” It is said that
The images were two screenshots, one of which appeared to be a Facebook page that responded to the search term “k shanmugam ex wife” and displayed images of Shanmugam and his ex-wife.
The other was a screenshot of a forum post containing allegations against Shanmugam, attributed to the “former Mrs. K. Shanmugam.”
Two days later, another TikTok user with the username “@tharakhussin” allegedly uploaded a video containing an image of a Facebook post featuring an article published by celebscritic.com that contained false information about Mr. Shanmugam. It contained defamatory statements.
The video did not have a direct link to the article, but it did display a full headline highlighting Mr Shanmugam’s alleged affair with MP Phu My Ha.
A third TikTok user, with the username @thaddeusthomas81, is said to have posted a video purportedly about the minister on August 17th. It had a caption that read, “We’ll find out.” .
The video also included an image of Fu with the words, “Alleged affair with Parliament member Fu My Ha.”
To clarify the false claims, Mr. Shanmugam posted on his Facebook account on August 15 that the fraudster had written a claim purporting to belong to his ex-wife, and that his ex-wife had told him that he had not written it. Stated.
At the time, the minister also said that allegations of an affair with a member of parliament were “false and baseless.”
In his apology, Thomas said all TikTok posts and copies have been deleted.
“I undertake not to make any further statements in any manner whatsoever regarding this matter or to make any claims to the same or similar effect,” he said.