Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on Collecting Social Media Advertisers’ Real Names to Facilitate Scam Investigations

Question:

Ms He Ting Ru: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs whether the Government will consider requiring social media platforms to collect the real names of individuals or individuals representing businesses who are seeking to publish advertisements on their platforms, in order to facilitate scam investigations.

Answer:

Mr K Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law:

1. The Ministry of Home Affairs will be introducing the Codes of Practice under the Online Criminal Harms Act (OCHA) this year. The Codes of Practice will impose binding obligations on designated online services. One such requirement will be to verify the identities of their users, including individuals and businesses that publish advertisements on their platforms.

2. This will help to deter scammers from exploiting social media platforms for scams, and facilitate Police’s investigations into scam cases.