A state study has revealed that there has been a rise in the amount of offensive content Singaporeans meeting on social advertising.
The Ministry of Digital Development and Information reported in a press release on Thursday ( Jul 25 ) that there was a significant increase in content that incites racial or religious tension, as well as violent content.
Social media also carried more hazardous content than other systems, such as messaging programs, search engines and game platforms, the study found.
The previous Ministry of Communications and Information, or MDDI, conducted the yearly Online Safety Poll in April of this year.
It surveyed 2,098 Singapore respondents between the ages of 15 and over to learn what their experiences with hazardous website content were and how they would respond to it.
It included social media services designated by the Infocomm Media Development Authority ( IMDA ) under the Code of Practice for Online Safety, namely Facebook, HardwareZone, Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube.
INCREASE IN HARMFUL Material
About three-quarters (74 per share ) of those polled encountered hazardous content online, an increase from 65 per cent last year.  ,
Two-thirds of responders (66 per cent ) encountered the information on the said social media platforms, away from 57 per cent last year.
In contrast, 28 per cent came across for information on various platforms, such as messaging websites and apps, research engines, email, news websites, game platforms and software stores, said MDDI. This was related to last year’s levels.