New Legal Measures to Uphold Integrity of Online Advertising During Elections

New legal measures to uphold integrity of online advertising during elections

Measures aim to safeguard the integrity and truthfulness of representation during elections

Singapore, 9 September 2024 – The Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) introduced the Elections (Integrity of Online Advertising) (Amendment) Bill (the “Bill”) in Parliament on 9 September 2024.

2. The Bill seeks to introduce new measures to protect Singaporeans from digitally manipulated content during elections, including artificial intelligence (AI)-generated misinformation, commonly known as deepfakes¹.

Addressing the threat of deepfakes during elections

3. Rapid advancements in generative AI technology have created exciting opportunities but also present serious information risks. Across the world, malicious actors have taken advantage of the speed and ease of AI technology to create and distribute misinformation and conduct online criminal activities.

4. In Singapore, we have observed a worrying trend of malicious deepfakes, including those used for scams and extortion. Deepfakes are a particularly concerning form of misinformation because they can realistically depict the appearance, voice, or action of an individual in a manner which can deceive or mislead the public.

5. While the Government can already deal with individual pieces of online falsehoods against the public interest through the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA), targeted levers are needed under our Online Election Advertising (OEA)² regime to act on deepfakes that misrepresent candidates during elections. Such content, if left unaddressed, can threaten the integrity of our electoral process. Voters must be able to make informed choices based on facts and not misinformation.

Key features of the Bill

6. The Elections (Integrity of Online Advertising) (Amendment) Bill will amend the Parliamentary Elections Act 1954 (PEA) and the Presidential Elections Act 1991 (PrEA) to introduce new safeguards.

7. From the issuance of the Writ to the close of polling on Polling Day, the Bill proposes to prohibit the publication of digitally generated or manipulated³ OEA that realistically depicts a candidate saying or doing something that he or she did not in fact say or do. This prohibition will only apply to OEA depicting persons who are running as candidates for an election.

8. The Returning Officer (RO) can issue corrective directions to individuals who publish such content, social media services, and Internet Access Service Providers to take down offending content, or to disable access by Singapore users to such content during the election period. Failure to comply with a corrective direction is an offence. This is punishable by a fine, or imprisonment, or both on conviction.

9. The Bill will allow candidates to make a request to the RO to review content that may breach the prohibition and issue corrective directions. Candidates who have been misrepresented by such content can make a declaration to attest to the veracity of his/her claim.

10. It will be an illegal practice for candidates to knowingly make a false or misleading declaration in a request about the impugned content. The consequences of committing an illegal practice, such as a fine or the vacation of an election, are set out in the PEA and PrEA.

Holistic approach to tackling the harms of AI-generated content

11. Beyond elections, deepfakes and other forms of manipulated content can pose serious harm to online users. Creators and distributors of AI-generated content have a responsibility to foster a safe information space, both during and outside of elections.

12. The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) will introduce a new Code of Practice requiring specified social media services to put in place measures to prevent and counter the abuse of digitally manipulated content on their service(s). IMDA will engage social media services in the coming months to work out the details of the Code.

13. The Bill and the proposed Code of Practice are important steps to preserve the integrity of our electoral process and protect Singaporeans from online manipulated content. These efforts will complement the Government’s existing initiatives to combat misinformation and equip Singaporeans with the necessary awareness and skills to safely navigate the online space.

Second Reading of the Bill

14. The Bill will be tabled for a Second Reading at the next available Parliament sitting.

¹ Deepfakes are hyper-realistic audio, video, or image-based content generated or manipulated by AI technology.

² Online election advertising, based on the PEA and the PrEA (s 2(1) and s 2(2) PEA and PrEA), refers to any information or material accessible from the Internet that can reasonably be regarded to promote or procure the electoral success for any political parties, candidates or groups of candidates, enhance the standing of any such political parties, candidates or groups of candidates with the electorate, or prejudice the electoral prospects of other political parties, candidates or groups of candidates.

³ This includes content generated or manipulated using both AI and non-AI techniques. Non-AI techniques include editing via Photoshop, dubbing, and splicing.