I am glad that The Singapore Together Alliance for Action or Sunlight AfA has been studying the causes and preventive measures for a year to tackle online harms, such as cyberbullying and sexual harassment especially when targeted at women and girls.
A professor from AfA has wondered what online norms embolden people to commit such cyberbullying acts and how best to support victims.
In this regard, there is no basis to speculate, suggest or support the claims that there is a synergy of online forces to target the innocent, naive and vulnerable victims, especially women and girls.
It is rather important to tackle cyberbullying at the source point. For example, educate and remind our young age children not to post dishevelled or shabby selfie photos online to incur unnecessary trouble for themselves, such as unexpected and disgusting sexual harassment.
We should always remind ourselves that in the cyber world there is bound to have diversity in opinion on every subject. And, it is quite normal for other people to hold different opinions and perspectives from you. However, if you encounter any toxic or vicious comments, just ignore them and not directly confront them.
Instead, you should report the cyberbullying incident(s) to the appropriate or relevant authorities for further action.
It is heartening to learn that AfA had also developed a list of online harm identifiers to advise and guide the potential victims of cyberbullying to pursue legal action and redress.
Certainly, it is significant for multiple stakeholders, such as policymakers, advocates, cyber technology experts, educators and social workers to work hand-in-hand to promote, inculcate or foster cyber values and behaviours so that to reduce the risks of cyberbullying and sexual harassment.
Teo Kueh Liang (Mr)