Victims felt anger and shame: How can Singapore protect youths against online harms?

Is there a risk in seeking comfort and connection through social platforms, or by sharing your life online? Should there be stronger protection against potential harms, especially for young people?

An AsiaOne survey with 1,208 respondents revealed that active social media use was prevalent among Singaporeans - particularly among the youths. Among those aged 18 to 34, three in four share content publicly at least several times a month.

Victims reported feelings of anger, sadness and humiliation

38 per cent of respondents reported either experiencing online harms personally or knowing a loved one or friend who had been victimised within the last two years.

Nearly all victims indicated that the experience had an emotional impact on them. When asked to rate the severity of that impact on a scale of one to five, the majority selected four or five, with five indicating ‘emotionally impacted to a very large extent’.

In an AsiaOne street interview on online harms conducted in February 2025, one respondent recounted how her friend became withdrawn after being cyberbullied online, citing that “her happiness wasn’t really there anymore”.

Can victims take action, and how?

While there is a slew of harmful content that victims may encounter online, respondents expressed particular concern about the misuse of personal information, online harassment, impersonation and misuse of inauthentic material.

So, what recourse do users have when faced with unsanitary behaviour online? And when might users choose to retaliate against the harms inflicted on them?

A fight or flight response

Among all respondents, the most common course of action if they experienced online harms was to report the incident to the appropriate authorities, flag it to the online platform, or change their privacy settings.

Females were more likely than males to adjust their account settings and were also more likely to seek support from friends compared to male counterparts.

86 per cent of respondents would take legal action against a perpetrator of online harms, at least in certain circumstances. Majority of these respondents said that their aim in pursuing legal action would be to hold the perpetrator accountable for their actions.

Addressing hesitations and concerns

Among those who chose not to pursue legal action, the main reasons cited were that legal processes are too costly, complex and emotionally taxing.

Majority of respondents (64 per cent) agreed or strongly agreed that the government has effectively addressed the issue of online harms. However, 9 per cent of respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed.

The main reason for disagreement among respondents was that existing laws do not adequately address the complexities of online harms.

Measures proposed

Between November and December last year, the Ministry of Law and the Ministry of Digital Development and Information conducted a joint public consultation on the proposed measures to enhance online safety and better protect Singaporeans from harmful online content.

A one-stop centre will be launched and begin operations in the first half of 2026 to provide quicker relief for victims of online harms, especially in cases of cyber bullying, deepfakes, and the non-consensual sharing of intimate images.

Users hope for more public education, legislation

When respondents were asked about the priorities for the government in addressing online harms, the top two were related to legislation – to enhance data protection laws and to strengthen legislation in general. These were closely followed by two other priorities - protecting the youth and public education.

Respondents also identified several actions that online platforms could take to minimise the risk of online harms. These included permanently banning repeat offenders from using the online platform, quickly removing offensive material, blocking or removing bot accounts, and labelling “deepfake” images and videos. The establishment of a new agency for online safety and assurance could improve the timeliness and effectiveness of these actions.

“People are getting very comfortable online... More can be done on the internet to set some boundaries, because right now on the internet everything is kind of gray... But with this initiative, I think there are lines being drawn that cannot be crossed,” commented a respondent during the street interview.