Amos Yee to be charged over online posts allegedly promoting racial disharmony, making indecent statements about children

SINGAPORE: Amos Yee will be charged on Wednesday (Aug 26) over “alarming and racially divisive” content he allegedly published online.

The police said on Tuesday that they received several reports between April and July this year concerning online content published by Yee.

The content was “found to be alarming and racially divisive”, and investigations were subsequently conducted, they added.

Yee, 27, was found to have made two posts on his blog on Apr 7 and Apr 11. He also uploaded a video on X on May 27, in which he stated that Singapore's Malay-Muslim and Indian communities were heavily discriminated against by the Chinese majority.

“He also made statements about the government's treatment of these communities and suggested that they should protest against the government,” said police.

In another blog post published on Jun 30, Yee said, among other things, that children were capable of consenting to sexual acts and advocated for the abolition of laws governing the age at which children can consent to such acts, according to the police. 

“This is on top of three other videos that he made and which were found to be uploaded online in 2021, in which he made statements advocating sexual relationships involving children and the abolition of laws prohibiting child sexual abuse material.”

For allegedly publishing these contents, Yee will be charged with knowingly attempting to promote, on grounds of race, feelings of disharmony between different racial groups; and for making indecent communications likely to cause alarm.

The offences are under Section 298A(a) of the Penal Code 1871 and Section 4(1)(b) of the Protection from Harassment Act 2014 (POHA).

An offence under Section 298A(a) of the Penal Code 1871 carries an imprisonment term of up to three years, a fine, or both. 

An offence under Section 4(1)(b) of POHA is punishable under Section 4(2) POHA with a fine of up to S$5,000 (US$3,900).

The police also said they had issued an Online Criminal Harms Act disabling direction on Aug 18 to take down the video on X.

“X has complied with the DD and the content is no longer available. For the remaining offensive contents, the police have issued stop communication directions to Yee to remove the existing posts on his personal blog,” they added.

“The police take a serious view of acts that threaten racial and religious harmony in Singapore, and of indecent communications, including those that advocate or promote sexual relationships involving children.

“Any person who commits such acts or communications will be dealt with swiftly and firmly in accordance with the law.”

Yee is already facing charges for dodging National Service obligations.

He is accused of failing to report for pre-enlistment medical screening over nine years, from April 2016 to March 2026.

He is also accused of leaving Singapore without valid exit permits over two periods: from December 2015 to April 2016, and from December 2016 to March 2026.

Yee had left Singapore for the United States in 2016, after being jailed twice for making remarks about Christians and Muslims.

He was granted asylum by the US in 2017, but later charged with possessing child pornography and grooming a minor.

He pleaded guilty in the US in December 2021 and was sentenced to six years' jail.

Halfway through his backdated sentence, he was granted parole but was taken back into custody soon after for violating parole conditions.

In November last year, Yee was detained by the US Immigration and Customs

Enforcement after he was released on parole from the Danville Correctional Center in Illinois.