Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on the Efforts Taken with Telecommunications and Social Media Companies to Detect and Prevent the Advertisement of Controlled Substances or Drugs in Closed Networks

Question:

Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs what efforts and steps does the Government take together with the telecommunications and social media companies to detect and prevent the advertisement of controlled substances or drugs in closed social networks, such as group chats.

Answer:

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

1.   CNB works with foreign counterparts in dealing with these matters.

2.   CNB also engages private sector entities such as social network services, e-commerce businesses, internet service providers, and technology companies, to seek their cooperation in detecting and preventing the advertisement of controlled drugs, for example by taking down such advertisements, banning the accounts being used to peddle the drugs, and publishing anti-drug advisories.

3.   Through such partnerships and its own enforcement efforts, between 2019 and 2021, CNB arrested 86 suspected drug traffickers who used specific applications to conduct drug transactions.