Registration of Political Websites - What it Means

Dated: 20 July 2001

The Singapore Broadcasting Authority (SBA) recently required Sintercom to be registered as a political website and Sintercom has complied with the request to register.

SBA would like to clarify that it does not pre-censor contents on political websites. Content providers of political websites are not required to clear their contents with SBA before publication.

Under the Singapore Broadcasting Authority'​s Class Licence, all content providers are responsible for the content of their websites.

Content providers who engage in the propagation, promotion or discussion of political issues relating to Singapore on World Wide Web through the Internet are required to be registered with SBA.

The objective of registering political websites is to ensure that those who run sites engaging in the discussion of domestic politics are accountable and take responsibility for the content of their sites.

Registration is a simple administrative procedure. It only needs content providers to give SBA the particulars of the website and those who are responsible for the editorial content. This is as straight forward as the filling of a form. There is no cause for Sintercom to over react over such a simple request.

SBA had issued an Internet Code of Practice for the Internet as a basis for content providers to exercise judgement and to act responsibly. Those concerned about what may be posted on the Internet should refer to the Code which is also available on the SBA website.