AdvertisementSingaporeThis Week in AsiaPoliticsCan Singapore’s cyber laws keep pace with speed of borderless online threats?
Long-term resilience will hinge on complementary measures such as deeper regional cooperation and improved digital literacy, analysts say
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Kolette LimSingapore’s approach to curbing foreign interference and cybercrime is being tested by the sheer speed and borderless nature of online threats, according to analysts who say the city state’s legal powers provide important safeguards but are unlikely to fully keep pace with a rapidly evolving digital landscape.
They note that while swift takedown orders and targeted legislation have strengthened Singapore’s defences against misinformation and coordinated online harms, long-term resilience would hinge on complementary measures such as deeper regional cooperation and improved public digital literacy.
Last month, the city state ordered TikTok and Meta to disable the Singapore-facing accounts of Zulfikar Mohamad Shariff, a former Singapore citizen now living in Australia, after he posted content that authorities said incited hostility and spread false claims about the country’s Malay Muslim community.Advertisement
Zulfikar, who was detained in 2016 for promoting extremist ideology and allegedly contributing to the radicalisation of two Singaporeans, had shared new videos asserting that Malay Muslims were being pressured to assimilate into the Chinese community – claims the home affairs ministry said could inflame racial and religious tensions.
The directives were made under the Online Criminal Harms Act (Ocha), which allows Singapore authorities to issue orders to remove criminal cyber content.
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Analysts told This Week in Asia that Singapore had a tailored and multilayered system to deal with misinformation and inflammatory online material, such as laws on foreign interference and fake news, which complemented Ocha.
The city state’s Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act, or Fica, allows it to order platforms and service providers to block content and accounts engaged in hostile information campaigns to prevent foreign actors from interfering with local politics.
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