Since the Circuit Breaker began, Singapore has seen an increase in online vigilantism.

I’m sure you’ve already seen the images and videos. One video shows an elderly auntie eating her kway chap at the hawker centre, in violation of the safe distancing rules. Another shows 4 masked boys being chased from the lift by a man who was shouting angrily as he filmed them with his phone.

One of the main platforms for such comments is SG Covidiots—a newly formed Facebook group which calls out ‘covidiots doing their best to sabo us all’. Their images have attracted likes and shares in the thousands, as well as no small amount of controversy.

Some have wholeheartedly joined in. Others have questioned the necessity of such public shaming. An Asiaone article described the SG Covidiots as “a Facebook group known for noxious content that includes harassing people who flout the circuit breaker rules.”. Lawyers warned that such content could constitute doxxing if personal information is included.

We interviewed SG Covidiots co-founder and admin Ben Tay to find out what he thinks of all this: