SINGAPORE — Former teenage blogger Amos Yee is facing another legal battle in Singapore, this time over online posts that authorities allege promoted racial disharmony and made indecent statements concerning children.
Singapore Police said Yee, now 27, is due to be charged on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026, following several reports made between April and July about content he allegedly published online. Police described the material as “alarming and racially divisive.”
The latest case adds another chapter to Yee’s long-running legal history, years after he first became internationally known as a teenager for controversial online remarks about Singapore’s late founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew and Christianity.
What police allege
According to police, Yee published two blog posts on April 7 and April 11 and uploaded a video to X on May 27 in which he discussed alleged discrimination against Singapore’s Malay-Muslim and Indian communities by the Chinese majority.
Police said he also made statements concerning the government’s treatment of those communities and suggested that they should protest against the government.
A separate blog post dated June 30 allegedly contained statements arguing that children could consent to sexual acts and calling for the abolition of laws governing the age of consent.
Police also linked the investigation to three videos uploaded in 2021, which they said contained statements advocating sexual relationships involving children and the removal of laws prohibiting child sexual-abuse material.
Because the allegations concern children and sexual material, this report does not reproduce the explicit statements.
The charges Yee is expected to face
Police said Yee will be charged with:
- Knowingly attempting to promote, on grounds of race, feelings of disharmony between different racial groups, under Section 298A(a) of the Penal Code 1871.
- Making indecent communications likely to cause alarm, under Section 4(1)(b) of the Protection from Harassment Act 2014 (POHA).
A conviction under Section 298A(a) can carry up to three years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both.
For the alleged POHA offence, the penalty under Section 4(2) can include a fine of up to S$5,000, according to police.
These are allegations at this stage. The filing of charges does not by itself establish guilt.
X ordered to remove alleged content
The authorities have already taken action against one of the posts.
Police said an Online Criminal Harms Act disabling direction was issued to X on Aug. 18, requiring the platform to disable access to the video uploaded on May 27.
X complied with the direction and the video is no longer available, police said.
Authorities also issued stop communication directions requiring Yee to remove the remaining offensive material from his personal blog.
The move underscores Singapore’s increasingly active use of laws governing harmful online communications, particularly where authorities say content could threaten racial or religious harmony.
This is not Yee’s first case after returning to Singapore
The new allegations come months after Yee returned to Singapore following years in the United States.
CNA reported that Yee was deported from the US in March 2026 and subsequently appeared in a Singapore court over offences connected with his National Service obligations.
He was handed three charges under the Enlistment Act, relating to alleged failures connected with his pre-enlistment obligations and his stay outside Singapore.
CNA reported in July that Yee was scheduled to plead guilty in that separate case.
The National Service proceedings are separate from the new allegations involving racial disharmony and indecent communications.
A controversial history that began when he was 16
Yee first gained widespread attention in Singapore in 2015, when he was 16.
Following online remarks about Lee Kuan Yew and Christianity, he was charged with offences including deliberately wounding the religious feelings of Christians and transmitting an obscene image. A separate Protection from Harassment Act charge concerning his remarks about Lee Kuan Yew was later withdrawn.
He was eventually convicted of the religious-feelings and obscenity offences. The case attracted international attention and became part of wider debates about freedom of expression in Singapore.
In 2016, Yee was again jailed after being convicted over online material relating to religion.
Years later, his legal troubles continued overseas
After leaving Singapore in 2016, Yee obtained asylum in the United States in 2017.
His situation later changed dramatically. US authorities arrested him in 2020, and he subsequently pleaded guilty to US charges involving child pornography and grooming. He was sentenced in 2021 to six years in prison.
After his release from US custody and subsequent deportation, Yee returned to Singapore in March 2026, bringing him back into the country’s legal system.
Why the latest case matters
The new allegations put two particularly sensitive areas of Singapore law at the centre of the case: racial harmony and online communications involving children.
Singapore authorities have repeatedly stressed that racial and religious harmony is a matter of public concern in the multiracial city-state. In this case, police said they would deal “swiftly and firmly” with communications they consider threatening to racial or religious harmony or promoting sexual relationships involving children.
For Yee, the developments represent yet another legal confrontation after a turbulent decade that has taken him from being a teenage internet personality in Singapore to an asylum seeker in the United States, a convicted offender there, and now a defendant facing multiple legal proceedings back home.
The next major development is expected in court on Aug. 26, when the latest charges are formally brought against him.
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