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Singapore’s new online safety laws can effectively block content on social media

New online safety laws that have just kicked into effect in Singapore will allow the country to direct social media sites to block access to certain kinds of content.

user icon David Hollingworth
Wed, 01 Feb 2023
Singapore’s new online safety laws can effectively block content on social media
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The Online Safety (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act came into effect on 1 February and will be overseen by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), under the Singapore Ministry of Communications and Information.

The content the new law targets is anything deemed “egregious content”, which covers suicide and anything advocating self-harm, child exploitation material, sexual and physical violence, anything that may pose a health risk, and “content likely to cause racial and religious disharmony in Singapore”.

Under the new laws, IMDA can direct “online communication services” to disable access to such content among Singaporean users, or to stop “delivery or communication of content” to users. If a service fails to comply, IMDA can instead direct ISPs to block the service entirely.

The IMDA is also planning to roll out a new code of practice for what it deems services with “significant reach or impact”. The code is currently in draft form and will be implemented in the second half of 2023.

The code is similarly focused on public safety, with a focus on child safety, in particular.

“Children in particular, may lack the capacity or experience to deal with the information and content available online and will need more protection to ensure a safer online space for them,” the code states. “In this regard, the service must therefore also have specific measures to protect children from harmful content.”

The code also puts the onus to protect users on the social media platforms themselves.

“Users must have access to tools that enable them to manage their own safety and effectively minimise their exposure to, and mitigate the impact of, harmful content and unwanted interactions on the service.”

Online safety, or online censorship?

The laws that are now in effect first passed Singapore’s parliament in November of last year, and at the time, some observers expressed alarm at how they may be implemented, and a lack of specificity in what they might intend to block.

Dhevy Sivaprakasam, Asia Pacific policy counsel at Access Now, believes the law as it stands does not define what is and isn’t permissible with nearly enough detail.

“As a starting point, legality requires rules to be clearly defined so people who use the internet, internet intermediaries — including social media services — courts, and authorities know exactly what content is impermissible online,” Sivaprakasam wrote for the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s Context website.

“The Online Safety law, however, currently does not meet this threshold. Its vague definitions of ‘egregious content’ risk overbroad enforcement including censuring information that ‘advocates or instructs’ content ‘likely to cause feelings’ of racial or religious ill will or hostility, which can even include legitimate reporting or advocacy discussing race and religion online.”

She says that only by including “explicit provisions” promoting freedom of expression is the only way to protect such freedoms.

As a case in point, Sivaprakasam brings up Vietnam’s own cyber safety laws. In Vietnam, social media platforms are required to take down content within 24 hours of reporting, which she believes can lead to “administrative abuse of the narrative of security to curtail critical dissent.”

Authorities in Vietnam recently proved her point, when social media posts regarding the alleged rape of two female students at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Foreign Languages and Information Technology began circulating online. Despite initial reports of injury and even the death of one woman, the school immediately issued denials, and claimed the incident was a fight over money.

Soon, authorities were claiming that video footage of the alleged incident was staged and fake. The local political commissar of the area even went so far as to suggest Vietnam’s Cybersecurity Law be invoked to force social media platforms to remove the videos, or face prosecution.

While the new Singaporean laws take a lot of positive steps to protect users online, in particular children, it remains to be seen how those laws will be enforced.

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