RainbowAsia’s LGBTQ+ Online Safety First Responder Network

RainbowAsia’s Online Safety First Responder Network is a trained responder group and a self-hosted chat through which youths facing online harm report it, receive practical help, and are supported into a formal remedy or referred onward, producing the first case-level evidence on LGBTQ+ online harm in Singapore.

Policies

• Anonymity: Service users are completely anonymous and are not required to share any information about themselves to use the service.
• Confidentiality: Any information shared will be seen only by the assigned first responder and the project coordinator. Message histories will not be shared unless legally required. Some data may be used for research purposes, and any such data will be anonymised before use.
• Consent: All information given by service users must be consensual. Service users are not obliged to share any information about themselves. Furthermore, service users should be reasonably informed about how their information will be used. We will not use any information provided for any purpose other than those explicitly consented to.

RainbowAsia’s Project Mosaic: https://project-mosaic.rainbowasia.org/

In line with research conducted by Translifeline, we will not perform any non-consensual intervention. That is, unless service users explicitly consent, we will not attempt to contact law enforcement or emergency services.

Translifeline’s The Problem with 988 Report

Our chat is open every day from 7pm to 9pm, Singapore time. To start, press Chat with us at the bottom right of any page on rainbowasia.org, or the button below.

• You don’t need to give your name, phone number or email.
• The chat starts with a few quick questions that you answer with buttons. It is for Singaporeans, permanent residents and long-term pass holders.
• A trained responder will join as soon as they can, usually within 10 to 30 minutes.
• You’ll be given a reference: two words and a number, like maple-river-42. If you come back another day, you can share it so we can pick up where you left off.
• The chat can’t receive photos or files, so keep any screenshots on your own device.
• To leave quickly, press Quick exit to Google, which appears while the chat is open.

Outside these hours, the button will tell you the chat is closed. If you’re in danger right now, call 999. For emotional support any time, call SOS on 1767 or National Mindline on 1771.

As an individual

If you, or someone you know, is experiencing some form of online harm, you can follow some of the following advice:

• Collect evidence. Take screenshots of the harmful material, note down where and when it occurred. You might also want to note down the username or account handle of the involved people.
• Block or unfollow people causing you harm. Do not interact with them any further.
• Get support from family, friends, or community. You are not alone in this.
• Reduce the amount of personal information you put online.

Online Safety Commission

To make a report to the Online Safety Commission, the reporter needs to be a Singapore citizen, a permanent resident, or a long-term pass holder. If the victim is under the age of 18, a parent or guardian can make the report on their behalf. In addition, victims can fill out an authorisation form to allow a third party to make the report on their behalf.

The report will need the following information:

• Personal information or proof of identity of the victim.
• Description of harm (who was involved, what was done, how the harmful material was shared, the platform the harm happened on)
• Supporting evidence (screenshots, links, additional reports made to platforms)
• Declaration and consent agreement.

In addition to submitting a report to the Online Safety Commission, the victim can also submit a report to the police if they believe a crime has been committed.

The Online Safety Commission will review the report and update the victim as appropriate. Once a decision has been made, if desired, the victim can ask the Online Safety Commission to either reconsider their decision or appeal the decision. A reconsideration is a process in which the Online Safety Commission will review its original decision and potentially change its decision. An appeal is an application to an independent panel to review a decision that the Online Safety Commission has made after reconsideration. Submitting an appeal requires a fee of $200, payable before submitting the appeal.

Various Platforms

The Online Safety Commission lists reporting procedures for popular platforms such as Instagram or Reddit. However, this list lacks platforms that many in the LGBTQ+ community in Singapore use, such as Grindr or Her.

• Users of Grindr can request for content removal or takedown. More information can be found here.
• Her provides users in Singapore information on how to request for content removal or takedown. More information can be found here. In addition, users can also report NCII or deepfakes through a form. More information can be found here.

Counselling

• SHECARES provides support for women and girls suffering from online harms. https://she.org.sg/shecares-scwo
• Samaritans of Singapore (SOS), which has a 24-hour helpline at 1767, or a 24-hour careline at 9151 1767 (via WhatsApp).
• National Mindline 1771, which has a 24-hour helpline at 1771, a 24-hour chatline at 6669 1771, or an online chat widget at https://mindline.sg/fsmh.
• Oogachaga, which provides WhatsApp counselling at 8592 0609, email counselling at CARE@oogachaga.com, or professional counselling services.
• T Project, which provides professional counselling services.

The following online harms are non-exhaustive.

Intimate image abuse, also known as Non-Consensual Intimate Imagery (NCII) abuse, occurs when someone shares sexually explicit or intimate images or videos of an individual without their consent. The following is a non-exhaustive list of examples:

• Distributing intimate images, often by a former partner, to cause harm as an act of revenge (i.e., revenge porn).
• Using intimate or sexually explicit images as a form of blackmail or extortion (i.e., sextortion)
• Recording or distributing intimate images of private acts, or acts with expectation of privacy (i.e. voyeurism)
• Using artificial intelligence to create realistic, but fake, intimate or sexually explicit images of a person (i.e. deepfakes)

Existing research:

• LGBTQ+ respondents were 1.88 times more likely to report IBSA victimisation compared to non-LGBTQ+ respondents.
• Higher levels of homophobic attitudes were associated with lower blame attributed to the perpetrator, but higher blame attributed to the victim.

Image-based child abuse occurs when someone shares sexual, violent, or abusive images or videos of an individual under the age of 16. The following is a non-exhaustive list of examples:

• Distributing media depicting a minor in a sexualized manner.
• Distributing media depicting physical violence, torture, bullying, or humiliation of a minor
• Communication of child abuse material
• Attempting or offering to sell child abuse material
• Helping someone locate or access child abuse material.

Existing research:

• LGBTQ+ teens reported higher rates of experiences involving nudes and online sexual interactions.
• Cisgender non-hetero male teens reported higher rates of risky encounters and of attempting to handle unsafe situations alone compared to other teens.

Online harassment occurs when someone communicates online material that is threatening, abusive, insulting, sexual, or indecent, which is deemed likely to cause harassment, alarm, distress, or humiliation. This can include sharing threatening, abusive, insulting, sexual, or indecent online material that involves close relatives, such as family members. Posts that are seemingly not harmful on their own, but do when combined with other posts, can also be considered online harassment. The following is a non-exhaustive list of examples:

• Someone sends a message threatening to hurt someone else.
• Repeated posting of demeaning or humiliating messages about someone else
• Repeated posting or sharing of sexually explicit material

Existing research:

• Sexual minority and gender expansive adolescents are disproportionately more often victims of cyberbullying than their heterosexual and cisgender counterparts.

Online stalking occurs when someone repeatedly tries to make unwanted contact with another individual, or people related to that individual, like their family members. The following is a non-exhaustive list of examples:

• Sending unwanted messages.
• Contacting their friends, family, or colleagues about them.
• Joining their online groups or communities and making their presence felt by the individual.

Existing research:

• Various demographic groups, such as females, the LGB community, and younger participants, are more likely to be stalked via both online and offline means.

Doxxing occurs when someone shares identifying information online with the intention of causing harassment, alarm, distress, or humiliation. This can include information regarding relatives or family members. Identifying information is information that can be used to identify a person on its own, or when combined with other information.

It is also important to note that the reason for publishing the identifying information is relevant. A post that names or identifies a person is not necessarily doxxing, while a post that is framed as a warning or an act of whistleblowing might still be considered doxxing.

Existing research:

• Personal, identifying, and sensitive information is mobilised to destroy the wellbeing and security of trans women and gender-diverse people through hateful speech acts.