Singapore’s parliament passed a law giving authorities more powers to block harmful content on social media platforms, from TikTok to Instagram and Facebook, the city state’s latest move to curb online harms.
Lawmakers passed the Online Safety (Relief and Accountability) Bill, known as OSRA, during a parliamentary session on Wednesday. Under the new law, authorities will be empowered to require internet companies – including major social media platforms – to remove content deemed harmful, such as material promoting sexual abuse or online bullying. Failure to comply will constitute a criminal offense and may prompt further measures, including blocking of apps.
"With online harms becoming more prevalent, our barometer for acceptable online behavior has been eroded,” said Digital Development and Information Minister Josephine Teo. "We will continue to work with all our stakeholders from tech companies to community partners to implement OSRA.”
Social media platforms have found themselves dealing with an increasingly stringent regulatory environment in Singapore. The Ministry of Home Affairs in September ordered Meta Platforms Inc to act on Facebook-based scam advertisements and accounts, introduce enhanced facial recognition measures and prioritise review of end-user reports from the country.
Alphabet Inc’s Google has pledged to implement age checks by next year as Singapore mandates that app stores block under-18 users from downloading software not intended for their use.
On Tuesday, the Parliament passed a separate law mandating that scammers and members or recruiters of scam syndicates will face caning of as many as 24 strokes. – Bloomberg
