On November 5, 2025, another law regulating online content—the Online Safety (Relief and Accountability) Act—was passed to protect victims of online harms, including deepfakes, doxxing, and sexual harassment. The Act will establish the Online Safety Commission (OSC), which is empowered to compel platforms to remove harmful content and unmask anonymous perpetrators. The OSC will also administer a statutory reporting mechanism for victims seeking redress when platforms fail to act. The bill was passed while rejecting the WP’s proposed amendment to include a judicial appeal route beyond the OSC. C. Implications of the Situations on Human Rights and Democracy The main digital rights concern in Singapore in 2025 is the government’s control of information through a series of laws it has enacted. This trend is likely to continue under the ruling PAP government as it seeks to maintain its reputation and political interests. POFMA, in particular, allows the government to police content with little transparency, and it has frequently been used to silence critics, independent media, and political opposition. In GE2025, instead of using these repressive laws to directly silence the opposition and critics, harassment has become less overt. As seen in the treatment of the WP’s candidates, the attacks—clearly driven by political motives—have evolved into more sophisticated tactics, often carried out by third parties rather than the ruling PAP itself. GE2025 also shows that the disinformation campaign targeting Alia Mattar, even after it was fact-checked by independent AFP fact-checkers, demonstrates that POFMA primarily serves to protect the interests of the government and the ruling PAP. Under the PAP government, harassment of dissidents is expected to persist. Despite this hostile climate—where meaningful human rights advocacy directed at state actors is largely impossible—civil society groups in Singapore, many of whom have long faced harassment, still challenge the government and the ruling PAP’s authoritarianism. The case of The Online Citizen challenging the POFMA order, for example, illustrates how difficult and costly such efforts are, especially when the group has been designated a DOL. This challenging and hostile environment has made it extremely difficult for them to carry out their work, underscoring the need for greater support. 83