The Ministry of Home Affairs has introduced the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Bill (“Bill“) for first reading in Parliament on 13 September 2021. The Bill seeks to reduce the risk of acts of foreign interference by electronic communications activity through the strengthening of Singapore’s ability to prevent, detect and disrupt such interference. The Bill proposes to counter the threat of hostile information campaigns by establishing new offences targeting the perpetrators of such attacks, and setting out obligations on relevant parties such as those providing social media services, email or instant messaging services, internet access services, and running websites. The Bill also seeks to combat the use of local proxies by foreign entities to push their agenda, imposing various obligations on Politically Significant Persons.
This Update highlights the key elements of the Bill, and in particular what social media service providers and relevant electronic service providers as well as members of the media and telecommunications industry should be aware of regarding potential obligations and restrictions.
For more information, click here to read the full Legal Update.
