Singapore

National jurisdiction · as of 2026-09-07

Singapore has no adult-content age-verification statute and no app-store age-verification requirement confirmed in the primary text.

It does have an age-appropriate design code: the Code of Practice for Online Safety for Social Media Services, issued by the Info-communications Media Development Authority (IMDA) under section 45L of the Broadcasting Act 1994 and binding on social media services designated under section 45K(1), took effect 18 July 2023 and requires designated services to give children differentiated, more restrictive default safety settings and tools their parents or guardians can use to manage their exposure to harmful content.

A companion Code of Practice for Online Safety for App Distribution Services, issued under the same statutory power in 2025 and reported to carry its own age-assurance duty, is not described here, nor is the Online Safety (Relief and Accountability) Act 2025 or the Films Act 1981's R21 classification and exhibition restrictions.

01

Instruments on record

Code of Practice for Online Safety, Social Media Services

In force

Code of Practice for Online Safety, Social Media Services, issued under s. 45L of the Broadcasting Act 1994

Effective 2023-07-18 · Applies to private

The Code applies to Social Media Services designated or to be designated under section 45K(1) of the Broadcasting Act 1994; six services (Facebook, HardwareZone, Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube) were designated when it took effect.

It requires a designated service to minimise all end-users' exposure to harmful content (sexual content, violent content, suicide and self-harm content, cyberbullying content, content endangering public health, and content facilitating vice and organised crime) through published community guidelines and content moderation. Beyond that baseline, the Code requires additional measures for children, defined as anyone below 18.

Unless the service restricts child access entirely, a child's account must have age-appropriate default settings that are more restrictive than a general account, tools for the child or a parent or guardian to manage exposure and limit the visibility of and interaction with the account, and a clear warning before the child or parent opts out of those protective defaults.

A designated service must also use technology to proactively detect and swiftly remove child sexual exploitation and abuse material.

Source: Full text of law