Press Releases
Issuance of Implementation Directive to Meta Under the Online Criminal Harms Act
25 September 2025
1. The Online Criminal Harms Act (OCHA) Competent Authority, sited within the Singapore Police Force (SPF), has issued an Implementation Directive (ID) to Meta on 24 September 2025, to put in place measures to target scam advertisements, accounts, profiles, and/or business pages impersonating key Government Office Holders on Facebook [1] . Meta must comply with the ID by 30 September 2025.
2. Between June 2024 and June 2025, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and SPF observed an increased incidence of scammers exploiting Facebook to perpetrate impersonation scams using videos or images of key Government Office Holders in fake advertisements, accounts, profiles and business pages [2] . Facebook is the top platform used by scammers to commit such impersonation scams. Stemming the proliferation of such impersonation scams is critical to protect the public from harm and uphold trust in our Government and public institutions.
3. While Meta has taken steps to address the risk of impersonation scams globally, including in Singapore, MHA and SPF remain concerned by the prevalence of such scams in Singapore. SPF has therefore issued this ID to Meta, to underscore the seriousness that the Government attaches to the matter. This is the first ID issued under the OCHA.
4. Meta, as the parent company of Facebook, will be required to implement: (i) enhanced facial recognition measures in Singapore; and (ii) prioritise review of end-user reports from Singapore, to reduce scam advertisements, accounts, profiles, and/or business pages impersonating key Government Office Holders in Singapore.
5. Failure to comply with the ID without reasonable excuse would render Meta liable on conviction to a fine of up to $1 million and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine of up to $100,000 for every day or part of a day during which the offence continues after conviction.
6. MHA and SPF will also work with Meta to leverage its global impersonation protection measures to support other influential public figures in Singapore who may be at risk of being impersonated by scammers. MHA and SPF are also considering imposing similar requirements on other online platforms. More details will be announced in due course.
[1] The Online Criminal Harms Act (OCHA) was passed on 5 July 2023. Under the Act, the Competent Authority may issue the provider of a designated online service an Implementation Directive to put in place any system, process or measure, if it is satisfied that this is necessary or expedient to address a relevant offence under the Second Schedule.
[2] During this period, SPF disrupted approximately 2,000 such advertisements and online monikers on Facebook.
Annex