Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) has launched a new centre to develop tech solutions for enhancing online trust and safety.
The Centre for Advanced Technologies in Online Safety (CATOS) is hosted by Singapore's Ministry of Communication and Information (MCI) and the National Research Foundation to boost the country's technological capabilities.
The government will invest US$37 million (S$50 million) in the centre over five years to ground-up initiatives to build a safer online ecosystem for Singapore users.
It aims to identify and detect online content that contains hate, discrimination, misinformation, disinformation and AI-generated posts such as deepfakes, which could undermine racial and religious harmony.
MCI's minister Josephine Teo said, CATOS will build on existing regulatory and digital literacy efforts as “another useful tool" in the battle against online harms.
Tech initiatives and partnerships
The government said CATOS will further seek to foster innovation through research and address emerging problems and threats in the online space.
It plans to open calls for research proposals, community engagement, and establish a sandbox environment to test and refine new technologies with a wide range of partners from diverse sectors, encompassing government, industry, academia, and civil society.
This sandbox will facilitate rapid experimentation of new technologies in real-world scenarios, without compromising the underlying operational environment.
"For solutions that have been proven to be effective, CATOS will work with developers to facilitate their deployment through licensing or service agreements," the government said.
CATOS has signed a deal with Adobe to explore the implementation of content provenance and authenticity technologies in Singapore. These tools provide end users with details about the origins and alterations made to digital content.
To mitigate the spread of misinformation, the centre also aims to work with community partners like CheckMate, a volunteer-driven initiative aimed at countering misinformation and scams propagated via private messaging channels.
These technological solutions aim to complement other regulatory efforts including the Personal Data Protection Act, Cybersecurity Act and IMDA’s Digital Skills for Life framework that trains individuals in cyberspace.
