# Mandating Online Platforms in Singapore to Incorporate Safety-by-design Principles to Prevent Child Sexual Exploitation - Date: 2026-09-09 - Added: 2026-09-26 - Who: Ms Elysa Chen · Ms Rahayu Mahzam - Source: https://sprs.parl.gov.sg/search/#/sprs3topic?reportid=oral-answer-4191 - sgai: https://sgai.md/debates/oral-answer-4191/ - License: sgai-authored content (summaries, translations, analysis) is CC BY 4.0 — attribute and link to sgai.md. Verbatim source text (Hansard, speeches, transcripts, policy documents) remains © its original rights holders and is reproduced for reference only. Terms: https://github.com/meltflake/sgai/blob/main/DATA-LICENSE.md ## Why it matters The Government is reviewing whether to bring AI chatbots, messaging and gaming services under its online safety rules, and has already placed X under Enhanced Supervision. ## Summary Ms Elysa Chen asked the Minister for Digital Development and Information whether online platforms will be required to adopt safety-by-design principles to prevent child sexual exploitation, and when. Minister of State for Digital Development and Information Ms Rahayu Mahzam replied that under IMDA's Codes of Practice for Online Safety, designated social media services and app stores must already proactively detect and swiftly remove child sexual exploitation content, which aligns with safety-by-design. IMDA's 31 March 2026 assessment report found serious weaknesses at X, which received a Letter of Caution and was placed under Enhanced Supervision. In supplementaries, Ms Chen asked whether messaging services, gaming platforms and AI companion apps would be covered. Ms Rahayu said the Government is reviewing whether to bring AI chatbots, messaging and gaming services under regulation and will announce details when ready. She clarified that the Online Safety Commission (OSC) handles victim-triggered individual cases and is not a proactive regulator of platform design. ## Key points - Under IMDA's Codes of Practice for Online Safety, designated social media services and app stores must proactively detect and swiftly remove child sexual exploitation and abuse activity, such as online grooming. - These services must also have systems and processes to reduce Singapore users' exposure to harmful content, including child sexual exploitation material; the Government says this aligns with safety-by-design principles. - IMDA's Online Safety Assessment Report of 31 March 2026 found serious weaknesses in X's detection and removal of child sexual exploitation material; X received a Letter of Caution and was placed under Enhanced Supervision. - The Government is reviewing whether to extend regulation to AI chatbots, messaging and gaming services, and will announce details when ready. - The Online Safety Commission (OSC), operational since June 2026, handles victim-triggered individual cases and is not a proactive regulator of platform design; design requirements are enforced by IMDA under the Social Media Services Code. ## Full text © Parliament of Singapore — reproduced for reference only. 8 Ms Elysa Chen asked the Minister for Digital Development and Information (a) whether online platforms operating in Singapore will be required to incorporate safety-by-design principles to prevent child sexual exploitation; (b) if not, why not; and (c) when will the Ministry mandate such safeguards, given that international standards are already in place elsewhere. The Minister of State for Digital Development and Information (Ms Rahayu Mahzam) (for the Minister for Digital Development and Information) : Mr Speaker, under the Infocomm Media Development Authority's (IMDA's) Codes of Practice for Online Safety, designated social media services and app stores are required to proactively detect and swiftly remove child sexual exploitation and abuse activity on their platforms, such as online grooming for child sexual abuse. Additionally, these services are required to put in place systems and processes to mitigate Singapore users' exposure to harmful content, including child sexual exploitation material. These are aligned with safety-by-design principles that require platforms to build proactive safeguards and prevent harm, rather than react to the harm that occurs. IMDA also regularly assesses the designated platforms' compliance with their respective Codes of Practice for Online Safety. In the latest Online Safety Assessment Report for designated social media services published on 31 March 2026, IMDA found serious weaknesses in X's measures to proactively detect and remove child sexual exploitation and abuse material on its platform. IMDA issued a Letter of Caution to X and placed it under Enhanced Supervision to hold it accountable to rectify its serious weaknesses. Mr Speaker : Ms Chen. Ms Elysa Chen (Bishan-Toa Payoh) : I thank the Minister of State. The Codes of Practice currently impose child sexual exploitation duties only on designated social media and app distribution services. I wanted to ask whether messaging services and gaming platforms, such as Roblox and Minecraft, where grooming and unsolicited contact risks arise, will be brought within scope and what criteria govern designation? I also wanted to ask a second supplementary question. Artificial intelligence (AI) companion applications and conversational agents now sustain prolonged, private interactions with minors. Yet they fall outside both Codes of Practice. May I ask whether such services will be designated and whether they will carry the same detection and reporting obligations as social media services? Last, the Online Safety Commission (OSC) has been operational since June 2026. I would like to ask whether it will be given an explicit mandate to enforce safety by design standards against child sexual exploitation and what might the timeline be for such an implementation? Ms Rahayu Mahzam : Mr Speaker, we appreciate the Member's concerns on this issue. In relation to questions one and two, these are things that we are also concerned with. We are regularly reviewing the scope of our current online safety measures to ensure that the support and the protection for children is extensive. It is part of our efforts to enhance online safety in Singapore. This also includes whether to extend our regulatory ambit to include other types of online services, such as what the Member mentioned – the AI chat bots, messaging, gaming services and we are reviewing this. We will announce more details when we are ready. With regard to the question on the OSC, I would like to just make a clarification here. The OSC serves a different function. For this purpose, it is IMDA, which works with the designated social media services under the Code of Practice for Online Safety – Social Media Services, what we call the Social Media Services (SMS) Code. The SMS code imposes requirements on the designated social media services to put in place online safety measures, including safeguards to address child sexual exploitation. So, just to expand the clarification on the OSC, it is an avenue for victims to seek relief for specified online harms. The Commissioner of Online Safety is empowered to issue directions to platforms, but these are in response to individual cases, because it has to be triggered by the victims. It is not a proactive regulator of platform design. But they have engaged with major online service providers and will continue to work closely with them to ensure that online harms, including image-based child abuse, are addressed in a timely manner.