Mothership.sg to operate under MDA individual licensing regime

SINGAPORE — Current-affairs site Mothership.sg is to be individually licensed under a framework for websites with local news content, making it the first such site to be brought under the Media Development Authority (MDA)’s new licensing regime in two years.

Under the regime, which was introduced in 2013 by the MDA, an individually licensed website will have to comply, within 24 hours, with the authority’s directions to remove prohibited content, including material that incites racial or religious hatred. The site will also have to put up a S$50,000 performance bond.

The licensing framework applies to websites that meet two criteria: They publish an average of at least one article a week on Singapore’s news and current affairs, over a period of two consecutive months, and they are accessed from at least 50,000 unique  Internet Protocol addresses in Singapore each month, also over two consecutive months.

Since 2013, 10 sites, including seven by Singa­pore Press Holdings, two by MediaCorp and one by Yahoo! Singa­pore, have been operating under individual licences.

Mothership.sg, which reports on current affairs and lifestyle topics, said it plans to accede to the requirements of the licence. 

In a statement today (July 30), Mothership.sg said it was told by the MDA that the site met the threshold that requires a website to be licensed under Section 8 of the Broadcasting Act.

“One of the considerations we had as we were mulling over the decision on whether we should comply was that S$50,000 is a big sum of money for a small team like ours,” said the site’s spokesperson. 

In response to TODAY’s queries, the MDA said: “There are no other websites identified at this point for individual licensing ... Until such time that the MDA is satisfied that a website qualifies for individual licensing, it will continue to be class-licensed.”

All websites are automatically class-licensed, but some websites are required to register because they are involved in the propagation, promotion or discussion of political issues in Singapore. This registration, which comes under the Broadcasting (Class Licence) Notification, requires the people behind the website to declare their identities, and allows the MDA to extract undertakings from the registrant, such as providing a statutory declaration of non-receipt of foreign funding. 

Mothership.sg was first told to register last year. Other class licensees that have registered includes The Online Citizen, and most recently, the company behind The Middle Ground was told to do so.

Meanwhile, the individual licensing regime places a stronger onus on online news websites that have a significant reach and impact on Singa­poreans. “This is necessary, as the content of these online news websites is relied upon by members of the public to make informed decisions or to form judgments on matters of public interest,” said an MDA spokesperson. 

Technology blogger Alfred Siew noted that with the General Election widely expected to be held this year, the timing of the MDA’s move could be seen as that of the authorities tightening control over the reporting of political news and commentaries.

Singapore Management University law don Eugene Tan felt the move also reflected the MDA’s “fairly extensive” definition of news content, which typically comes from the traditional media. 

“Increasingly, people are gravitating towards these sorts of new media sites. So if the licensing rules are just catering to the established players, then I think it will not meet the legislative intent or, rather, the whole rationale for the licensing framework,” he said.

Correction: In an earlier version of this story, it was reported that Mothership.sg is the first such site to be registered under MDA's licensing regime. This is incorrect. The site is the first in two years to be brought under the scheme. We are sorry for the error. Also, MDA has clarified that registration is not a requirement, but rather a notification that they will be moved to the individual licensing framework.