Online Harassment: Many Still Think Vigilantism is Justified

Last updated on July 22nd, 2022

The Ministry of Law recently announced that it is changing online harassment laws and is banning doxxing — the act of publishing private or identifying information about a particular individual on the Internet. This follows an incident last December, where a lorry swerved into a cyclist after he threw a bottle at its windscreen. This drew the attention of “netizens” eager to unmask the identity of the cyclist. Unfortunately, netizens identified the wrong person who subsequently received death threats and hostile comments about his employer on social media.

However, nearly half of all Singaporeans (48%) think doxxing is acceptable behaviour. But there are clear community divides — under 25s are far less tolerant of it (only 30% think doxxing is acceptable) and women are far less accepting than men (40% vs 57%). 

Author: Blackbox Research Team