The Personal Data (Privacy) (Amendment) Bill 2021 (the Bill) was gazetted today, 16 July 2021.

The Bill aims to combat doxxing acts through (i) criminalisation of doxxing acts; (ii) empowering the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data to conduct criminal investigation and institute prosecution for doxxing cases; and (iii) conferring on the Commissioner statutory powers to demand the rectification of doxxing content. The details of the Bill are summarized in our earlier post.

The government has submitted the brief on the Bill to the Legislative Counsel on 14 July 2021. It is expected that the Bill would be introduced into the Legislative Counsel for first and second reading on 21 July 2021.

We will closely monitor the progress of the passage of the Bill and provide further updates.