Singapore's official media watchdog Tuesday announced licensing rules for news websites, including the local Yahoo! portal, that will subject them to the same regulations as traditional media. From June 1, websites which have more than 50,000 unique visitors from Singapore every month and publish at least one local news article a week must obtain an annual licence from the Media Development Authority (MDA).
Websites granted a licence will have to remove "prohibited content" such as articles that undermine "racial or religious harmony" within 24 hours of being notified by the authority, the MDA said in a statement. "This will place them on a more consistent regulatory framework with traditional news platforms which are already individually licensed," it said.