Coming face to face with online abuse

"I should have been more careful."

These were my first thoughts earlier this month when I came across a chat thread online where my information was revealed and discussed.

Surfing the Internet one morning, I saw a website where my name was mentioned. Confusion turned to horror when I realised my pictures and details had been put on a chat thread, with users posting racist and sexual remarks about me.

Tracing my name from published stories, users accessed information from my LinkedIn profile and the social media accounts of student societies I had been a part of while I was in university.

Could I have prevented this if I had hidden my online presence and untagged myself from the student activities which I had been proud to be a part of?

Despite trying to get on with my life, the lewd remarks played on a loop in my mind. I didn't want to leave the house or meet family and friends. Once, on the bus, I dissolved into tears for no apparent reason.

All this, I later realised, were common symptoms that victims of cyber harassment, doxxing and technology-facilitated sexual violence (TFSV) face, as they try to come to terms with their experience.

Doxxing is the unsolicited sharing of someone's information and photos online, while TFSV can take many forms, from unsolicited pictures on online dating platforms to direct messages on social media sites.

Online abuse is on the rise in Singapore.

Gender-equality group Aware's Sexual Assault Care Centre saw 191 TFSV cases in 2020 - a 36 per cent increase over the 140 cases in 2019 and the highest number since tracking began in 2016.

A study by The Economist, based on data collected between 2019 and 2020, found that globally, 38 per cent of women had experienced online violence.

In March last year, then Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information Sim Ann shared that she had come across cases of victims who experienced online harm.

She said: "We have to ask ourselves, do our women and girls enjoy the same degree of freedom and confidence in the online space as they do in real life in Singapore."

Laws in Singapore have progressed over the last few years to protect victims of online abuse.

Amendments to the Protection from Harassment Act in 2019 offer better protection to victims by making doxxing a criminal offence.

Threatening, abusive or insulting acts - in person or online - that are likely to cause a victim to feel harassed, alarmed or distressed can also constitute an offence.

A new court dedicated to dealing with harassment cases, such as those involving doxxing and threatening behaviour, was set up last year.

Four men were arrested by the police, with one of them sentenced to jail in December last year after being linked to a Telegram group that shared sexual videos and images of women.

In May last year, an administrator of the notorious SG Nasi Lemak Telegram chat group was found with more than 11,000 obscene photos and videos on his devices. He was jailed for nine weeks and fined $26,000.

The chat circulated explicit pictures and videos of women in Singapore without their permission.

One of the first steps victims should take is to file a police report so the perpetrators can possibly be identified and content can be taken down.

I filed a police report on the day I came across the chat thread, and shared screenshots of the posts with the duty officer while making the report. The investigating officer followed up with me the next day.

While the law is proactive in bringing perpetrators here to justice, more can be done to address online abuse.

Users from Singapore have repeatedly published illegal content on sites such as the Sammyboy Forum - and been jailed or fined for it. Surely steps can be taken to block these websites which are sumps for such activities.

Community guidelines should be better enforced by social media platforms so that they can quickly identify and remove content that is abusive.

The online community also plays a big part in safeguarding virtual spaces. Friends, relatives and colleagues can help victims by flagging abusive content to site administrators so it can be quickly taken down.

Digital literacy and cyber wellness are covered in schools, but there could also be mandatory modules in schools as well as institutes of higher learning that go beyond these to discuss the different forms of online abuse and raise awareness of the various avenues that students can seek help from.

Workplaces and educational institutions should also have open channels of communication for victims of online abuse to come forward and seek help, particularly if the perpetrator is their peer.

Parents can also play a part by tapping programmes such as those organised by non-profit agency Touch Cyber Wellness to learn how to broach the subject of cyber safety with their children.

The psychological impact of online abuse can range from insignificant to severe.

A 2020 brief by UN Women found that those who faced online abuse had higher levels of anxiety, stress disorders, depression, trauma, panic attacks, loss of self-esteem and a sense of powerlessness in their ability to respond to the abuse. Women were also found to be restricting their online activity after such incidents, hindering their ability to work, study and access essential services digitally.

Online abuse can have a debilitating impact on victims, which is why it is important to seek help early and avoid minimising the incident.

Some of the resources available in Singapore include Aware's Sexual Assault Centre, which serves victims of tech-facilitated sexual violence, and Help123 Cyber Wellness Community Support Platform, an initiative by the National Council of Social Service that focuses on youth cyber wellness.

The platform helps youth, their family members and educators interact with trained counsellors through Web chat, phone or e-mail on their cyber concerns and get them connected with support services.

For me, support came in the form of friends and family whom I opened up to, who patiently reminded me that the remarks did not lessen my efforts and achievements or speak to my character in any way.

Even though I am more cautious when I engage in conversations online now, I am also confident that I can handle and overcome unsavoury encounters online.

The experience gave me a glimpse of how other victims, some who have faced severe and prolonged online abuse, must feel and how more needs to be done to address their concerns.

Whether online or offline, abuse of any kind has no place in our society.