Meta given Sep 30 deadline to curb Facebook impersonation scams or face S$1M penalty in Singapore

SINGAPORE: The Singapore government has ordered Meta to implement facial recognition and give priority to reviewing reports from Singapore users to cut down on scam advertisements, accounts, profiles, and/or business pages as scammers impersonating government office holders surge online.

The implementation directive (ID), the first under the Online Criminal Harms Act (OCHA), requires Meta to act by Sep 30 or face a fine of up to S$1 million upon conviction. If the company fails to comply, penalties of S$100,000 per day could follow, according to a press release from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Thursday (Sep 25).

The intention to issue the directive was first announced at the Global Anti-Scam Summit Asia earlier this month, Channel News Asia (CNA) reported.

MHA and the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said that from June 2024 to June 2025, there was a surge in scammers using Facebook to run impersonation scams, often misusing videos and images of government office holders in fake ads, profiles, accounts, and business pages. During this period, SPF disrupted about 2,000 such ads and online monikers on Facebook.

“Facebook is the top platform used by scammers to commit such impersonation scams. Stemming the proliferation of such impersonation scams is critical to protect the public from harm and uphold trust in our Government and public institutions,” they added.

While Meta has taken steps against impersonation scams worldwide, including in Singapore, MHA and SPF said the scale of such cases locally remains a concern.

“SPF has therefore issued this ID to Meta, to underscore the seriousness that the government attaches to the matter,” the statement added.

MHA and SPF said they will work with Meta to leverage its global impersonation protection measures to support other influential public figures who may be targeted by scammers. The authorities are also considering imposing similar requirements for other online platforms. More details will be announced later. /TISG

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