Number of Films, Videos, Plays and Others Requiring Content Changes Before Approval for General Dissemination in Past Five Years

Mr Leon Perera asked the Minister for Communications and Information in each of the past five years, what is the number of films, videos, plays and other forms of content where the Government has required changes to content to be made before approval for general dissemination was granted.

Mr S Iswaran: Over the last five years, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has received 24,196 application for classification for films and 5,001 for Arts Entertainment (AE). In the same period, 137 films (0.57%) were edited so that the material could fall within the classification guidelines. For AE, 18 productions (0.36%) were edited over the last five years so that the material could fall within the classification guidelines. The majority of these edits were made for offensive religious content or explicit sexual depictions. A small minority were assessed to promote terrorism or individuals who espoused violence.