Youths in Singapore on online harms | What Do You Think? - video Dailymotion

AsiaOne

With online harms becoming more prevalent, we wanted to find out what youths thought about the existing measures in Singapore to tackle the issue and how effective the new proposed measures would be.  This post is in partnership with Ministry of Law.  Watch more: https://www.asiaone.com/video

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00:00That person should be banned from all platforms, thrown into jail.

00:03It was less like a shot, like fire, then it went out on TikTok.

00:08I don't know if it's a Singaporean attitude, like, don't know, don't care.

00:11They don't even know the full story, and then they say things that affect my family.

00:16Cyberbullying, sexual content, content inciting racial or religious tension, and violent content.

00:23These were the most common types of harmful content on designated social media services,

00:28based on the annual online safety poll done by the Ministry of Digital Development and Information.

00:34A series of measures has already been introduced to address online harms,

00:38such as the Online Criminal Harms Act,

00:41the Online Safety Miscellaneous Amendments Act 2022,

00:44and the Protection from Harassment Act 2014.

00:48Various public education efforts are also ongoing.

00:51With the growing prevalence of online harms,

00:53we wanted to find out if people thought that these efforts were sufficient

00:56in encouraging a safer online environment for all.

01:00AsiaOne recently did a survey on online harms,

01:02which gathered 1,208 responses.

01:06Almost half of the respondents recounted either experiencing online harm,

01:10or personally knowing someone who has.

01:12Of the people who have experienced online harm,

01:1560% denoted having been impacted to a large extent,

01:18either emotionally or psychologically.

01:21When asked under what circumstances respondents would take legal action

01:25against a perpetrator of online harms,

01:2786% highlighted that they would do so at least under some circumstances.

01:32The remaining 14% respondents cited costs,

01:34complex legal processes,

01:36and emotional strain as the main reasons for not taking legal action.

01:40Proposed efforts by the government to protect its citizens,

01:43which include new legislation, as well as the setting up of a new agency,

01:47have been well received, with 84% of respondents indicating that these plans

01:51will help to deter potential perpetrators, at least to some extent.

01:55Out of all the new measures, the most well received was allowing victims of online harm,

01:59who have filed a complaint with the agency,

02:02to apply for the disclosure of a perpetrator's user information for specified purposes.

02:07To expand on our findings, we headed out to find out if Singaporeans felt the need

02:11for better protection against online harms, and whether these new measures

02:14set to be introduced would be beneficial.

02:16Yes, I have multiple friends who have experienced this.

02:20They have experienced anonymous accounts contacting them,

02:22and harassing them, slut-shaming them.

02:25Yes, her.

02:26Yes, it's me.

02:28I have someone that I knew that has experienced it before.

02:32Like, they were sending very inappropriate comments about like,

02:35for example, their outfits, body type-wise, and so on.

02:40For me, not personally.

02:41I don't think any of us really have experienced any online harms.

02:45I think by the comments, like, they say things that weren't true on my end,

02:51and then they say things that kind of like, affect my family, so yeah.

02:55She felt really like, exposed, because all the photos that she usually posts

03:01are not like, inappropriate.

03:03It's like tank tops, but like, casual wear everyday.

03:07She didn't expect it to be in the eyes of something sexual at the same time.

03:11So, I think she felt very like,

03:14ooh.

03:15Self-esteem really went down, and her happiness wasn't really there anymore.

03:20So, and she also doesn't talk in detail to me.

03:22She always keep it to herself.

03:23So, it was quite impactful to her to say this.

03:26Previously, they did, they tried, but the platform didn't really do like, much about it.

03:34So, the most, it's like, the account gets reported, but it doesn't really get banned, banned.

03:39So, that particular person decided to like, target others instead.

03:44I feel like, there's not much I can do.

03:48As much as I want to report it, there's not much follow-up, and

03:51at that point, it's mostly damage control, so.

03:54I feel like I won't really report it, because, to be fair, some of the platforms,

04:00what's the most they can really do?

04:01Like, for example, like my friend said, remove a comment.

04:04That's the most they'll do.

04:05It really needs that human aspect to it to look through and go through, because,

04:12it's a lot of grey areas, you never know what's really hurtful, and what's really just for jokes.

04:20For a safer one, filtering of comments.

04:22Filtering out explicit contents for, especially the younger generation.

04:28Definitely, like, you do not know how much a person go through, because you're not the person.

04:34But the poor person who has experienced what you thought was maybe a joke, or for fun,

04:40had a lot of trauma after that.

04:42Of course, I think they should face consequences.

04:45Yeah, for sure, I feel that people are getting very comfortable online.

04:49I think it would still happen.

04:50So, I think it's like, it's not that big of an impact yet,

04:53that it's able to stop the harms that are happening online.

04:57Considering my friends are still going through this, it's not, it's definitely not enough.

05:04It's a, I feel it's a good initiative, that more can be done for the internet,

05:09and to set some boundaries.

05:11Because right now on the internet, everything is kind of grey.

05:15You can kind of do whatever you want.

05:18But, with this initiative, I think there's lines being drawn that cannot be crossed.

05:24You know what I mean?

05:25It might be half-half, because as much as they're trying to stop this,

05:30people might not really want to open up to the agency as well,

05:33and they will want to face it themselves.

05:36So, I would say it's just really 50-50, because they really have to be strong enough

05:40to talk about this to the agency or the people itself.

05:43I 100% think it would be good to help victims that are experiencing this kind of things,

05:50than online platforms not doing their jobs properly.

05:55I would say so, I would say so actually.

05:57Because if you have a, if you have a specialised part of the government to help tackle all this,

06:05and you have specialists who do this kind of stuff, I feel like they will be more understood.

06:11So, I feel like it's a great move.

06:13Of the people we interviewed, 9 out of 10 respondents have not reported,

06:17or would not report the online harms they have faced,

06:19to the respective social media platforms, as they found it ineffective.

06:23The main reasons why respondents felt that reporting online harms to the relevant platforms were futile,

06:29included not receiving follow-ups after reports were made,

06:33only removing some harmful comments, and not placing a ban on the account.

06:38Respondents also said that social media platforms should continue filtering harmful content

06:43and explicit comments to foster a safer online space.

06:46Some suggested not just relying on the platforms, but instead,

06:50working on educating the public on what sort of behaviour constitutes online harm,

06:54and the steps to take should they be subjected to online harms.

06:58All of the respondents agreed that those responsible for online harms

07:01should face consequences, and that a temporary ban from social media platforms is not enough.

07:07Slightly more than half of the respondents felt that the current measures in Singapore are sufficient,

07:11but building on and strengthening our laws as technology continues to develop should be our focus.

07:17Respondents also reacted positively towards the proposed new measures by the government,

07:22and the establishment of a new agency to enhance online safety.

07:26Adding that providing more timely and effective relief,

07:29and having an agency dedicated to assisting victims of online harms,

07:33are good initiatives to make the internet a safer place.

07:36So, what do you think?

07:42You can help us

Youths in Singapore on online harms | What Do You Think?

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