Survey: 38% of TikTok users in SG think government should not regulate how social media companies operate

Close to two in five (38%) of TikTok users in Singapore think that the government shouldn’t regulate how social media companies operate, whereas 17% think the government should do so.

According to the latest figures provided by YouGov, close to one-third (29%) of TikTok users in Singapore say they don't worry much about privacy when using the internet, whereas more than two in five (43%) do. Furthermore, close to two in five (38%) of TikTok users in Singapore think that “government shouldn’t get to tell privately owned social media companies how to operate”, while just 17% think that the government should regulate how social media companies operate. However, a sizeable 45% are currently undecided on this.

The survey showed that around three in eight consumers (37%) in Singapore are members of TikTok, as of early April 2023. TikTok is significantly more popular among younger consumers, particularly Gen Z (aged 14 to 26 this year), where just over half (51%) are users.

This comes following TikTok’s CEO Chew Shou Zi fighting for his app's life in an almost five-hour U.S. congressional hearing in March. During the hearing, Chew worked hard to convince US lawmakers that TikTok does not sell data to the Chinese government, uses controls to protect younger users from harmful or inappropriate content, and takes sufficient steps to protect the mental health of the young with controls. 

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His performance has wowed Singapore as the general consumer impression of the app in the country rose by 10 points, according to the survey. TikTok’s net Impression score (measures whether more consumers have a positive or negative impression of a brand) in Singapore rose to +8.7% on the day of TikTok's Singaporean CEO Chew Shou Zi's testimony before the US House Committee (23 March) – up by almost five percentage points from the day before. After maintaining largely the same score for the next four days, general impression of TikTok started to climb again from 27 March to +14.2% on 29 March (up 5.7%), declined over the last few days of March to +9.2% on 1 April (down 5%), before starting on an upward trend thereafter. 

By 3 April, net consumer impression of TikTok in Singapore rose to +18.9%, around 10 percentage points higher compared to 23 March. These numbers are found in the latest data from YouGov BrandIndex.

Among TikTok users in Singapore, TikTok’s net Impression score rose to +43.1% on the day of Chew’s testimony – up by almost eleven percentage points from the day before.

After a brief dip to +40.3% on 26 March, Singapore TikTok users’ impression of the brand started on a clear upward trend, climbing to +49.2% on 29 March (up 8.9%) and +57.6% on 1 April (up another 8.4%). By 3 April, net impression of TikTok among its Singapore users reached +60.8%, almost 18 percentage points higher compared to 23 March.

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TikTok's congressional hearing: CEO Chew Shou Zi might have lost the battle, but has won the war
Why brands increased their ad spend on TikTok despite the looming ban
Why the 'need-to' basis use of TikTok won't change how SG govt plays on the platform