Singapore High Court can serve papers through social media

Singapore’s High Court has ruled that court papers can be served through Facebook, Skype or internet forums for defendants who cannot be contacted in person.

If the method of serving notice to defendants are effective, “then a court must be open to substituted service through electronic means other than e-mails”, said Zhuang Wenxiong, High Court Assistant Registrar, the Straits Times reported.

This ruling came after the director for a Singaporean gaming company could not be served at his last known address in Australia.

The court tracked that he was online within a certain timeframe, and accepted it as evidence that he had received the notice. This move goes one step further from previous clearance to serve court notices through emails.