Singapore: Adopted Elections (Integrity of Online Advertising) (Amendment) Bill (No 29/2024)

On 15 October 2024, the Elections (Integrity of Online Advertising) (Amendment) Bill was adopted by the Parliament of Singapore. The Bill aims to protect citizens from deepfakes during elections. In particular, the Bill prohibits the publication of digitally generated or manipulated online election advertising that depicts a candidate for an election. In addition, a “returning officer” will be mandated to issue a corrective direction to individuals publishing such content and social media services. The Internet access service providers can be requested to remove the offending content or to disable access by users to such content during the election period. Failure to comply with a corrective direction is an offence punishable by a fine, imprisonment, or both.