Singapore regulators said Saturday that a mystery-shopper audit of more than 7,000 mobile apps uncovered 65 listings with harmful content and 24 others that carried age ratings too low for their material, findings that will intensify pressure on global app stores operating under the city-state's new online-safety code.
The Infocomm Media Development Authority published its inaugural Online Safety Assessment Report for designated app distribution services, covering Apple App Store, Google Play, Huawei AppGallery, Microsoft Store and Samsung Galaxy Store. All five platforms are bound by the Code of Practice for Online Safety for app marketplaces that took effect in March 2025, with mandatory age checks and content standards one year later.
What slipped past existing filters
IMDA said sexual content accounted for the largest share of problematic apps — 59 of the 65 removed listings — while four featured excessive violence and two facilitated vice or organised-crime themes. Among the examples cited publicly were a photo tool with a so-called nudification function that could turn ordinary portraits into sexually explicit images, a game depicting murder, and a gambling-style app offering crypto or cash payouts.
Separately, 24 apps that should have been rated 18+ were labeled for younger audiences. IMDA listed AI chatbots with sexualised prompts, school-shooter scenarios, and role-playing games built around crime and drug use. The authority said each store removed or re-rated the apps after IMDA flagged them through official reporting channels or its own test accounts.
Age checks work — until children find loopholes
The report's broader message was mixed. Regulators concluded that baseline safety systems exist and that age-assurance methods — including government ID scans, credit-card verification and facial analysis — generally blocked children from downloading adult-rated software. Mystery shoppers, however, found limited cases on Huawei AppGallery and Microsoft Store where restrictions could be bypassed or disabled; IMDA said those gaps have largely been closed after engagement with the companies.
The Personal Data Protection Commission reviewed how stores handle identity data during age checks and noted positive practices such as limited retention of verification documents. PDPC also asked for clearer explanations in some cases about how biometric or inferred-age data is stored.
Why parents and policymakers are watching
Although 89 problematic apps is a tiny fraction of the catalogues surveyed, IMDA argued the results show harmful material can still evade automated review — especially as generative-AI tools lower the cost of creating sexual or violent content inside an app. Accurate age ratings matter, the authority said, because parents rely on storefront labels when deciding what children may install.
IMDA pledged to keep holding designated distributors responsible for minimizing exposure to egregious content and for notifying users when reports are resolved. It did not name individual apps or developers, citing ongoing enforcement discretion.
For Singapore's technology sector, the audit arrives alongside separate haze and energy-security debates, but it reinforces a consistent government theme: foreign platforms must meet local safety expectations even when their engineering teams sit thousands of kilometers away. App stores will face another reporting cycle covering April through December 2025 data, with IMDA warning that future assessments will track whether removal times improve.