SINGAPORE – Almost three in five people who go online have encountered the likes of cyberbullying and sexual harassment, or know someone who has, according to a recent survey here.

The survey by SG Her Empowerment (SHE) also found that younger people were more likely to have encountered such online harms, with 52 per cent of respondents who reported personal experience of such incidents ranging in age from 15 to 24.

Females aged 15 to 24 are twice as likely to report experiencing sexual harassment compared to males, the survey found.

SHE is a non-profit organisation which aims to tackle emerging issues affecting girls and women in Singapore.

In January, it collaborated with the Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations (SCWO) to launch SheCares@SCWO, the country’s first support centre for targets of online harms.

SHE commissioned the survey to find out how such online harms impact girls and women here, and what can be done to enhance online safety and help them seek recourse and support, if necessary.

The study, conducted online by research organisation RySense, surveyed 1,056 Singapore citizens and permanent residents aged 15 and above, of whom 52 per cent were female.

Among the females, 30 per cent were aged between 15 and 34.

An additional 313 people in this age group were also surveyed to allow for greater youth-specific analyses.

The survey found that 38 per cent of respondents had personally experienced online harm, while 47 per cent knew others who had been targets.

SHE noted the study focused on nine specific types of online harm which deserved attention but were not the target of recent legal reforms.

They were sexual harassment, image-based sexual abuse, cyberbullying, cyberstalking, identity theft, defamation, cancel campaign, hate speech and doxxing.

Some 14 per cent said they had personally experienced sexual harassment online, while 12 per cent said they had faced cyberbullying or harassment.

Among the respondents who had experienced these online harms, 45 per cent encountered them on Facebook.

Some 30 per cent of those surveyed said they had encountered such situations on WhatsApp, followed by 24 per cent on Instagram.

Respondents believed they had been the target for reasons ranging from personal views expressed online – given by 36 per cent of those surveyed – to their physical appearance, race or gender.

To avoid the risk of being harmed online, 66 per cent said they self-censored their views or limited interaction to only family and close friends.

“It is worrying that people have started to normalise online harms and disengage from the Internet as a way of coping with the risks online,” said Institute of Policy Studies adjunct senior research fellow Dr Chew Han Ei, a SHE board member.

“A significant number of Singaporeans have experienced online harms and we know that this can have severe impact on one’s mental and physical health. This is concerning and certainly not the direction that we want society to head towards,” he added.

Of those who had encountered online harms, two in five said the incidents resulted in them experiencing “at least one severe form of impact” affecting physical and mental health, like suicidal thoughts.

The findings correspond with those of an earlier poll conducted here in 2022 by the Sunlight Alliance for Action to tackle online harms.

That poll found that females aged 25 to 34 were most likely to have experienced sexual harassment, stalking and non-consensual distribution of intimate images.

“Gender equality and safety should be enjoyed in both the real world and online world,” said SHE chief executive Simran Toor.

“Online harms greatly impact individuals and society, and if left unchecked, can set new social norms of behaviour,” she added.

The survey’s findings will be discussed at the Online Harms Symposium – organised by the Ministry of Law and the Singapore Management University’s Yong Pung How School of Law – which will run from Sept 25 to 27.