Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on How Social Media and Artificial Intelligence Affect Radicalisation of Youths

Question:

Mr Desmond Choo: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) how has social media accelerated the radicalisation of youths; (b) how will artificial intelligence (AI) play a role in the radicalisation of youths in the next five years; and (c) what are the plans to address the adverse impact of social media and AI on youth radicalisation.

Answer:

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

1. Youth radicalisation is a pressing concern. Since 2015, following the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Internal Security Department (ISD) has dealt with 14 youths, aged 20 or below, under the Internal Security Act. Six had intentions to mount attacks in Singapore. All were self-radicalised through violent extremist materials they found online.

2. The Internet facilitates radicalisation by providing a ready source of violent extremist material and terrorist propaganda, easily accessed by our digital-native youth. Consumption of such material may be amplified by social media algorithms that recommend more extremist content once the youths start searching for such content. These online platforms also serve as echo chambers, where interactions with likeminded users may reinforce radical beliefs. Extremist and terrorist elements have also misused social media and online gaming platforms to radicalise and recruit youth. These factors have resulted in an acceleration in the speed of radicalisation. From the point where a youth encounters such online material, to the point of his or her radicalisation, the process can be as fast as a few months, if not weeks.

3. Artificial Intelligence (AI) will further hasten the radicalisation process and facilitate terrorism-related activities. Terrorist groups are exploiting AI tools to generate and disseminate their online propaganda. AI can quickly auto-translate existing propaganda into multiple languages, and create personalised messages at scale to facilitate recruitment efforts. AI is also being used to produce increasingly convincing synthetic multimedia, indistinguishable even to the trained eye. These “deepfakes” have been used by malicious parties to sow discord in society, as well as incite violence.

4. The Government takes a holistic approach to tackle the threat of online radicalisation among youths. In recent years, we have strengthened our legislative levers to block or remove extremist and terrorist propaganda, including those generated by AI. For example, the amended Broadcasting Act (effective since February 2023) and the Online Criminal Harms Act (effective since February 2024) allow the Government to disable access to egregious or criminal content online, including those that advocate and instruct on terrorism, and those that incite violence. However, it is not feasible to detect or remove all such content.

5. To tackle the radicalisation threat upstream, ISD has been working with other Government agencies and community partners to conduct outreach. For example, ISD has collaborated with the Ministry of Education, to conduct counter-terrorism and counter-radicalisation outreach to schools, including school leaders, teachers, school counsellors and student leaders. There are also efforts to enhance students’ media literacy through the school curriculum. These efforts aim to sensitise youths and educators to the dangers of radicalisation, and the importance of early reporting of suspected radicalisation cases.