The Singapore parliament back in October 2022 had proposed a bill compelling social media platform to block ‘egregious content’. This includes posts advocating violence and terrorism, depictions of child sexual exploitation, posts posing a public health risk or likely to cause racial and religious clashes in the country.
However, the Singapore lawmakers had on Wednesday, November 9, made it official by passing into law, the proposed social media regulation bill to mandate major social media platforms like Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and others to restrict and delete harmful content.
The parliament had given its assurance that the legislation would not be affecting free speech, but rather, it would restrict life-threatening and injurious contents on the various platforms.
The information minister, Teo had said that under the new social media regulation, platforms that default can be fined up to S$1 million (US$715,000), while adding that the Ministry of Law was looking into how the victims can be best empowered to desist from online abuse, seek redress and hold perpetrators accountable for their actions.
