Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act 2019 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 5 · Declaration of Online Locations
37. Certain persons must not communicate in Singapore paid content on declared online locations, etc.
Feedback & supportA service provider must take reasonable steps (both in and outside Singapore) to ensure that after a prescribed period starting on the date the Declaration comes into effect, any paid content that it includes or causes to be included on a declared online location is not communicated in Singapore on the declared online location.
service provider
“service provider” means any person (other than a digital advertising intermediary) who, in the ordinary course of business, provides advisory or other services relating to the communication of paid content in any place;
A digital advertising intermediary must take reasonable steps (both in and outside Singapore) to ensure that, after a prescribed period starting on the date the Declaration comes into effect, any paid content that it includes or causes to be included on a declared online location is not communicated in Singapore on the declared online location.
digital advertising intermediary
“digital advertising intermediary” means any person who, in the ordinary course of business, facilitates the communication of paid content in any place by acting as the link or part of the link between —(a)the owners or operators of online locations; and(b)advertisers and service providers,by means of an internet‑based service;ExamplesExamples of digital advertising intermediaries are persons who provide any of the following by means of an internet‑based service: (a) advertising exchange; (b) demand side platform; (c) supply side platform.
A prescribed digital advertising intermediary or prescribed internet intermediary must take reasonable steps (both in and outside Singapore) to ensure that, after a prescribed period starting on the date the Declaration comes into effect, it does not, when acting as a digital advertising intermediary or an internet intermediary, facilitate the communication in Singapore of any paid content that gives publicity to, or otherwise promotes, a declared online location.
prescribed digital advertising intermediary
“prescribed digital advertising intermediary” means a digital advertising intermediary, or a class of digital advertising intermediaries, prescribed by regulations made under section 62;
A service provider or digital advertising intermediary is treated for the purposes of subsection (1) or (2) (as the case may be) as having taken reasonable steps to ensure that any paid content that it includes or causes to be included on a declared online location is not communicated in Singapore on the declared online location if it has taken such steps as may be prescribed by regulations made under section 62.
paid content
“paid content” means any statement that is communicated in any place for consideration;
A prescribed digital advertising intermediary or prescribed internet intermediary is treated for the purposes of subsection (3) as having taken reasonable steps to ensure that it does not facilitate the communication in Singapore of any paid content mentioned in that subsection if it has taken such steps as may be prescribed by regulations made under section 62.
prescribed internet intermediary
“prescribed internet intermediary” means an internet intermediary, or a class of internet intermediaries, prescribed by regulations made under section 62;
A person who contravenes subsection (1), (2) or (3) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction —
in the case of an individual, to a fine not exceeding $20,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both; or
in any other case, to a fine not exceeding $500,000.
In any proceeding for an offence under subsection (1), (2) or (3), it is a defence for the accused to prove that the accused did not know and had no reason to believe that the online location was a declared online location.
online location
“online location” means any website, webpage, chatroom or forum, or any other thing that is hosted on a computer (as defined in the Computer Misuse Act 1993) and can be seen, heard or otherwise perceived by means of the internet;
In any proceeding for an offence under subsection (1), (2) or (3), it is not a defence for the accused to show that —
the accused did the act in question at the direction of another person; or
the paid content was communicated in Singapore by its inclusion on any online location through an automatic process without the accused choosing where the paid content is communicated, except as an automatic response to the request of a person.