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First Reading of Singapore’s Online Safety Bill Begins

On 3 October 2022, the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) sent the Online Safety (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill to Parliament for First Reading. The bill proposes new ways to deal with harmful content on online services that Singaporeans can use.

During MCI’s Committee of Supply debate in March 2022, Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Teo said that the government would take steps to improve online safety for users.

The goal was to stop harmful content on online services that users in the country could access and to give users the information and tools they need to protect themselves from content that could hurt them.

Getting rid of harmful online content is a worldwide problem. While some online businesses have made attempts to eliminate harmful content, the prevalence remains a worry given the high level of digital penetration and widespread use of online services in Singapore, notably by children.

In January 2022, a survey found that almost half of the people who took part had seen harmful online content. In June 2022, MCI did another survey and found that people were most worried about harm to children. A high majority of respondents (97%) thought that harmful online content can have at least a moderate effect on children and young people.

Respondents thought that young people most needed to be protected from sexual content, cyberbullying, and violent content.

Since June 2022, a lot of people, including parents, teens, community group leaders, academics, and people in the industry, have been consulted about the proposed measures in the Bill.

From July to August 2022, MCI held a public consultation that showed everyone agreed that social media services needed to do more to keep young people safe from harmful online content.

Locally and around the world, most people agree that online services have a duty to keep their users safe from harm. So, the Bill wants to add a new section to the Broadcasting Act (BA) to control Online Communication Services (OCSs).

These are online services that let people access or share content over the Internet or send content to end users. The Bill only covers services that people in Singapore can use and that can be provided in, from, or outside of Singapore.

Social Media Services (SMSs) are a type of OCS that will be listed under the BA and be subject to rules in the new Part. On the other hand, the approach to regulating has two main components: requiring OCSs with a large reach or impact to follow Code(s) of Practice and dealing with content on an OCS that is very bad.

The COP(s) could talk about: a) Appropriate systems or processes that Regulated Online Communication Services (ROCS) providers will need to set up and use to stop Singapore users (especially children) from accessing content that poses a material risk of significant harm, as well as to reduce and manage the risks of danger from content on its service to Singapore users; b) Practical advice on what kinds of content pose a real risk of serious harm to people in Singapore; c) The steps that ROCS providers must take to meet the requirements of the applicable COP; and d) ROCS providers must work together or help experts who have been approved by IMDA to do research studies.

Thus, ROCS providers must take all steps that are reasonably possible to follow a COP and because harmful online content changes quickly, the Bill and the proposed Code of Practice for Online Safety are important steps toward making the Internet a safer place for Singaporeans, especially children.

They will add to what the government is already doing to give Singaporeans the knowledge and skills they need to keep themselves and their loved ones safe online, in partnership with the community and industry. The Second Reading is about to be set on November 2022.

PARTNER

Qlik’s vision is a data-literate world, where everyone can use data and analytics to improve decision-making and solve their most challenging problems. A private company, Qlik offers real-time data integration and analytics solutions, powered by Qlik Cloud, to close the gaps between data, insights and action. By transforming data into Active Intelligence, businesses can drive better decisions, improve revenue and profitability, and optimize customer relationships. Qlik serves more than 38,000 active customers in over 100 countries.

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CTC Global Singapore, a premier end-to-end IT solutions provider, is a fully owned subsidiary of ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (CTC) and ITOCHU Corporation.

Since 1972, CTC has established itself as one of the country’s top IT solutions providers. With 50 years of experience, headed by an experienced management team and staffed by over 200 qualified IT professionals, we support organizations with integrated IT solutions expertise in Autonomous IT, Cyber Security, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure, Workplace Modernization and Professional Services.

Well-known for our strengths in system integration and consultation, CTC Global proves to be the preferred IT outsourcing destination for organizations all over Singapore today.

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Planview has one mission: to build the future of connected work. Our solutions enable organizations to connect the business from ideas to impact, empowering companies to accelerate the achievement of what matters most. Planview’s full spectrum of Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions creates an organizational focus on the strategic outcomes that matter and empowers teams to deliver their best work, no matter how they work. The comprehensive Planview platform and enterprise success model enables customers to deliver innovative, competitive products, services, and customer experiences. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with locations around the world, Planview has more than 1,300 employees supporting 4,500 customers and 2.6 million users worldwide. For more information, visit www.planview.com.

SUPPORTING ORGANISATION

SIRIM is a premier industrial research and technology organisation in Malaysia, wholly-owned by the Minister​ of Finance Incorporated. With over forty years of experience and expertise, SIRIM is mandated as the machinery for research and technology development, and the national champion of quality. SIRIM has always played a major role in the development of the country’s private sector. By tapping into our expertise and knowledge base, we focus on developing new technologies and improvements in the manufacturing, technology and services sectors. We nurture Small Medium Enterprises (SME) growth with solutions for technology penetration and upgrading, making it an ideal technology partner for SMEs.

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HashiCorp provides infrastructure automation software for multi-cloud environments, enabling enterprises to unlock a common cloud operating model to provision, secure, connect, and run any application on any infrastructure. HashiCorp tools allow organizations to deliver applications faster by helping enterprises transition from manual processes and ITIL practices to self-service automation and DevOps practices. 

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IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

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