Singapore’s fight against deepfakes reached a new milestone in September 2025, when authorities issued a landmark directive targeting Meta—parent company of Facebook—amid an ongoing surge of AI-driven impersonation scams. This intervention marks a critical escalation in measures, complementing existing financial sector advisories and legal reforms around synthetic media.

MAS Deepfake Scam Advisories

Throughout 2025, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) stepped up public warnings to the financial sector about deepfake technology’s misuse, especially for executive impersonation and fraudulent fund requests as part of anti-scan measures. MAS urged Singaporean financial institutions to conduct regular staff training, enhance verification for digital instructions, and deploy robust anti-fraud checks tailored for emerging threats. Their guidance positions deepfake vigilance as core to both cyber risk management and operational resilience in local finance.

IMDA Election Ruling and Ban

The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) enacted a prominent law targeting deepfakes in elections. Passed in late 2024 and enforced in 2025, the measure makes it illegal to publish, share, or amplify any manipulated digital content that misrepresents a political candidate’s words or conduct during campaign periods. The ruling empowers election authorities and candidates to quickly remove offending materials and imposes significant penalties on perpetrators. This marks a clear response to the unique threat deepfakes pose to electoral integrity and political trust.

Online Criminal Harms Directive Against Meta

On September 25, 2025, Singapore issued its first enforcement directive under the newly enacted Online Criminal Harms Act (OCHA), demanding Meta introduce enhanced anti-scam protections—including facial recognition—by September 30. The move follows a noted increase in impersonation scams on Facebook targeting government office holders via doctored videos, images, and fake profiles or ads. Meta must prioritize reviewing Singapore-based complaints and faces fines of up to S$1 million for non-compliance, plus possible daily penalties of S$100,000 if violations persist. The Ministry of Home Affairs and the Singapore Police Force disrupted about 2,000 such scam attempts in one year, underlining the urgent need for technology platforms to stem abuse and uphold public trust.

Broadening Protections

Authorities have signaled their intent to extend similar platform obligations to other major social media and online entities in Singapore. Singapore’s approach exemplifies layered regulatory action—targeting deepfakes both as criminal scams and as a threat to democracy—blending real-time platform accountability with preventive sector guidance and legislative safeguards.