ACSI Prelim 2025 SS QP+MS

Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION 2025 YEAR FOUR (O-levels) HUMANITIES Paper 1 Social Studies (2260/01, 2261/01, 2262/01) Tuesday 12 August 2025 1 h 45 min INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES Section A is COMPULSORY. You must answer all parts of Question 1. Answer BOTH parts of Question 2 from Section B. Write your answer on the writing paper provided. INFORMATION FOR CANDIDATES The number of marks is given in brackets [ ] at the end of each question or part question. This question paper consists of 7 printed pages. [Turn over

2 SECTION A (Source-Based Case Study) Answer all questions. Being Part of a Globalised World Study the Background Information and the sources carefully and answer all the questions. You may use any of the sources to help you answer the questions, in addition to those sources you are told to use. In answering the questions , you should use your knowledge of the issue to help you interpret and evaluate the sources. 1 Study Source A. What does the source tell you about online vigilantism? Explain your answer. [5] 2 Study Sources B and C. Having read Source B, are you surprised b y Source C regarding the impact of online vigilantism? Explain your answer. [7] 3 Study Source D. Does Source D prove that online vigilantism is justified? Explain your answer. [6] 4 Study Sources E and F. Would Source E agree with Source F about the use of social media for online vigilantism? Explain your answer. [7] 5 ‘Online vigilantism does more harm than good.’ Using the sources in this case study, explain how far you would agree with this statement. [10]

3 Is online vigilantism beneficial at all? BACKGROUND INFORMATION Read this carefully. It may help you to answer some of the questions. Online vigilantism reflects how digital connections shape collective social behaviour, and evolving notions of justice in the digital age. It refers to online actions carried out by individuals or groups in the name of justice, order, or safety ranging from online shaming to more direct forms of punishment or surveillance, often coordinated via social media and other online platforms . They tend to have lower trust in the government and sometimes legal systems. However, the question is “Is this considered justice?” Experts say that the downside is clear, and the negatives are many, including vigilantes making moral judgements without having the facts of the case, spreading false information, and causing collateral damage on those they falsely accuse. The line between a helpful citizen and a problematic vigilante can be perilously thin and crossing it can have far -reaching implications for everyone involved. Study the following sources to examine if online vigilantism is beneficial at all. Source A: A post taken from STOMP, a digital news portal, about a boy who stepped on Motoro stingrays. Netizens subsequently identified what they suspected to be the boy's social media account and how he had a "kill count" for stingrays , published June 2022. Boy’s foot Motoro stingray

4 Source B: From an online article which explores the human flesh search following the announcement of sudden COVID -19 cases in the Chinese city of Chengdu , published in January 2021. On December 8, 2020, after the epidemic in China had been stabilized, the city of Chengdu suddenly reported four new cases. One of these cases was a twenty -year- old woman infected by her grandmother. Soon after the photo of the alleged 20-year- old Chengdu patient went viral, the person in the photo refuted the rumors, stating that she was not from Chengdu and was not diagnosed with coronavirus. The photos were misappropriated, and her life was greatly affected by the rumors and negative comments online. By the time she was able to refute the rumors, the damage was already done. Source C: From a news article published in AsiaOne, a Singaporean news and lifestyle website, December 2024. A personal mobility device (PMD) was spotted speeding in Queenstown before it skidded on the wet road and crashed. In a dashcam footage video submitted by a car driver to Facebook page SG Road Vigilante*, the PMD can be seen wobbling as its rider zooms along the leftmost lane of Alexandra Road. The PMD rider then cuts through two lanes to make a sudden right turn along Commonwealth Avenue, nearly hitting a car. The driver warned both new and experienced drivers to remain vigilant for errant PMD riders on roads. Responding to AsiaOne's queries, an LTA spokesperson said that they are aware of the incident and have stepped up enforcement efforts in the area. *SG Road Vigilante - A community of citizens in Singapore who prioritize road safety, fairness, and justice. Source D: Excerpt from an interview with Dr. Lennon Chang, a senior lecturer in Criminology, School of Social science, Monash University, published in 2018. Dr Chan g’s project called ‘The co -production of cybersecurity’ involv es further research in internet vigilantism in different countries, including Australia. He explores the idea of netizens helping government to make the online world more secure. “Everyone is online,” he says. “We have hackers, we have internet vulnerability. Can we build a good information sharing system, like a kind of quarantine using the same model in public health that alerts us to infectious diseases?” What he’s talking about here is people power, or crowdsourcing, where the general population is ahead of the authorities and help those authorities spot problems and issue warnings. “These people online are not doing it for fun; they might be doing it with a sense of justice. If that’s the case, we need to know how we can use their data and their information in helping investigate crimes,” said Dr. Chang.

5 Source E: Comments of a foreign journalist about online vigilante justice, published in 2017. The justice system is there to ensure that people don't start acting as vigilantes. However, due to social media , these kinds of acts have increased again . The public does not have the proper tools to punish an offender legally. They can only get even by actions of the same character, which are crimes on its own. Besides that, what justice is, is relative. Online vigilante justice interferes with the law enforcement on several important aspects, resulting into unequal treatment of citizens. The law system can only function correctly with the absence of online vigilante justice. In order to get to this point, new laws about online speech can be developed or the online policing can be increased. But it can be best accomplished by an in herent change within social media-users. Stop engaging, harassing, and let jurors* do their job. *jurors – members of a jury which is a body of people (typically twelve in number) sworn to give a verdict in a legal case on the basis of evidence submitted to them in court. Source F: From an article entitled “Legal experts warn naming and shaming alleged criminals on social media can itself be a crime” published on an Australian news website September 2022. Social media community groups need to be policed to stop a rise in online vigilantism, according to prominent Australian criminal lawyer Bill Potts. Mr Potts says some pages resemble the Wild West without a sheriff because of the number of unsubstantiated allegations of criminal activity. "What we are seeing is something very, very dangerous. I'm concerned that there will be violence," Mr Potts said. "It encourages people to use violence under the guise of identifying criminals. The simple truth is tha