Regulations to Disallow Unlicensed Moneylender Advertisements on Social Media Platforms and via Communication Applications

Mr Gan Thiam Poh asked the Minister for Home Affairs whether there are Government regulations that require telcos, social media platform and app service providers to restrict and disallow the use of their platforms by unlicensed moneylenders, including that for advertisements.

Mr K Shanmugam: The Criminal Procedure Code allows the Police to order telcos to terminate phone lines used for unlicensed moneylending and other crimes. Under the Online Criminal Harms Act, the Government can direct online services to stop accounts or content perpetrating crimes, including unlicensed moneylending, from interacting with or reaching Singapore end users.

Between January 2023 and May 2024, the Police flagged more than 4,500 phone numbers and more than 5,300 online accounts and advertisements involved in unlicensed moneylending activities for termination. The Police also work with online platforms on upstream measures against unlicensed moneylending activities, such as pre-emptively detecting and blocking accounts involved in such.