Singapore has ordered Meta to crack down on scammers impersonating government officials on Facebook by September 30 or face heavy penalties.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said on Thursday that police directed Meta to implement measures against fake ads, accounts, and pages posing as government office holders. Non-compliance could result in fines of up to Sg$1 million (US$776,000), with additional daily penalties of Sg$100,000 for continued violations after conviction.
Authorities said the directive followed a sharp increase in scams between June 2024 and June 2025, with Facebook identified as the primary platform used. The MHA noted that while Meta had taken global steps against impersonation fraud, such scams in Singapore have persisted.
It marks the first time police have invoked the Online Criminal Harms Act, passed last year, to compel an online platform to act.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Goh Pei Ming revealed earlier this month that impersonation scams surged 200 percent in the first half of 2025 to more than 1,760 cases, with losses climbing 90 percent to Sg$126 million. Some fraudsters even deployed deepfakes of Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in fake cryptocurrency schemes.
Meta did not immediately comment but has previously stated it bans ads that deceptively use public figures to mislead users.
