SG Govt confirms paying social media influencers in their engagement with them

SINGAPORE: The Singapore government has acknowledged its practice of collaborating with social media influencers as part of its communication strategy to reach the Singaporean audience.

During the Wednesday (6 March) Parliamentary sitting, Mr Tan Kiat How, Senior Minister of State (SMS) for Communications and Information clarified that although the ministry does not allocate a dedicated budget for social media influencer engagement, influencers may be involved if their efforts complement the broader communication initiatives of the government.

“We evaluate the effectiveness of our public communications campaigns but we do not solely track how influencers fare,” he added.

He was responding to a Parliamentary Question (PQ) filed by Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song, Workers’ Party (WP) Member of Parliament for Aljunied GRC.

Mr Giam asked the Minister whether MCI has a budget for engaging social media influencers. If so, how much is the budget, what are the contents that influencers are engaged to publicise; and how will the success of influencer campaigns be measured.

Following SMS Tan’s response, Mr Giam then further presented two supplementary questions.

Firstly, he inquired whether influencers engaged by the government would be mandated to openly and explicitly declare the sponsoring agency in their posts.

Additionally, he sought to know if this requirement would extend to influencers sponsored by election candidates or political parties.

In response, SMS Tan referred Mr Giam to his previous responses to his WP colleagues Ms He Ting Ru, WP MP for Sengkang GRC and former WP MP Leon Perera during the COS debate for MCI last year.

“He (Mr Perera) was strictly referring to the paid partnership. so I actually told the position that the influencer that he mentioned has also put the sponsorship or paid by (and displayed with agencies) logo. So that this has supposedly answered.”

However, regarding Mr Giam’s question on the extension of disclosure requirements to election campaigns, SMS Tan suggested that Mr Giam direct this question to the relevant ministry instead.

“I think this is slightly different from the question that you filed under MCI, my proposal is for Mr Giam to file it to the right ministry.”

SGAG “#sp” post raised transparency concerns

In November 2022, social media platform Wake Up, Singapore brought to light that SGAG, a popular content creator, was engaging in sponsored posts for the Government.

The revelation sparked concern as these sponsored posts were only identified by the hashtag #SP, lacking clear indications of being sponsored content. The absence of explicit disclosure raised questions about transparency and the need for clearer guidelines.

During the MCI budget debate last year, Ms He raised concerns about the transparency and accountability of public relations, outreach, and advertising campaigns run by state agencies.

She also mentioned prominent advertising campaigns related to the Ministry of National Development’s efforts to keep public housing affordable. While she acknowledged the importance of public awareness and education efforts, she questioned the effectiveness of such significant expenditures.

She queried whether MCI assess the effectiveness of various campaigns and outreach programs across ministries and why are reports of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) not being published.

Mr Perera expressed concern about the lack of transparency in certain advertisements, citing a specific SGAG Instagram post labelled only as “#sp,” without utilizing the sponsored post indicator.

To address this, he proposed the inclusion of clear labels on all government advertisements, indicating the responsible agency, similar to the labelling requirement for political ads under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation (POFMA) Office.

SMS Tan later replied, “Mr Perera referred to SGAG. SGAG ads show paid partnership. This is already being done.”

Netizens criticized SGAG’s recent sponsored post as “wasting taxpayer money”

Despite SMS Tan’s assurance regarding the government’s paid engagement with social media influencers for effective communication, a recent sponsored post on SGAG Instagram page has sparked controversy among netizens, prompting a reevaluation of the necessity for such advertisements.

The contentious post depicts a couple admiring a baby, with the father humorously naming the child after “someone who’s been supporting us through the hard times!”

When prompted by the mother, he humorously responds, “Welcome to the world, Lawrence Wong!”

In the caption, SGAG elaborates on Budget 2024 announcements: “But for real, with the recent Budget 2024 announcements, Singaporeans can expect support with the Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme Voucher, reduced monthly childcare fee caps and enhanced existing preschool subsidies. ”

Linking to MOF’s official Budget website, the caption wrote: “These measures will help young couples start a family with less worries.”

The disclosure of the post’s paid partnership with MOF is included in the last line.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by SGAG (@sgagsg)

The disclosure of the post’s government-paid partnership ignited widespread criticism.

Numerous netizens criticized the use of taxpayer funds for what they perceived as political promotion, deeming it inappropriate.

Some expressed disappointment, questioning the allocation of taxpayer money on what appeared to be self-promotion by ostensibly non-partisan civil servants.