Government will work with designated online platforms to respond faster to online harms

Law Minsiter Edwin Tong was speaking at an appreciation event on Sept 23 held at the Temasek Shophouse in Orchard Road to thank community, academic, government and business partners for their support in developing and implementing the Online Safety (Relief and Accountability) Act.

Published Sep 23, 2026, 09:37 PM

Updated Sep 23, 2026, 09:37 PM

The Singapore Government is working with designated online platforms to ensure faster responses to online harms, with response times currently ranging from six to 48 hours under the Online Safety (Relief and Accountability) Act.

Victims can report harms via forms downloadable from the Ministry of Law's website, and the Government aims to simplify this process by having platforms provide easy, dedicated reporting channels.

The Online Safety Commission has received over 500 reports in two months, and they could help improve future responses and reduce the need for victims to seek assistance over time.

SINGAPORE - The Government will be working with designated online platforms to respond faster to victims of online harms, such as taking down offending content or ban perpetrators, under Singapore’s new legal framework to help these people get timely redress and better protection, said Law Minister Edwin Tong.

“As platforms become more familiar with the framework, we will work with them towards shorter response times,” said Tong, who is also Second Minister for Home Affairs, on Sept 23.

“Because when harmful content is circulating online, even that extra 1 hour (that it is available) can sometimes matter a lot.”

Depending on the type of online harm , designated online platforms currently have to respond within six to 48 hours of being notified under the Online Safety (Relief and Accountability) Act (OSRAA) that was passed in 2025.

“We calibrated these timelines very carefully. We always knew from the start, from the victims’ accounts, that speed mattered a lot,” said Tong.

“But we also recognised that the platforms needed time to understand...the new framework and adapt their processes so that they will be able to function within this framework. So, these timelines that we had introduced, they are a starting point.”

He was speaking at an appreciation event held at the Temasek Shophouse in Orchard Road to thank community, academic, government and business partners for their support in developing and implementing OSRAA.

At the event, he outlined how the Government has room to make the process for victims to notify online platforms about online harms faster and easier.

The Straits Times had reported earlier on how victims of online harms suggested several improvements to the process of dealing with online harms , especially in reporting harms such as less form filling.

For now, designated online platforms must respond within six hours for straightforward cases of intimate images and videos of victims shared online without their consent. The same goes for straightforward child abuse material that are shared online.

Straightforward cases involve online material which depict women, or men and children whose genitals, anal region or breasts are exposed.

For other cases of intimate image abuse or image-based child abuse, the response time is 24 hours. For online harassment, doxing and stalking, platforms must take action within 48 hours.

The online platforms that these requirements apply to are: YouTube, Google Maps Reviews, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, WhatsApp, X, HardwareZone Forums, TikTok, Reddit, Telegram and WeChat.

Ang Boon Min, chief executive of the Singapore Children’s Society, said that faster response times for online platforms to act on online harms is important for child victims.

“Children today are on their phones a lot. And something that is spreading in their circles could go viral very quickly,” she explained, noting that harms like online sexual abuse is traumatic for children.

Victims, or their guardians, can get online platforms to act on online harms they experienced by filling a form downloaded from the Ministry of Law’s website and sending the form to the platforms.

Tong said on Sept 23 that the Government also wants to make it easier for victims to send these online harm notices to platforms. This includes allowing victims to download the notification form on platforms’ own services. The form should be easy to find and use, and only request for information from victims that is “reasonably necessary”.

For major platforms, Tong said the Government hopes that they can provide a clear and dedicated channel for victims to easily send the online harm notices, such as a designated e-mail address, for a start.

How victims’ online harms notices are approached should also be practical and handled in a “victim-centric way”, he said. Tong noted that there have been cases where victims can no longer find the original offending online content but it still circulates virally, such as on closed messaging apps.

“All of these hurdles should not put relief beyond their reach,” he said. “Where there’s a credible report, the focus should be on whether there’s enough information to investigate and to act, not whether every procedural box has been checked.”

Another challenge for victims is serving legal documents to, for example, perpetrators or platforms overseas to act on online harms.

Since online harms cross borders very easily, serving legal documents across borders can be harder, So, the Government is looking at how to make the process easier, Tong said.

“Being overseas should not, by itself, put someone outside of accountability,” he added.

His comments come after the Online Safety Commission (OSC), a new government agency launched in June , said on Sept 22 that it received more than 500 reports of online harms within two months of its launch.

The OSC is empowered by OSRAA to help victims of online harms secure swift content takedowns and restrict offender accounts.

Victims of intimate image and image-based child abuse, as well as victims of doxing, can submit reports to OSC immediately, while victims of online harassment or stalking must first report their case to online platforms and wait 24 hours before escalating to the OSC.

Tong said that the over 500 reports that OSC received will help the Government deal better with the next 500 cases and possibly prevent some of them from happening. “That is ultimately how we should measure success - not by how many people come to the OSC for assistance but by whether, over time, fewer people need to do so,” he added.

Internet crimes and scams

律政部长唐振辉于9月23日在乌节路淡马锡店屋举行的答谢活动上发表讲话，感谢社区、学术界、政府和商业伙伴在制定和实施《网络安全（救济和问责）法》方面给予的支持。

发布于 2026 年 9 月 23 日晚上 9:37

更新于2026年9月23日晚上9:37

新加坡政府正与指定的在线平台合作，以确保对网络危害做出更快的反应。根据《网络安全（救济和问责）法》，目前的反应时间为 6 至 48 小时。

受害者可以通过从法律部网站下载的表格举报伤害，政府的目标是通过提供便捷、专门的举报渠道来简化这一过程。

网络安全委员会在两个月内收到了 500 多份举报，这些举报有助于改进未来的应对措施，并随着时间的推移减少受害者寻求帮助的需求。

新加坡——律政部长唐振辉表示，政府将与指定的在线平台合作，根据新加坡新的法律框架，更快地对网络伤害的受害者做出反应，例如删除违规内容或封禁肇事者，以帮助这些人及时获得补救和更好的保护。

“随着平台对框架越来越熟悉，我们将与他们合作，缩短响应时间，”兼任内政部第二部长的唐先生于9月23日表示。

“因为当有害内容在网上传播时，即使多出的1个小时（它仍然可用）有时也会产生很大的影响。”

根据网络危害的类型，根据 2025 年通过的《网络安全（救济和问责）法案》（OSRAA），指定的网络平台目前必须在收到通知后的 6 至 48 小时内作出回应。

“我们非常仔细地校准了这些时间线。从一开始，根据受害者的描述，我们就知道速度至关重要，”童说道。

“但我们也意识到，各个平台需要时间来理解……新的框架，并调整其流程，以便能够在该框架内运作。因此，我们提出的这些时间表只是一个起点。”

他在乌节路淡马锡店屋举行的答谢活动上发表讲话，感谢社区、学术界、政府和商业伙伴在制定和实施 OSRAA 过程中给予的支持。

在活动中，他概述了政府如何能够使受害者更快、更容易地向在线平台举报网络危害。

《海峡时报》此前曾报道，网络伤害的受害者提出了一些改进处理网络伤害流程的建议，尤其是在报告伤害方面，例如减少填写表格。

目前，指定的在线平台必须在六小时内对未经受害者同意而在网上分享其私密照片和视频的简单案件作出回应。对于在网上分享的简单儿童虐待材料，也适用同样的规定。

简单来说，就是涉及描绘女性、男性或儿童生殖器、肛门或乳房暴露的在线材料。

对于其他涉及私密图像滥用或基于图像的儿童虐待案件，响应时间为24小时。对于网络骚扰、人肉搜索和跟踪，平台必须在48小时内采取行动。

这些要求适用于以下在线平台：YouTube、Google Maps Reviews、Facebook、Instagram、Threads、WhatsApp、X、HardwareZone Forums、TikTok、Reddit、Telegram 和 WeChat。

新加坡儿童协会首席执行官洪文敏表示，网络平台对网络危害做出更快反应，对儿童受害者来说至关重要。

“现在的孩子们经常玩手机。他们圈子里传播的东西可能会迅速蔓延开来，”她解释说，并指出像网络性虐待这样的伤害会对儿童造成创伤。

受害者或其监护人可以通过填写从法律部网站下载的表格并将其发送给在线平台，来促使在线平台对他们遭受的网络伤害采取行动。

唐女士9月23日表示，政府也希望简化受害者向平台发送网络伤害通知的流程。这包括允许受害者从平台自身的服务中下载通知表格。该表格应易于查找和使用，并且仅要求受害者提供“合理必要”的信息。

唐表示，对于主要平台，政府希望它们能够首先提供一个清晰、专门的渠道，方便受害者发送网络伤害通知，例如指定的电子邮件地址。

他表示，处理网络伤害受害者的通知也应务实，并以“受害者为中心”。童指出，有些情况下，受害者可能已经找不到最初的侵权内容，但这些内容仍然在网络上广泛传播，例如在一些封闭的即时通讯应用上。

他说：“所有这些障碍都不应使他们无法获得救济。如果报告可信，重点应该放在是否有足够的信息进行调查和采取行动，而不是是否每个程序步骤都已完成。”

受害者面临的另一个挑战是向海外的犯罪者或平台等送达法律文件，以便他们就网络危害采取行动。

童先生表示，由于网络危害很容易跨境传播，跨境送达法律文件可能更加困难，因此政府正在研究如何简化这一流程。

他补充说：“身处海外本身不应该使人免于承担责任。”

此前，今年 6 月成立的新政府机构网络安全委员会 (OSC) 于 9 月 22 日表示，在成立两个月内，该机构收到了 500 多起网络危害报告。

OSC 获得 OSRAA 授权，可以帮助网络伤害的受害者迅速删除不良内容并限制违法者的帐户。

私密照片和基于照片的儿童虐待的受害者，以及人肉搜索的受害者，可以立即向安大略省安全委员会 (OSC) 提交报告；而网络骚扰或跟踪的受害者必须先向网络平台报告案件，并等待 24 小时后才能向安大略省安全委员会 (OSC) 提出申诉。

唐先生表示，特别法庭收到的500多份举报将有助于政府更好地处理接下来的500起案件，并有可能预防其中一些案件的发生。“这才是我们衡量成功的最终标准——不是有多少人来特别法庭寻求帮助，而是随着时间的推移，需要寻求帮助的人数是否有所减少。”他补充道。

网络犯罪和诈骗