Across the region, governments are pushing back hard against digital platforms, and cracking down on how data can be used. Here’s what is happening in Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and New Zealand.

Competition, privacy, and the regulation of digital platforms, the media, cloud computing and AI are all in the crosshairs of regulators across Southeast Asia.

The era of the free ride for the global digital sector is long gone, as first Europe, then the US, and now APAC are tightening laws and regulations.

In the US and Europe, Google and Facebook are now confronting the same sort of anti-trust hostility that their antecedents in the tech sector, IBM and Microsoft, confronted decades ago.

If “data is the new oil”, as was often lauded at the turn of the century, then now, like with oil, consumers are increasingly concerned at its use by powerful corporates (although we’re still some way off from the activist group “Just stop Data” throwing a can of alphabet spaghetti over a priceless Van Gogh!)

The issues raised by data aren’t only about privacy – control of data creates market power, something Australia’s regulator the ACCC has especially focused on in its years-long digital platforms review, which recently released its eighth issues paper – this time into data broking. We explore this in depth in our second article, and discuss the far-reaching implications for competition, privacy and media reform.

Many of the issues examined by Australia’s regulators recur across other jurisdictions. Here are examples of how Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and New Zealand are addressing regulatory review of the digital industry.

Singapore: Singapore wants to balance attracting foreign investment with the need to protect its citizens from the spread of misinformation, and is therefore taking a light touch to regulation, according to Dominic Paulger, a policy manager for the Future of Privacy Forum. Writing in Asia Global Online he notes that the two major developments in online content regulation in the country are the enactments of the laws to protect against Fake News, and to bolster Online Safety.

On the social media front, laws that passed last November will require platforms to remove content if so directed. Non-compliance can lead to the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) to block access to the sites. On the other rising tech issue of the moment,  AI, Singapore is keeping its powder dry, according to CNBC which says the country is ”in no rush to introduce AI regulation” despite repeated calls to address the risks.

Last month the MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore) also published rules around stablecoins that require they be backed with low risk and highly liquid assets, and have the same or greater value than the circulating stablecoins, according to reports.

Thailand: With the digital economy expected to contribute 30 percent of Thailand’s GDP within 4 to 5 years according to Digital Economy and Society Minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn, the government is focusing more on the legislative and regulatory environment it needs to sustain and manage growth. It has introduced a Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) along with a cybersecurity act, and finds itself on the end of a strong lobbying push to provide tax incentives to drive compliance.

Meanwhile the country’s digital platform service law was gazetted in December last year and took effect in August. According to Bangkok Post, it requires platform operators of a certain size, based on revenue or the number of users, to provide annual information about their business to the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA). The law affects intermediaries such as Facebook, Google and YouTube for now, while brands that connect directly with customers are not currently affected. It’s believed about 1000 platforms will be directly affected.

Indonesia: When it comes to aggressively confronting global digital platforms, and the tech sector generally, Indonesia is very much on the front foot. Where Singapore has taken a light touch, Indonesia has wielded (or at least threatened to wield) a baseball bat. TikTok discovered as much in 2018 when the app was banned for six months for potential “pornography, inappropriate content, and blasphemy.” The ban was lifted after the company agreed to censor some content, according to Business Insider.

It is currently engaged in a battle with Facebook, and threatened to ban the service because of concerns about fake news and data privacy. Last week the government threatened to sue the company over advertising scams that run on its platform.

And, like other jurisdictions around the world, there are also proposed new regulations allowing media outlets to get payments from Facebook and other aggregators, according to Reuters.

More broadly, digital platforms need a licence to operate in the archipelago. Last year, more than 9,000 technology firms — 8,900 of which are local — finally complied with Indonesia’s new licensing regulations to avoid being banned from operating in one of the world’s largest and most dynamic internet economies. Those that didn’t – including Steam and PayPal – found themselves blocked.

With over 500 tradeable crypto currencies, the country is powering ahead with regulation of the space, establishing some key crypto regulatory infrastructure in the form of a crypto exchange and clearing house, along with a manager of crypto asset storage.

New Zealand: Running the gamut, New Zealand has a full digital regulation agenda touching on media laws, data privacy and digital platform regulation.

Like its regional neighbours, Australia and Indonesia, New Zealand is planning laws to force digital aggregators like Facebook and Google to pay for news. Google has apparently agreed to the new regime, while Facebook is holding out according to local media reports. With an election looming Facebook is likely playing for time, but the pressure is ratcheting up. According to Digwatch, the New Zealand Government is taking a softer approach than Canada, where the government and Meta are at loggerheads. Instead, the Broadcasting Standards Authority will oversee negotiations by the parties, with an implied threat of further government intervention down the track to bring parties to the table.

On the privacy front, NZ is ahead of curve having already updated its 1993 Privacy Act in 2020. The European Union has also provided NZ with an adequacy decision, acknowledging that NZ’s laws, “provide an adequate level of data protection compared with that provided by European law for purposes of cross-border data transfers,” according to the Future of Privacy Forum.

New Zealand is a regional leader in the treatment of taxation for digital platforms, with the government’s Taxation Bill recently extending the existing GST marketplace rules to capture accommodation, ride-sharing, and food and beverage delivery services provided through electronic marketplaces.

The disruption of media, the rise of global digital platforms, and the implications for privacy and for competition are driving much of the regulatory activity in the region. It’s a full sheet of work, but its likely to get bigger, faster. Just as the Europeans are now looking at regulating responsible AI, regional governments are likely to face the same pressure. Expect that issue to dominate debate in the coming years.