Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act 2019 (POFMA)

1. Overview

With its Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation, Singapore was the first to address the dissemination of false material on the internet.. The law was signed into law and went into effect in 2019 with the express purpose of preventing the spread of false information online, including deepfakes, which increasingly pretend to be deceptive and thus jeopardise public interest or national security.

2. Legal scope

The POFMA Act aims at the dissemination and production of fake news, i.e., deepfakes in scams and public political information, or public disturbances. Any misleading statement that has an influence on the public interest is included in the POFMA bill. This even includes unclear audio, AI-written material, and fake videos. Satire, parody, and views are excluded, but should be processed smoothly and should not manipulate facts.

3. Key Features

Prohibited Activity: “Spreading false facts in Singapore,” such as deepfakes for the purpose of deceiving, is forbidden by Section 7.

Consent Requirements: Deepfakes are not explicitly banned, but those employed to slander, mislead, or impersonate another person without his or her permission are actionable in law.

Platform Responsibilities: Platforms are required to respond to government-issued takedown notices or correction orders.

4. Sanctions and Enforcement

Offenders can be imprisoned or ordered to pay a fine of up to SGD 100,000 for a term of ten years, particularly when bots or artificial accounts are employed to execute the offense. The Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) and the POFMA office support the enforcement by the courts.

5. Outstanding Cases or Precedents

The POFMA bill has also been employed in issuing correction orders to news media outlets and members of the public, even during elections. The move marks the extent of the law, although not directly associated with deepfakes.

6. Analysis Against International Standards

POFMA stands out as a more strict and centrally controlled piece of legislation when contrasted with global initiatives to counteract online misinformation, such as the Digital Services Act (DSA) of the European Union. Compared to the DSA, where there is greater decentralised power and more judicial warrants required for individual action, POFMA imposes central direct powers on government ministers to instruct takedowns and correction instructions without first seeking judicial approval, reflecting Singapore’s eagerness to tackle online disinformation considered to be against the public interest in a timely fashion. 

7. Implications for practice

Platforms must respond swiftly to correction orders, and producers cannot publish false content that may mislead. There is a facility for victims to make direct complaints on the POFMA portal.

8. Future Prospects

Singapore is gravely considering bolstering its legislative framework to address these emerging threats as artificial intelligence technology advances at an accelerating pace, with even more advanced methods of creating and disseminating synthetic media.

Extending POFMA’s scope possibly to address new AI-based manipulation methods appears to be a definite possibility.