Question:
Mr Saktiandi Supaat: To ask the Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs (a) What further steps will the Government take to impose accountability on social media platforms in Singapore to prevent impersonation scams, especially those using government officials’ images or videos; and (b) whether there will be mandated transparency or reporting requirements for platforms on impersonation incidents and their mitigation efforts.
Answer:
Mr K Shanmugam, Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs:
1. Facebook is the top platform used by scammers to approach
victims in cases involving the impersonation of Government office holders. The
Singapore Police Force has issued an Implementation Directive to Meta, requiring it
to enhance its measures to stop and prevent the publication of photos and videos of
key Government office holders used in scam advertisements, remove accounts, profiles, and business pages that impersonate these office holders, and prioritise the
review of end user reports from Singapore on such advertisements, accounts, profiles
and pages.
2. Ministry of Home Affairs (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. We will also
consider imposing similar requirements on other online platforms depending on the
scam situation.
