Online Safety Commission offers hope, but victims want the process simplified

Some suggestions include more streamlined reporting with reduced form-filling, access to low-cost legal help

- Lee Li Ying Correspondent and Sarah Koh

Content creator Renae Cheng, 31, has spent the past two years dealing with AI-generated videos on TikTok of her being kissed and groped by a stranger.

The overseas-based harasser, who created the deepfake video, also bombarded her with rape and death threats after she refused to share an acquaintance’s contact details.

Cheng, who is married with an 11-month-old daughter, frequently has to field awkward questions from confused relatives about the videos. “Some of them are upset and may not understand that the videos are fake,” said Cheng.

She had reported the videos to TikTok multiple times, but was told that the content did not breach the platform’s community guidelines.

The videos remain online, but Cheng hopes they will be deleted soon. She will be taking her case to the Online Safety Commission (OSC), which started operations on June 29.

The commission offers an alternative for those who encounter inadequate, delayed or unhelpful responses from social media platforms over harms encountered online.

Victims The Sunday Times spoke to expressed relief that there is now a dedicated agency to mandate content takedowns and hold wrongdoers accountable on their behalf.

But they also suggested some improvements to the process.

“With a specific commission dedicated to tackling online harms, hopefully social media platforms will treat complaints more seriously,” said Cheng.

The OSC is backed by the newly enacted Online Safety (Relief and Accountability) Act, or OSRAA, allowing it to impose penalties if its directions to content creators, forum administrators and platforms for content takedowns or account restrictions are not followed.

For a start, the OSC is tackling five of the most prevalent and serious online harms: intimate image abuse, image-based child abuse, doxxing, online harassment, and online stalking.