S’pore orders Meta to act against scams impersonating government leaders on Facebook

Singapore issues 1st Implementation Directive against Meta to act against government impersonator scams on Facebook

Facebook’s parent company, Meta, has been ordered to take stronger action against scam advertisements and fake accounts impersonating Singapore’s political leaders.

On Thursday (25 Sep), the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) announced that the Singapore Police Force (SPF), acting as the Competent Authority under the Online Criminal Harms Act (OCHA), issued an Implementation Directive (ID) to Meta.

The directive requires Meta to “put in place measures to target scam advertisements, accounts, profiles, and/or business pages impersonating key Government Office Holders on Facebook”.

They must comply by next Tuesday (30 Sep) or risk facing a fine of up to S$1 million, with an additional S$100,000 for every day it fails to do so.

Spike in scams using videos & images of ‘key Government Officer Holders’

According to MHA, scammers had ramped up their use of videos and images of key Government Office Holders in fake ads, profiles, and business pages on Facebook during the period between June 2024 and June 2025.

The ministry added that “Facebook is the top platform used by scammers to commit such impersonation scams”, and that the police had disrupted about 2,000 such fake advertisements and accounts during the period.

What Meta has to do

Under the directive, Meta must roll out:

• Enhanced facial recognition measures in Singapore
• Quicker review of end-user reports from Singapore

Failure to comply with these requirements could result in a fine of up to S$1 million, with an additional S$100,000 imposed for each day the offence continues after conviction.

1st Implementation Directive ever issued under the OCHA

MHA noted that this is the first ID ever issued under the OCHA.

The Act, passed in July 2023, was designed to give authorities more teeth in tackling scams and malicious online activities.

MHA and SPF said they will also work with Meta to extend protections to other “influential public figures” who may be targeted.

The directive comes just as Meta announced that it is expanding  “teen accounts” to Facebook and Messenger, which place automatic restrictions and safety controls on users aged 13 to 17.

Also read: Sun Xueling slams Meta for resisting S’pore govt’s anti-scam efforts