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70% of tech-enabled sexual violence cases seen by Aware involved images — highest proportion to date

SINGAPORE — Aware’s sexual assault care centre saw 163 new cases of tech-enabled sexual violence in 2021 — a drop from record high of 191 new cases in 2020, the women's rights advocacy group said on Wednesday (April 20).

Aware said that seven in 10 of the technology-enabled sexual violence cases it saw last year involved the use of images.
Aware said that seven in 10 of the technology-enabled sexual violence cases it saw last year involved the use of images.
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  • Aware’s sexual assault care centre saw 163 new cases of tech-enabled sexual violence in 2021
  • This is lower than the record high of 191 new cases in 2020 
  • Seven in 10 of these cases involved the use of images
  • Victims knew the perpetrator in over 80 per cent of cases
  • Almost three in 10 cases took place on messaging platforms such as Telegram and WhatsApp

SINGAPORE — The Association of Women for Action and Research's (Aware) sexual assault care centre saw 163 new cases of tech-enabled sexual violence in 2021 — a drop from a record high of 191 new cases in 2020, the women's rights advocacy group said on Wednesday (April 20).

Nevertheless, the proportion of tech-enabled cases compared to overall cases of sexual violence has remained consistent at 19 per cent, according to statistics released by Aware. 

Seven in 10 of the 2021 cases also involved the use of images — the highest proportion of image-based sexual abuse cases seen by the non-profit organisation to date, it said.

“The pace at which sexual violence evolves and adapts to new technologies, platforms and social contexts makes it hard for researchers and support service-providers alike to keep up," Ms Shailey Hingorani, Aware’s head of research and advocacy, said.

“Who would have guessed, even a decade ago, that image-based sexual abuse would be both so diversified and so ubiquitous? We have a long and confounding journey ahead of us, fighting this,” she added.

The group has identified five types of sexual abuse involving images or videos including:

  • Creating or obtaining sexual images without consent. This includes sexual voyeurism acts such as taking upskirt pictures, or hacking into a victim’s device to retrieve compromising images
  • Revenge porn, which are sexual images of partners or former partners distributed without their consent
  • Forcing victims to view sexual content such as pornography
  • "Sextortion", a type of abuse in which victims are blackmailed or threatened with sexual images
  • Other acts such as taking public, non-sexual images and sharing them in a sexualised context without consent, such as by posting these images on online chat groups

In over 80 per cent of cases, victims knew the perpetrator, said Aware's statement.

This included intimate partners (40 per cent of cases), followed by acquaintances (28 per cent) and workplace contacts (13 per cent). Other categories of perpetrators included family members, friends and contacts from dating or ride-hailing apps.

In one case cited by Aware, a woman found out that a family member of her ex-partner was impersonating her on social media.

The family member obtained and circulated intimate photos and videos that she had shared with her former partner during their relationship on a fake social media account and WhatsApp.

He also initiated sexual conversations with other men online and gave these men her phone number.

As a result, she was harassed by calls and messages from strangers. She has since filed a police report against the perpetrator, said Aware.

The majority of victim-survivors were between 18 and 24 (40 per cent), followed by the 25 to 34 age group (32 per cent). A smaller percentage of victims were between the ages of 35 and 44 (13 per cent), under 18 (12 per cent) and above 45 (3 per cent). 

PERPETRATORS TURNING TO ENCRYPTED PLATFORMS 

Almost three in 10 cases in 2021 took place on messaging platforms such as Telegram and WhatsApp. Other online spaces included social media, online streaming sites, porn sites and online forums.

Aware said it was "unsurprised" perpetrators turned to messaging platforms given that end-to-end encryption prevents law enforcement and even the platforms from viewing messages.

“Advocates have been sounding the alarm recently about how direct messages, or DMs, facilitate online abuse,” said Ms Hingorani.

She cited a report by the US-based Centre for Countering Digital Hate released in April that claimed that Instagram had failed to act on 90 per cent of abusive DMs reported using the platform’s tools.

For image-based sexual abuse, the report said that Instagram did not act on any abuse reported using its tools within 48 hours.

She then noted recent initiatives to address tech-enabled sexual violence, such as the Alliance for Action tackling online harms launched by the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) last year.

“We are glad to see a rise in efforts to address technology-facilitated sexual violence in Singapore,” Ms Hingorani said.

“We are particularly impressed by the leadership shown by the Government to introduce new codes of practice by requiring platforms to put in place systems to ensure a safer online environment.”

The codes of practice, which were announced by MCI in March, includes reducing exposure to harmful content, empowering users to report such content, and ensuring online platforms are transparent and accountable for their measures and processes to protect users. 

“Ideally, the new codes of practice will apply to a broad range of companies, not just big tech companies,” Ms Hingorani said.

Related topics

sexual violence Aware Telegram WhatsApp Technology revenge porn blackmail sexual abuse

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