Singapore legislation

Section 42J

of Presidential Elections Act 1991

Section 42J

Unauthorised third party online election advertising

Amended byAct 9 of 2023 wef 01/06/2023

(1)

A person who is a third party at an election commits an offence if —

(a)

the third party publishes, or causes to be published, in Singapore, at any time during the election period of an election, any content, or any thing containing content, by electronic means in any way that renders the content accessible from the Internet;

(b)

the content is or includes online election advertising that relates to the election;

(c)

all or part of —

(i)

the production of the content that is or includes the online election advertising; or

(ii)

the publication of the online election advertising,is paid for in money or money’s worth by the third party or by another person who may or may not be a third party; and

(d)

the third party knows or ought reasonably to have known that —

(i)

the content is or includes online election advertising as described in paragraph (b); and

(ii)

the production of the content that is or includes the online election advertising, or the publication of the online election advertising, is paid for in money or money’s worth by the third party or by another person who may or may not be a third party.

(2)

Any person who is guilty of an offence under subsection (1) shall be liable on conviction by a District Court to a fine not exceeding $1,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.

(3)

However, in any proceedings for an offence under subsection (1), it is a defence for the person charged to prove, on a balance of probabilities, that the person was granted a written authority signed by a candidate or a candidate’s election agent in the prescribed form when publishing or causing to be published the content in question.

(4)

Subsection (1) does not apply to or in relation to any of the following:

(a)

any publication of any news relating to an election by an authorised news agency;

(b)

any publishing of content by electronic means or the public display of content in other circumstances prescribed by the election advertising regulations as excluded from subsection (1).

Amended byAct 9 of 2023 wef 01/06/2023

Read in full context — Presidential Elections Act 1991 →