These problems can affect Members of Parliament (MPs), parties and candidates on all sides, of all persuasions.
So, given this, can the Minister of State share how Singapore and Singaporeans can better protect ourselves and our democracy, so that foreign social media companies do not have a situation where they manipulate algorithms to affect the outcome of our democratic process, so that politics in Singapore remains for Singaporeans to decide?
Ms Sun Xueling: I thank the Member for his supplementary questions. He has obviously given the matter much thought. I would like to come back to my main response, where I mentioned that the Government is aware that social media platforms' algorithms may potentially be manipulated to skew the consumption of information and that if algorithms are deliberately manipulated by foreign persons or entities, including social media companies, to affect our domestic politics, that will constitute foreign interference.
These two paragraphs that I have just shared do not rely on the information being falsehoods. What instead FICA is interested in is that there are activities conducted by foreign actors typically through covert or deceptive means that affect our domestic politics, in order to advance the foreign actors' own interests.
I would like to share an example. In 2024, the Government had issued FICA account restriction directions against a network of 95 social media accounts and also blocked 10 inauthentic websites that could potentially be used to mount hostile information campaigns against Singapore.
Beyond this, the Government also has in place several initiatives to help Singaporeans improve their information literacy skills.
We will continue to study the evolving online landscape and review if additional regulations for social media services are needed as part of ongoing efforts to enhance online safety in Singapore and strengthen our defences against foreign interference.
Mr Speaker: Mr Pritam Singh.
Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied): Can I ask, Mr Speaker, how will the Ministry independently ascertain whether algorithms have been manipulated for the reasons that are put in the Parliamentary Question?
Ms Sun Xueling: I thank the Member his supplementary question. In and of itself, algorithms are not illegal. Many social media companies have algorithms for the purposes of pushing out their information.
They may use it because, first and foremost, the algorithms are proprietary and they use the algorithms because they want to be able to catch the eyeballs of consumers.
So, I would just like to make this point that algorithms, in and of itself, used by social media companies are not illegal. But what the FICA aims to do is that if the Minister is satisfied that the algorithms are being used by foreign entities, with a political end in mind, to influence domestic politics in Singapore, then he is empowered to issue pre-emptive measures.
Mr Speaker: Dr Tan Wu Meng.
Dr Tan Wu Meng: Mr Speaker, following on from the questions raised by both myself and the Leader of the Opposition, can I ask the Minister of State, would MHA be open to engaging with academia and researchers who conduct research into such matters? Can I perhaps draw the Minister of State's attention to how there is open source research by an Australian academic team – one at Queensland University of Technology, another at Monash University – which did a computational analysis of potential algorithmic bias on a major social media platform during a major election in another country, around the world, that happened quite recently, and that there are opportunities for academia to look at this, and can the Ministry, perhaps, look at examining collaborations with academia and experts, to study this further?
Ms Sun Xueling: I thank the Member for his suggestion. Indeed, the Government is open to conversations and engagements, because this is an evolving threat landscape and we would desire to hear from academics, as well as social media companies, as to the trends they are seeing.
I would like to cite two examples that have happened and which we can also take reference from, which is that there was British Broadcasting Corporation study, which claimed that young voters in key electoral constituencies during the 2024 United Kingdom elections have been recommended false and satirical artificial intelligence generated videos depicting party leaders making comments that they actually did not make.
And also, in recent years, there have also been allegations of foreign interference in elections through social media platforms, most notably during the 2024 United States (US) elections, where it was alleged that a social media bot farm, comprising over 900 social media accounts, had spread disinformation in the US and abroad.
So, indeed, I think there are examples in the real world and my Ministry will be open to these engagements to understand further as to what other steps can be taken.
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