Singapore, known as a progressive and conservative country, has upheld their title as a clean and green city for years. What people don’t know is that what lies behind that is an insidious and dark digital world, where deepfakes have rewritten women’s identities and turned their bodies into canvases for grotesque fantasies. This is our reality, where the advancements of technology have become a weapon against our bodies.

Nicole (a pseudonym), a victim of deepfake technology more than half a decade ago, continues to grapple with the profound and enduring trauma of discovering her modified images circulating in a group called ‘SG Nasi Lemak’ in 2019. SG Nasi Lemak is a channel on Telegram where sexual images and videos are shared for the likes of the members in that group.

“I didn’t expect my male friend to be the one informing me of a ‘scandalous’ photo of myself that was being reshared on SG Nasi Lemak,” Nicole sighs, “I posted on Instagram like everyone else, but someone thought it was okay to use my photos and modify it to satisfy their sick desires.”

At the tender age of fifteen, Nicole was a micro-influencer, building a community of six thousand followers, actively sharing her life online. She was aware of the growing prevalence of edited nude photos of women in Singapore, but she never imagined that she would become one of them.

“When the news came out that the [Telegram] channel was shut down and the administrators were arrested, I felt so relieved,” she recounts, “but it couldn’t erase the fact that a fake image of me, and countless other innocent women, had been seen by the 40,000 members of that disgusting channel.”

As a result, the digital realm, once a space of connection and expression, is now a minefield of potential violation where a woman’s identity can be easily twisted into a disgusting fantasy by a diseased imagination.

Recently, the deepfake nudes’ case at Singapore Sports School in November ignited a “whodunnit” frenzy, shifting the focus away from the profound trauma inflicted upon the victims. But the actual crime, the heart of this digital transgression, was the systematic violation of women’s rights to her own body, a calculated digital rape that left deep, lasting scars on the victims and shattering their sense of safety and identity.

Reports from the Straits Times stated that female students and teachers alike were targeted, revealing the pervasive nature of this digital threat. “As a parent, I am afraid that my teenage boy, in a moment of reckless curiosity or misguided fun, might misuse AI to create these harmful images for his benefit,” says Angela (a pseudonym), a mother of a student at the sports school.

Deepfakes has always been a global issue, not just in Singapore, and unfortunately the increased vulnerability of young people in the digital age has gone up rapidly.

A search by The Straits Times, a publication in Singapore, revealed numerous public Telegram channels, with subscriber bases as large as 95,000, that provide instant deepfake services, enabling the rapid creation of fabricated nude images from real photographs. These Telegram channels offer deepfake generation based on uploaded facial photos and provide a paid service to create ‘undressed’ renditions. Users can customise the resulting images, with higher payment options allowing for more explicit modifications of the body.

Paul DeMott, the Chief Technology Officer at Helium SEO, tells me all about artificial intelligence (AI), deepfakes, and the dangers that stem from it. “From an artificial intelligence (AI) standpoint, deepfakes are a possible source of danger for misinformation,” he explains, “they are essentially hyper-realistic manipulations of video or audio content.”

“From a digital safety standpoint, deepfakes represent a grave and insidious threat to women’s well-being,” Paul observes, emphasising the enduring nature of the damage, “the photos and videos might be deleted from immediate view, but the digital footprint remains, an irreversible assault on women’s online presence and their sense of self.”

“It makes me sick to my stomach to hear that teenage boys are actively contributing to this digital violence,” Nicole says, her voice filled with anger, “Nobody, regardless of age or background, wants their bare body forever ingrained on the internet, especially young schoolgirls, who deserve to have bright, unmarred futures.”

Furthermore, these cases have not only traumatised the direct victims but have also instilled a strong fear among women in Singapore, who now live with the constant dread of becoming the next target.

Angela believes that AI, while possessing the potential for good, is a “gun waiting to be fired” in the hands of the irresponsible. “I am so worried that young children may misuse it thinking it’s just for fun or worse, use it as an avenue for revenge,” the concerned parent expresses her worries again, “this not only lands them into big trouble with the law or police, they may not be aware that such childish acts could sabotage or tarnish the victim’s credibility or character which could lead victims into suicidal ideations and thoughts.”

“It makes me mad that women have just become a punching bag for these types of scams. It feels like they are mocking us for being naïve,” Nicole remarked, while recalling a previous incident she saw, “I read online about a woman who truly believed she was in a relationship with Brad Pitt and continuously funded his ‘medical treatments’ only to find out he was a fraud after being left with almost nothing in her bank account.”

Consequently, the impact of this digital manipulation comes from a ripple effect from what once started as an innocent digital tool to educate and provide help to us humans, creating an environment of fear and distrust, especially among women.

Paul continues to highlight the dangers of misusing AI and deepfakes as women start to withdraw from online spaces, isolating themselves from potential sources of support and resistance.

“It’s known that with the misuse of AI and creation of deepfakes, it becomes online harassment and cyber abuse,” he observed, “sadly, with the increase in the abuse of AI, digital spaces have become increasingly unsafe for women and it leads to the possibility that women are starting to feel discouraged from participating in any activities online, which should be a free right for them.”

The demand of having digital spaces where women can feel safe is always on the rise, with women wanting to reclaim their safe online space, but until then, women will only be seen as vulnerable targets, and their voices silenced.

Which is why Angela calls for urgent government and school intervention, advocating comprehensive education programs and stricter regulations, including the implementation of auto-censorship technologies to detect and prevent the wrongful usage of AI.

As a result of the increase in deepfake abuse, there are multiple existing resources and courses in Singapore to educate the public, such as Touch Cyber Wellness, a non-profit. The program is said to launch sometime this year and will educate young people on the effects of deepfakes, how to detect them, and how to handle encounters with them. Furthermore, to protect vulnerable groups, particularly women, from online abuse, Minister K. Shanmugam advocated for legal changes in 2023, aiming to create a safer digital space.

The fight against deepfake manipulation is a critical component of the ongoing struggle for women, requiring a constant awareness of both scam and abuse risks. However, the relentless pace of technological advancement presents a formidable challenge, forcing women to continually adapt their defensive strategies.