Singapore legislation

Section 42K

of Presidential Elections Act 1991

Section 42K

Unauthorised third party non-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 at any time during the election period of an election —

(i)

publishes, or causes to be published, in Singapore any content by electronic means in any way other than rendering the content accessible from the Internet; or

(ii)

publicly displays, or causes to be publicly displayed, any content;

(b)

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

(c)

the third party knows or ought reasonably to have known that the content is or includes non-online election advertising that relates to the election.

(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.

(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 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