§ 2 — General interpretation

2.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —“Account Restriction Direction” means a direction issued under section 40;

“appellate court”, in relation to an appeal from a decision of the General Division of the High Court under this Act, means the court to which the appeal is to be made under section 29C of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1969;

“authorised officer” means a police officer, a public officer or an employee of a statutory board authorised under section 55;

“bot” means a computer program made or altered for the purpose of running automated tasks;

“Competent Authority” means the Competent Authority appointed under section 6;

“computing resource service” means a service that provides the use of any computer hardware or software to enhance the processing capability or storage capacity of a computer;Examples

Examples of computing resource services are cloud computing and data centre services.

“coordinated inauthentic behaviour” means any coordinated activity carried out using 2 or more online accounts, in order to mislead end‑users in Singapore of any internet intermediary service as to any matter, but excludes any activity carried out using online accounts —(a)

that are controlled by the same person; and

(b)

none of which is an inauthentic online account or is controlled by a bot;

“Correction Direction” means a direction issued under section 11;

“Declaration” means a Declaration made under section 32;

“declared online location” means an online location that is the subject of a Declaration that is in effect;

“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;

Examples

Examples 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.

“Disabling Direction” means a direction issued under section 22;

“General Correction Direction” means a direction issued under section 23;

“IMDA” means the Info‑communications Media Development Authority established by section 3 of the Info‑communications Media Development Authority Act 2016;

“inauthentic online account” means an online account that is controlled by a person other than the person represented (whether by its user profile, unique identifier or other information) as its holder, and the representation is made for the purpose of misleading end‑users in Singapore of any internet intermediary service as to the holder’s identity;

“internet access service provider” means an internet access service provider licensed under section 5 of the Telecommunications Act 1999;

“internet intermediary” means a person who provides any internet intermediary service;

“internet intermediary service” means —(a)

a service that allows end‑users to access materials originating from third parties on or through the internet;

(b)

a service of transmitting such materials to end‑users on or through the internet; or

(c)

a service of displaying, to an end‑user who uses the service to make an online search, an index of search results, each of which links that end‑user to content hosted or stored at a location which is separate from the location of the index of search results,

but excludes any act done for the purpose of, or that is incidental to, the provision of —

(d)

a service of giving the public access to the internet; or

(e)

a computing resource service;Examples

Examples of internet intermediary services are —

(a) social networking services;

(b) search engine services;

(c) content aggregation services;

(d) internet‑based messaging services; and

(e) video‑sharing services.

“material” means anything that consists of or contains a statement;Examples

Examples of a material are a message, a post, an article, a speech, a picture, a video recording and a sound recording.

“MMS” means a system that enables the transmission, through a mobile network, of multimedia messages;

“online account” means an account created with an internet intermediary for the use of an internet intermediary service;

“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;

“paid content” means any statement that is communicated in any place for consideration;

“Part 3 Direction” means a Correction Direction or a Stop Communication Direction;

“Part 4 Direction” means a Targeted Correction Direction, a Disabling Direction or a General Correction Direction;

“prescribed digital advertising intermediary” means a digital advertising intermediary, or a class of digital advertising intermediaries, prescribed by regulations made under section 62;

“prescribed internet intermediary” means an internet intermediary, or a class of internet intermediaries, prescribed by regulations made under section 62;

“Remedial Order” means an order made under section 24(4);

“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;

“SMS” means a system that enables the transmission, through a mobile network, of text messages;

“statement” means any word (including abbreviation and initial), number, image (moving or otherwise), sound, symbol or other representation, or a combination of any of these;

“statutory board” means a body corporate or unincorporate established by or under any public Act to perform or discharge a public function;

“Stop Communication Direction” means a direction issued under section 12;

“Targeted Correction Direction” means a direction issued under section 21;

“telecommunication service” has the meaning given by section 2 of the Telecommunications Act 1999.[40/2019]

(2) In this Act —(a)

a statement of fact is a statement which a reasonable person seeing, hearing or otherwise perceiving it would consider to be a representation of fact; and

(b)

a statement is false if it is false or misleading, whether wholly or in part, and whether on its own or in the context in which it appears.

(3) In this Act, a person has editorial control over an online location if the person is able to decide one or both of the following:(a)

whether any statement may be included or excluded on the online location;

(b)

where to place any statement on the online location.

—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —“Account Restriction Direction” means a direction issued under section 40;

“appellate court”, in relation to an appeal from a decision of the General Division of the High Court under this Act, means the court to which the appeal is to be made under section 29C of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1969;

“authorised officer” means a police officer, a public officer or an employee of a statutory board authorised under section 55;

“bot” means a computer program made or altered for the purpose of running automated tasks;

“Competent Authority” means the Competent Authority appointed under section 6;

“computing resource service” means a service that provides the use of any computer hardware or software to enhance the processing capability or storage capacity of a computer;Examples

Examples of computing resource services are cloud computing and data centre services.

“coordinated inauthentic behaviour” means any coordinated activity carried out using 2 or more online accounts, in order to mislead end‑users in Singapore of any internet intermediary service as to any matter, but excludes any activity carried out using online accounts —(a)

that are controlled by the same person; and

(b)

none of which is an inauthentic online account or is controlled by a bot;

“Correction Direction” means a direction issued under section 11;

“Declaration” means a Declaration made under section 32;

“declared online location” means an online location that is the subject of a Declaration that is in effect;

“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;

Examples

Examples 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.

“Disabling Direction” means a direction issued under section 22;

“General Correction Direction” means a direction issued under section 23;

“IMDA” means the Info‑communications Media Development Authority established by section 3 of the Info‑communications Media Development Authority Act 2016;

“inauthentic online account” means an online account that is controlled by a person other than the person represented (whether by its user profile, unique identifier or other information) as its holder, and the representation is made for the purpose of misleading end‑users in Singapore of any internet intermediary service as to the holder’s identity;

“internet access service provider” means an internet access service provider licensed under section 5 of the Telecommunications Act 1999;

“internet intermediary” means a person who provides any internet intermediary service;

“internet intermediary service” means —(a)

a service that allows end‑users to access materials originating from third parties on or through the internet;

(b)

a service of transmitting such materials to end‑users on or through the internet; or

(c)

a service of displaying, to an end‑user who uses the service to make an online search, an index of search results, each of which links that end‑user to content hosted or stored at a location which is separate from the location of the index of search results,

but excludes any act done for the purpose of, or that is incidental to, the provision of —

(d)

a service of giving the public access to the internet; or

(e)

a computing resource service;Examples

Examples of internet intermediary services are —

(a) social networking services;

(b) search engine services;

(c) content aggregation services;

(d) internet‑based messaging services; and

(e) video‑sharing services.

“material” means anything that consists of or contains a statement;Examples

Examples of a material are a message, a post, an article, a speech, a picture, a video recording and a sound recording.

“MMS” means a system that enables the transmission, through a mobile network, of multimedia messages;

“online account” means an account created with an internet intermediary for the use of an internet intermediary service;

“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;

“paid content” means any statement that is communicated in any place for consideration;

“Part 3 Direction” means a Correction Direction or a Stop Communication Direction;

“Part 4 Direction” means a Targeted Correction Direction, a Disabling Direction or a General Correction Direction;

“prescribed digital advertising intermediary” means a digital advertising intermediary, or a class of digital advertising intermediaries, prescribed by regulations made under section 62;

“prescribed internet intermediary” means an internet intermediary, or a class of internet intermediaries, prescribed by regulations made under section 62;

“Remedial Order” means an order made under section 24(4);

“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;

“SMS” means a system that enables the transmission, through a mobile network, of text messages;

“statement” means any word (including abbreviation and initial), number, image (moving or otherwise), sound, symbol or other representation, or a combination of any of these;

“statutory board” means a body corporate or unincorporate established by or under any public Act to perform or discharge a public function;

“Stop Communication Direction” means a direction issued under section 12;

“Targeted Correction Direction” means a direction issued under section 21;

“telecommunication service” has the meaning given by section 2 of the Telecommunications Act 1999.[40/2019]

(2) In this Act —(a)

a statement of fact is a statement which a reasonable person seeing, hearing or otherwise perceiving it would consider to be a representation of fact; and

(b)

a statement is false if it is false or misleading, whether wholly or in part, and whether on its own or in the context in which it appears.

(3) In this Act, a person has editorial control over an online location if the person is able to decide one or both of the following:(a)

whether any statement may be included or excluded on the online location;

(b)

where to place any statement on the online location.