Singapore introduces new anti scam codes for social media and messaging platforms
2 sources · Singapore · 2 of them are linked to a state
Who reported this
- CNA
- The Straits Times
What the colours mean
- Left
- Centre-left
- Centre
- Centre-right
- Right
- A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.
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Every source for this story reports from Singapore.
The Singapore Police Force has announced new codes of practice under the Online Criminal Harms Act to combat scams and malicious cyber activities across social media, messaging, and conferencing services. Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok must verify the identities of advertisers against government records and block unlicensed financial service ads by January 31, 2027. Failure to comply may result in criminal offenses and fines of up to 1 million dollars, with additional daily fines of 100,000 dollars for continued non compliance.
These social media platforms accounted for approximately 30 percent of total scam cases in 2025, with Facebook alone representing 18 percent. The new rules require these platforms to prevent the publication of suspected scam advertisements, including those using URL cloaking to hide destination addresses, and to promptly remove reported scam content.
A separate code of practice targets seven high risk messaging and conferencing services: WhatsApp, Telegram, WeChat, Apple iMessage, Apple FaceTime, Google Message, and Google Meet. These platforms, which accounted for about 23 percent of all scam cases in 2025, must implement measures by January 31, 2027, to make it harder for unknown contacts to reach users. Requirements include obtaining user consent before adding them to groups, displaying risk indicators such as account creation dates, and providing options to silence or block unknown numbers.
To address government official impersonation scams, the messaging code includes a more urgent deadline of September 30, 2026, for platforms to prevent the spoofing of the Singapore Government through profile names or pictures. The police noted that these measures follow a trend of scammers adapting their tactics to exploit new technologies. Previous codes for e commerce and online communication services, which took effect on June 26, 2024, reportedly contributed to a 37 percent drop in scam cases on online services in 2025 compared to 2024.
How each side framed it
- Centre
- The center lean framing focuses on the broad scope of the new rules across various digital services and the specific technical requirements for messaging platforms.
- Centre-right
- The center right lean framing emphasizes the legal penalties for non compliance and the specific identity verification requirements for advertisers.
Sources
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