Singapore Pushes Online Safety Bill, Forms Digital Watchdog

Photo: AFP/File Roslan RAHMAN

On October 15, 2025, the Singaporean government introduced a new Online Safety Bill to Parliament, aiming to establish a new Online Safety Committee that will directly handle user complaints and oversee harmful online content. The move follows findings from the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), which revealed that more than half of legitimate complaints involving harmful content, such as child sexual exploitation and cyberbullying, were not promptly addressed by online platforms.

Under the new law, the committee will be granted broad powers to tackle various forms of online harm, including online harassment, doxxing, online stalking, and child pornography. The body is expected to begin operations by mid-2026 and later expand its scope to cover other serious issues, such as the incitement of enmity or hatred in the digital space.

The bill also empowers the committee to instruct social media platforms to restrict access to harmful content within Singapore. Victims will have the right to respond or request the removal of such content, while the committee can order the blocking of specific online locations, such as pages, groups, or even entire websites, if deemed to pose a risk to public safety or digital wellbeing.

Josephine Teo, Minister for Digital Development and Information, said the idea for the committee was first proposed during the ministry’s budget debates in March. “Too often, platforms fail to act on genuinely harmful content reported by victims,” she said. The bill, tabled last Wednesday, will be debated in the upcoming parliamentary session.

This development coincides with the enforcement of the Online Criminal Harms Act, which took effect in February 2024. The Singaporean government recently invoked the law for the first time against Meta, warning the company in September that it could face a fine of up to S$1 million (US$771,000), plus S$100,000 per day thereafter, if it fails to implement measures, such as facial recognition systems, to curb impersonation scams on Facebook. As of now, the Ministry of Home Affairs has not confirmed whether Meta has complied with the order.

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Source of material: official media /online news