The order below the nation’s On-line Legal Harms Act got here after the police noticed scams on Apple’s iMessage and Google Messages purporting to be from firms such because the native postal service, SingPost.
Whereas authorities companies have registered with a neighborhood SMS registry so solely they will ship messages with the “gov.sg” identify, this doesn’t presently apply to the iMessage and Google Messages platforms.
“Members of the general public might assume that messages they obtain from accounts claiming to be from ‘gov.sg’ on iMessage or Google Messages are official as a result of messages despatched by iMessage and Google Messages seem alongside and will not be simply distinguishable from SMSes,” the police stated.
Beneath the order, Google and Apple might want to forestall accounts and group chats from displaying names which spoof “gov.sg” and different Singapore authorities companies, or filter such messages out.