What started on 29 June 2026

The Ministry of Law announced that the Online Safety Commission would start operating, and that the statutory torts under the Online Safety (Relief and Accountability) Act 2025 would take effect, on 29 June 2026. The Commission supports a Commissioner of Online Safety who can act on certain online harms.

The first phase covers five categories of harm: online harassment including online sexual harassment, doxxing, online stalking, intimate image abuse, and image-based child abuse. Eight further categories are to be introduced progressively. Victims can report the more serious harms directly through the Commission's website, there is a two-stage review mechanism for the Commissioner's decisions, and summaries note that platforms face heavier compliance obligations.

Exact platform duties and thresholds vary by category and are still evolving as categories are added. Read the Act and the Commission's materials for your product type.

What to build

If your product hosts user interaction, review three capabilities. A reporting route that is easy to find and gives the reporter confirmation. A response workflow with owners, timelines, and escalation for the most serious categories. And an evidence process that preserves relevant content and logs while respecting data protection rules, so you can act on a direction quickly and show what you did.

Make sure someone is reachable by the authorities, and that your moderation tooling can restrict or remove specific content and accounts at speed.

Fast, clear reporting

Give people a visible way to report and tell them what happens next.

Action and evidence tooling

Be able to restrict content, preserve evidence, and record decisions quickly.

Design for abuse by default

Anticipate how features can be misused: group messaging, comments, image sharing, and public profiles. Add safeguards such as blocking, rate limits, and friction for unknown contacts. Consider the effect of generative tools that can create harmful imagery.

Link this with your PDPA obligations, since evidence handling and disclosure to authorities involve personal data.

Building a product with user interaction in Singapore? Talk to us about trust and safety tooling.

Key takeaways

  • The Online Safety Commission and statutory torts began on 29 June 2026.
  • Five harm categories apply first, with eight more to follow progressively.
  • Build visible reporting, a response workflow with owners, and an evidence process.
  • Design features expecting misuse and review them against the Act.
This is general information, not legal advice. It reflects Ministry of Law and law-firm summaries as of October 2026; read the Act and Commission materials for authoritative duties.