SINGAPORE – The Republic will bring its foreign interference and fake news laws to bear in the event of social media manipulation in the upcoming general election, said Minister of State for Home Affairs Sun Xueling.
She told Parliament on Feb 5 that the Government is aware that algorithms on social media platforms can be used to skew information that users see.
If these algorithms are deliberately manipulated by foreign people or entities - including social media companies - to affect domestic politics, this would constitute foreign interference, she added.
The Government will be able to use measures under the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act (Fica) against such interference, particularly against hostile information campaigns to influence Singapore’s elections.
Ms Sun added that if falsehoods against the public interest are communicated online during an election period, the Government may also issue directions under Pofma requiring the facts be published as well.
She added that all online election advertising during the GE period must abide by the relevant rules and that the Returning Officer can direct social media platforms to disable access to or remove any online election advertising that violates these rules.
Ms Sun was responding to a question from Dr Tan Wu Meng (Jurong GRC) on whether the Government has assessed the potential impact of a foreign-based social media platform manipulating its algorithms to privilege or disadvantage the social media reach of a particular candidate or group of candidates during a general election period or the run-up period.
Dr Tan also asked whether existing laws such as the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) and Fica are adequate to address this.
This comes as Singapore gears up for a general election which must be held by November 2025 and is widely expected to be held in the first half of the year.
In Oct 2024, the Republic also passed a law to bar deepfakes and other digitally manipulated content of candidates during the election period to provide an additional safeguard against misin...