S’pore takes targeted approach to online regulation, focuses on national interest: Sim Ann

SINGAPORE – Singapore takes a balanced approach to tackle the vast amount of online information, focusing regulatory efforts strictly on issues impacting national and public interest, said Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs Sim Ann.

Noting that it is unfeasible to regulate everything online, Sim said it is also important to have a well-informed public who are on alert for suspicious content that may not align with national interests.

She was speaking as a panellist at a public forum, Holding The Centre: Navigating Online Polarisation, held at Temasek Shophouse and organised by Reach and The Whitehatters, a non-governmental organisation that focuses on community development. The forum was attended by about 100 members of the public, who had group discussions on online polarisation and misinformation on digital platforms.

Sim cited the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA), which allows the authorities to issue correction notices to those who spread misleading statements, as necessary.

“We accept that there can be subjective perspectives on many things,” she said, adding that it would be problematic if a statement of fact is contested and not validated.

Nicholas Fang, managing director of strategic communications firm Black Dot, said accurate information may be challenged by algorithms on social media, often built to encourage attention-grabbing and outrageous content to keep users on the platform. The approach often leads to polarisation and misinformation.

However, he added that the authorities cannot adopt an overly draconian view towards social media firms, given their presence as commercial entities here.

One of the participants asked the panellists if the authorities were doing anything about the “manosphere”, which are online communities that promote masculinity and male supremacy.

Saddiq Basha, senior analyst at the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, noted an influx of such content, which could lead to males gravitating towards such ideas and even towards violence. He cited the example of youth role-playing as ISIS fighters in their games.

Fang said that younger users may not be equipped to handle such explicit content.

Asked by a participant if the Government was working with social media firms to tackle the harmful effects of algorithms which might worsen online polarisation, Sim said there are currently frameworks in place to identify individuals who have been radicalised.

She added that this is also owing to the efforts of the community and the individual’s family members, who are able to identify the signs of radicalisation and report the individual to the authorities.

“We do see a trend of younger individuals being issued with such orders, and we are also aware, through our investigations, that the time taken for radicalisation has also shortened.

“But I want to highlight that we are not only now deciding what to do; we do have a framework in place, and this framework has served us well, but we are constantly looking at how we can be even more vigilant.”

During the panel discussion, Sim said that the Government is also studying the impact of social media, to see what can be done to protect the younger generation from its potential harms.

She said: “We are studying this carefully, because if we are to implement any measure, we would have to consider feasibility.”

Sim said that polarisation is not about having differences, but occurs when an issue divides people into camps, and one side feels the need to fight the other camp.

“It can sometimes feel overwhelming, but I want to remind everyone that as a small and diverse society, we have a lot of experience managing differences in a way that is constructive and makes accommodations for a different range of views without descending into this feeling of all or nothing, or that one camp must fight the other to the bitter end.”

Basha said that apart from media literacy, it is important for young people to be able to forge relationships with those around them.

“I come across a lot of polarising incidents, conflicts and wars. The first thing I do is to reach out and talk to my close friends and family members, and ask them what they think about it.”

Fang cautioned that polarisation might not simply stem from a difference in opinion, but from bad actors seeking to influence society.

Referencing the online posts that were recently removed by the authorities for targeting the Indian community, Fang said that the bad actors know where the vulnerabilities are. “They’re picking at it to see what kind of impact this has on our society,” he said.

To deal with such misinformation, people should not consume less information, but rather seek to be fully informed about the facts.