Out-Law News 3 min. read
11 Jul 2013, 8:56 am
Dr Yaacob Ibrahim said that companies subject to the new licensing regime will "enjoy the same freedom of expression they have hitherto enjoyed" under existing internet service and content provider licensing conditions.
Jen Psaki, a spokesperson for the US State Department, told journalists on Monday that the US Government was "deeply concerned" by the online news licensing plans in Singapore. She called on Singapore to "ensure freedom of expression is protected in accordance with its international obligations and commitments", according to a transcript of the briefing.
However, Dr Ibrahim said that concerns over internet freedom were "unfounded".
"The online news site licence will require licensees to adhere to a set of content standards which are no different from existing standards under the Internet Code of Practice and Class Licence," Dr Ibrahim said in a Parliamentary address.(8-page / 60KB PDF) "These content standards are meant to safeguard racial and religious harmony, public order, as well as good taste and decency. I wish to stress that nothing in the content standards prevents licensees from commenting on Government policies."
"Since the content standards have not changed, licensees will enjoy the same freedom of expression they have hitherto enjoyed under the Class Licence scheme. Fears that the new licensing framework will stifle Internet freedom are unfounded," the Minister added.
Earlier this year the Singaporean Government announced plans to introduce a new licensing regime for online news in the country. The regime will be overseen by the Media Development Authority (MDA).
Under the plans, online news providers that report "an average of at least one article per week on Singapore’s news and current affairs over a continuous period of two months" and whose websites "are visited by a monthly average of at least 50,000 unique IP addresses from Singapore over the same two months" will be subject to the licensing conditions, Dr Ibrahim said.
Licensees will be required to take down content that breaches the content standards within 24 hours after being directed to do so by the MDA. They will also be required to pay a SIN$50,000 (approximately £26,000) performance bond "to ensure that licensees exercise their best efforts to keep their websites free of prohibited content and when there is such content, to remove it expeditiously within the timeframe of 24 hours when directed by MDA", Dr Ibrahim said.
So far only 10 Singaporean online news providers have been identified as being required to hold a licence, but Dr Ibrahim said that it is the intention of the Singapore Government to expand the scope of the regime to foreign-based online news providers. Those plans will be consulted on next year, he said, whilst the MDA could also determine that additional home-based websites, to the 10 so far identified, should be required to hold a licence.
"In general, bloggers, Internet commentators and niche sites provide their personal perspective of issues, and do not regularly report on the news and current affairs of the day," Dr Ibrahim said. "As a result, they have not been determined to be reporting on Singapore news and current affairs, and so these websites do not fall within the scope of the licensing framework. However, should these websites morph into online sites reporting on Singapore news, MDA will have to separately assess if they meet the two criteria for licensing. For now, MDA is working with the organisations that own the 10 sites. MDA is not considering individually licensing any other sites at this point in time."
"As to whether the framework would be extended to overseas-based websites, the issue will be studied further in tandem with planned amendments to the Broadcasting Act," he said. "The broad intent is to ensure that overseas broadcasters that are specifically targeting Singapore will be covered under our regulatory frameworks. This has become imperative with technological advances increasingly blurring the line between local and foreign broadcasters. However, we recognise that this is a complex issue and will therefore consult widely before tabling the amendments to the Broadcasting Act in Parliament sometime next year."
Internet giants including Facebook, Google and Yahoo! have all raised objections with the licensing plans, according to a report by Singapore Law Watch. The MDA is currently reviewing rules around liability for third party content and has undertaken a consultation process.
The licensing regime came into force on 1 June but Dr Ibrahim said it could be October before the "process of engagement" with the 10 websites initially pinpointed as being within the scope of the regime ends. After this period ends the "licence will actually take effect".