Review of Singapore's Laws to Deter Online Child Pornography

Mr Christopher de Souza asked the Minister for Home Affairs whether he can provide an update on the review of Singapore's laws deterring online child pornography and what will be done to restrict, deter and punish access to and the hosting of child pornography websites in Singapore.

The Minister for Home Affairs (Mr K Shanmugam): Mr Deputy Speaker, the Internet content providers (ICPs) include web-hosting services, and they are all class-licensed under the Broadcasting Act. So, they are required to comply with the Internet Code of Practice and ensure that prohibited material, such as child sexual abuse content, is not hosted on their websites.

If child sexual abuse websites are verified to be hosted in Singapore, the IMDA can: (i) direct the ICPs to take down the content; (ii) issue directions to the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block access to the websites; and (iii) suspend or cancel the class licences of the ICPs.

Where there is child sexual abuse content, the Police will also investigate, as appropriate. I mentioned yesterday that there is a major review of the Penal Code. We are looking at whether there should be dedicated laws dealing with activities related to child pornography – from the making of pornographic material involving children, to possession and distribution of such material, and also whether such laws should carry higher penalties to send a stronger deterrent message. Those review proposals will be tabled for public consultation later this year.

Mr Christopher de Souza (Holland-Bukit Timah): I thank the Minister for his reply. I would like to ask the Minister, in light of the highly heinous nature of this crime of child pornography, would the Ministry prioritise the deterrence against the crimes in its review of any relevant penal laws? And if the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) can form any feedback mechanism or support the Ministry in its work, we would be very happy to work with the Ministry in this review.

Mr K Shanmugam: I will ask my Ministries to liaise with the GPC. Thank you.