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MinLaw and MDDI Seek Feedback on New Legislation and Measures to Enhance Online Safety

22 November 2024

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MinLaw and MDDI Seek Feedback on New Legislation and Measures to Enhance Online Safety and Better Protect Singaporeans from Harmful Online Content

1. The Ministry of Law (MinLaw) and the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) launched a public consultation today to seek feedback on proposed legislation and measures to enhance online safety. The proposals target to enable victims of online harms to obtain assistance, and increase the accountability of those who are responsible for online harms.

2. The public consultation will run for one month, until 22 December 2024.

Background

3. Harmful online content and conduct continue to affect many in Singapore and around the world. At the launch of Smart Nation 2.0 on 1 October 2024, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced that the Government would introduce new legislation and measures to provide stronger assurance to victims, including setting up a dedicated agency to improve protection for them.

4. These proposals form part of the Government’s commitment to tackling online harms and will enable victims to remedy the damage suffered from online harms. They will also help shape the norms of acceptable online conduct and improve accountability among members of the online ecosystem. These proposals complement our existing regulatory framework and the criminal justice system.

5. In summary, the proposed reforms will:

a. Introduce a complaints mechanism, administered by the new agency to provide timely assistance to victims of online harms.

b. Introduce statutory torts for various online harms, to provide legal certainty should victims of online harms choose to pursue redress against responsible parties in court to hold them accountable through liability for online harms.

c. Increase accountability through improved user information disclosure.

Public Consultation

6. MinLaw and MDDI are seeking feedback on these proposed reforms. The full public consultation paper may be viewed at https://go.gov.sg/feedbackonlineharms.

7. Members of the public are invited to submit their views by 22 December 2024 via https://go.gov.sg/onlineharmsconsult.

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