PART 3
ONLINE ELECTION ADVERTISING AND
NON-ONLINE ELECTION ADVERTISING
BY ELECTRONIC MEANS
Manner of including published-by requirements under section 61B(1)(c) of Act
16.  For the purposes of section 61B(1)(c) of the Act, content that is or includes an online election advertisement or a published election advertisement must use the words “paid for by”, “sponsored by” or similar expressions to include the identity particulars required under section 61B(3)(d) of the Act.
Requisite functionalities under section 61F(2)(d)(ii) of Act for online election advertising published in chatrooms and discussion forums
17.—(1)  For the purposes of section 61F(2)(d)(ii) of the Act, an online election advertisement published in a chatroom or discussion forum must have all of the following requisite functionalities:
(a)all content published in the chatroom or discussion forum during the campaign period must be recorded if the content relates to the online election advertisement;
(b)all content published in the chatroom or discussion forum during the campaign period must be capable of being removed by the moderator appointed under paragraph (2) if the content relates to the online election advertisement.
(2)  For the purposes of paragraph (1), the candidate or the candidate’s election agent or the political party (as the case may be) must —
(a)before the start of the campaign period or the creation of the chatroom or discussion forum (whichever is later), appoint one or more persons as moderators to manage the chatroom or discussion forum; and
(b)notify the Returning Officer of the appointment together with the declaration made by the candidate or the candidate’s election agent or the political party under regulation 19 in relation to the online election advertisement.
(3)  A person who is appointed as a moderator of a chatroom or discussion forum is responsible for ensuring that each requisite functionality mentioned in paragraph (1) is complied with.
(4)  A person who fails to comply with any requirement under paragraph (2) or (3) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.
(5)  In this regulation, “chatroom” or “discussion forum” means an online location that end‑users of an electronic service are able to —
(a)access using the electronic service; and
(b)communicate content or interact online with other end‑users or a designated segment of end‑users.
Requisite functionality under section 61F(2)(d)(ii) of Act for election advertising sent by email or electronic service
18.—(1)  For the purposes of section 61F(2)(d)(ii) of the Act, an election advertisement in the form of an email must have the requisite functionality of an email address —
(a)that is clearly and conspicuously displayed in the email;
(b)that is functioning; and
(c)to which the recipient of the email may send a reply to the sender of the email to indicate a desire not to receive any more email containing election advertising at the email address at which the firstmentioned email was received.
(2)  For the purposes of section 61F(2)(d)(ii) of the Act, an election advertisement that is sent using an electronic service (other than by way of email) must have the requisite functionality of an email address, a mobile telephone number or an online account identified by a username —
(a)that is clearly and conspicuously displayed in the election advertisement;
(b)that is functioning; and
(c)to which the recipient of the election advertisement may send a reply to the sender to indicate a desire not to receive any more election advertising that is sent using the electronic service.
(3)  For the purposes of this regulation —
(a)an email address, a mobile telephone number or an online account identified by a username (called in this paragraph a contact point) is functioning in relation to an election advertisement if the contact point —
(i)is capable of receiving content by means of email or an electronic service for at least 14 days after the election advertisement is sent; and
(ii)has the capacity, reasonably calculated in the light of the number of recipients of the election advertisement, to enable it to receive the full expected quantity of replies from the recipients by those means;
(b)if —
(i)a contact point is temporarily unable to receive content because of technical problems; and
(ii)steps are taken to correct these technical problems within a reasonable time by any of the following persons:
(A)the owner of the contact point or a person authorised by the owner to use the contact point;
(B)the provider of the email service or electronic service (as the case may be) for sending content to the contact point;
(C)the provider of an intermediary service (including a cloud computing service provider, a data storage service provider, an email security service provider or an internet access service provider) that is necessary for the functioning of the contact point,
the contact point is not taken to have ceased to be functioning;
(c)“online account” includes —
(i)a free account, a prepaid account and anything that may reasonably be regarded as the equivalent of an account; and
(ii)an account of an online facility, network, service or system; and
(d)“user name”, in relation to an online account, means a unique sequence of characters that identifies a person as a user or the proprietor of the online account.
Prescribed procedure and details for declaration of election advertising under section 61F(3) of Act
19.—(1)  For the purposes of section 61F(3) of the Act, the declaration to be made under section 61F(2)(d)(i) of the Act must be submitted to the Returning Officer through the Internet website of the Elections Department at https://www.eld.gov.sg, using the form for that purpose made available on that website.
(2)  The declaration must be accompanied by the following details:
(a)if the election advertisement is published on an online location, or using an electronic service, that is accessible by the general public, or if access to the online location or electronic service is subject to a precondition (like a password) or is otherwise restricted — the name and other sufficient particulars about the online location or electronic service to enable the Returning Officer to access that online location or electronic service;
(b)if access to the online location or electronic service is not reasonably practicable — the name and other sufficient particulars to enable the Returning Officer to identify and contact the proprietor or operator of the online location or electronic service, as the case may be.
(3)  In addition, if an election advertisement for an election —
(a)is paid for in money or money’s worth by a person; and
(b)is published or to be published on an online location or using an electronic service,
the declaration must also state —
(c)the identity particulars of each person who published the election advertisement;
(d)the date on which the election advertisement was or will be first published and the period of publication or intended publication; and
(e)that each person mentioned in sub‑paragraph (c) received or is to receive, directly or indirectly, payment in money or money’s worth for the publication of the election advertisement, from —
(i)the declarant, whether or not by way of expenditure for the purposes of the election; or
(ii)any other person, whether or not a donor to a candidate or a political party at the election.
(4)  When any declaration is received by the Returning Officer, the Returning Officer must without delay ensure that the declaration is —
(a)made available for inspection (without charge) at the Elections Department, 11 Novena Rise, Singapore 307516, during its business hours, until the close of the poll in Singapore; or
(b)published on the Internet website of the Elections Department at https://www.eld.gov.sg until the close of the poll in Singapore.
(5)  More than one declaration may be given under this regulation by a candidate or a candidate’s election agent or a political party in respect of the same online location or electronic service.
(6)  For the purposes of paragraph (2), the Returning Officer may, in writing, indicate to the declarant that certain specified particulars are required for the Returning Officer to access or identify the online location or electronic service.
(7)  In proceedings for an offence under section 61F(2) of the Act, a failure to provide particulars that are indicated under paragraph (6) is presumed, unless the contrary is proved, to be a failure to provide sufficient particulars for the purposes of paragraph (2).