The city-state’s newly-established Online Safety Commission have begun operations, giving victims of online abuse a new avenue to seek take-downs, support services and civil remedies.
The commission will initially handle five categories of harmful online conduct, including sexual harassment, doxxing, cyber-stalking, intimate image abuse and image-based child abuse, Singapore’s Ministry of Digital Development and Information, Ministry of Law and the commission said on Sunday.
Additional categories have been identified but will be rolled out in later phases.
For online harassment and cyber-stalking, victims are directed to report the content to the platform first before approaching the commission if the platform fails to respond promptly or adequately.
Cases involving doxxing, intimate image abuse and image-based child abuse can be reported directly to the commission.
The commission may order users, group administrators or platforms to act if there are grounds to believe online harm has occurred. It may require content to be removed, access blocked or accounts restricted.
Failure to comply is a criminal offence. — Xinhua
