Looking from the outside, Singapore seems to be a very modern country with first world skylines, technology, and many other conveniences, but look a little deeper and some very barbaric laws that have been outlawed in most civilized countries still govern the country. This is the country where Michael Fay was lashed four times for vandalism in 1992, and the practice is still alive and well. The primitive laws have moved into the digital age with a licensing requirement for online news sites. To highlight the oppressive nature of this law Google, Facebook (News - Alert), and other organizations have asked for the removal of this law.

The hacktivist group Anonymous has also joined in by asking citizens of Singapore to protest the law.

The Ministry of Communications and Information is responsible for regulation of Singapore's media and publishing industry, and one of its agencies, the Media Development Authority announced in May 28, 2013 online news sites with unique viewers of 50,000 per month over a two-month period have to secure a license to operate. The law took effect on June 1 with the announcement of 10 websites that had to comply with the new regulations. The sites are: asiaone.com; businesstimes.com.sg;  channelnewsasia.com; omy.sg; sg.news.yahoo.com;  stomp.com.sg;  straitstimes.com;  tnp.sg; todayonline.com; and zaobao.com.

Under the new licensing regulation, websites have to comply with any request made by the Media Development Authority within 24 hours to remove any objectionable content. They are also required to post a $40,000 performance bond to ensure of their compliance. The law is not specific regarding what kind of content is considered news and it has a broad definition, which can include third party comments on a website.

A hacker from Anonymous who goes by the name of "The Messiah", has made his allegiance known by hacking into the newspaper The Straits Times of Singapore with a message that said " Dear ST: You just got hacked for misleading the people!”

According to the World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders, Singapore ranks at number 149, which is worse than many countries ruled by oppressive governments around the world and only 30 places better than Ertirea, the worst environment in the world for the press at 179.

"Singapore’s new licensing requirement casts a chill over the city-state’s robust and free-wheeling online communities, and will clearly limit Singaporeans’ access to independent media. Websites will be forced into the role of private censors on behalf of the government," said Cynthia Wong, senior Internet researcher at Human Rights Watch.