SINGAPORE, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Singapore Elections (Integrity of Online Advertising) (Amendment) Act, enacted in October 2024, officially came into operation on Wednesday, as the nation prepares for its next general election, which must be held by November 2025.

The law updates previous election acts to address the rising threat of fake online advertisements, particularly those featuring digitally manipulated or falsified content about candidates.

"With the proliferation of AI, there were concerns about how AI, including deepfakes and cheapfakes, could affect the fairness of our elections," Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday. Teo introduced the amendment bill in October.

The act explicitly prohibits publishing online election ads containing "realistic but false representations of candidates" intended to mislead voters.

For example, a fake advertisement might depict a candidate giving a speech at a temple alongside the statement, "We will build public housing on this land." While the candidate did make the statement, it was actually referring to a piece of vacant land. Under the new law, such misrepresentation constitutes an offense.

In addition to the act coming into force, Singapore on Wednesday established a committee to review the nation's electoral boundaries, a prerequisite before the general election.

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong will lead the ruling People's Action Party into the upcoming election. Although the exact polling date has yet to be announced, local media noted that in the past four elections, the time between the formation of the electoral boundaries committee and polling day ranged from four to 11 months. Enditem

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