Singapore Threatens Fines For Meta For Identity Fraud Case On Facebook

Illustration of Mte Platform Inc. (photo: x @MobilePunch ·)

JAKARTA - The Singapore government said on Thursday September 25 that it had given Meta Platforms Inc. until the end of this month to implement measures, including facial recognition, to help suppress the identity impersonation fraud case on Facebook.

Meta faces fines of up to 1 million Singapore dollars (approximately IDR 13 billion) if it fails to comply with the order "without any reasonable reason". This was disclosed by the Singapore Ministry of Home Affairs in a statement. The ministry added that failure to comply would result in fines of up to 100.000 Singapore dollars for each day after the deadline.

The ministry said the order had been issued for Meta on Wednesday, September 24.

"It is our policy to prohibit imitation or run advertisements that deceive using public figures to try to deceive people, and we removed them when detected," a Meta spokesperson said on Wednesday, September 24.

The spokesman said Meta has a "special system to detect counterfeit accounts and advertisements that take advantage of celebrities" and is working closely with law enforcement in "law enforcement against criminals behind this scam."

Earlier this month, Singapore police ordered Meta to implement anti-fraud measures against advertising, accounts, profiles, and business pages that mimic top government officials on its Facebook platform. The order at that time was not accompanied by a deadline.

The ministry said it saw an increase in cases where criminals used Facebook for identity fraud between June 2024 and June this year, using videos or pictures of government officials in advertising, accounts, profiles, and fake business pages.

"Meskipun Meta telah mengambil langkah-langkah untuk mengatasi risiko penipuan identitas secara global, termasuk di Singapura, Kementerian Dalam Negeri dan Kepolisian Singapura tetap perhatian dengan maraknya penipuan seperti in Singapore," kata kementerian tersebut.

This is the first order issued under the country's new Online Criminal Law (Online Criminal Harms Act), which took effect in February 2024.