![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cassette.sphdigital.com.sg\/image\/straitstimes\/eb1aaec14472694f8ef4bacf3e8b5159126e0b014137eb5415772ffaecd78120\")
<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/figure>\nAmong Singapore\u2019s online spaces, r\/singapore stands out as the largest in sheer volume. With over 1.8 million registered members and half a million weekly visitors, r\/singapore dwarfs competitors like HardwareZone Forums (647,000 members) and Facebook groups such as SG Road Vigilante and Hawkers United \u2013 Dabao 2020 (both have around 330,000 members).<\/p>\n
Yet, more than half (57 per cent) of the over 30,000 posts created by users on r\/singapore in 2025 were deleted by the subreddit\u2019s moderators. This was the highest rate of removal of the 12 local subreddits analysed.<\/p>\n
Compared with 11 other similarly sized city- or country-focused subreddits elsewhere, including r\/london and r\/tokyo, this rate was exceeded only by r\/losangeles and r\/sydney.<\/p>\n
What gives Reddit its distinctive vibe is both its decentralised structure (subreddits are run by volunteer moderators) and its core mechanic of user curation \u2013 posts that are upvoted by users rise to the top, while those downvoted sink into obscurity.<\/p>\n
The platform itself bans certain kinds of content (such as hate speech), and one of the subreddits ST looked at, r\/sgrabak, was banned for running afoul of these platform-wide rules.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, much of the day-to-day governance of a Reddit community comes down to its moderators, who have wide-ranging powers to remove posts and comments, ban users, and define the rules for participating in their community.<\/p>\n
Some of these removals happen structurally and automatically. Users without any history of engagement with r\/singapore\u00a0through their comments have their posts automatically removed before others can see it.<\/p>\n
In response to queries from ST, r\/singapore\u2019s moderators, who declined to be named, say the reasons for removing posts include spam and common questions, which are automatically directed to a daily thread or to r\/asksingapore.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs volunteers with our own day jobs, we turn to automated tools as much as is reasonable to avoid burnout while avoiding false positives,\u201d they say in a written statement. \u201cWe note that many of the users banned for constantly posting hate speech move on to other alternative subreddits to continue doing so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Soh Wee Yang, a PhD researcher at The University of Chicago who studies Reddit cultures, finds this rate of post removal unsurprising. Given r\/singapore\u2019s size and the rise of bot-driven posts on the platform, it makes sense that a large proportion of posts would be \u201cself-promotional\u201d, \u201cnot safe for work (NSFW)\u201d or deemed irrelevant.<\/p>\n
This has not stopped users from decamping and setting up their own community elsewhere.<\/p>\n
One such breakaway community is r\/singaporeraw, created in 2019 in response to perceived censorship on r\/singapore.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere wasn\u2019t one single explosive incident that triggered its creation,\u201d an r\/singaporeraw moderator, who goes by the username carlossanchas and declined to share his or her real name, tells ST. \u201cIt was more a gradual build-up of frustration among a segment of users who wanted a space with fewer content restrictions and less proactive moderation.\u201d<\/p>\n
With around 350,000 weekly visitors, it is Singapore\u2019s third-largest subreddit in terms of reach.<\/p>\n
In carlossanchas\u2019 view, r\/singapore\u2019s moderation \u201clocks the gates to new accounts or people without enough \u2018karma\u2019\u201d. Karma is Reddit\u2019s system of user points accumulated through receiving upvotes on your posts.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo us, this silences a lot of people who need to be heard,\u201d adds the moderator. \u201cFor example, if someone wants to whistleblow on a toxic workplace, or share a deeply personal story they don\u2019t want linked to their main profile and they create a \u2018throwaway\u2019 account for privacy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another example is r\/sgexams, created in 2017 by an r\/singapore moderator frustrated by the volume of exam-related discussions flooding the main forum. This effectively exiled discussions of student life to its own community, which has been run by successive generations of student volunteers since.<\/p>\n
The move was unpopular at the time, with some of the subreddit\u2019s earliest posts being complaints by users.<\/p>\n
In a similar vein, r\/asksingapore now exists primarily as a space for many of the questions that are deemed too trivial. \u201cBest way to get around town as a tourist?\u201d and \u201cHelp! interested in your accent\u201d are among the subreddit\u2019s earliest posts, dating back to 2015.<\/p>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cassette.sphdigital.com.sg\/image\/straitstimes\/595b18840a4436c4d1f7a42ea2a4575b1630c68963ae1f9067dacf54d2542a04\")
<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/figure>\nIn r\/singapore, the most upvoted post of 2025 was a screenshot of an Instagram user alleging that Member of Parliament\u00a0Ng Chee Meng,\u00a0then a People\u2019s Action Party (PAP) candidate at Singapore\u2019s general election that year,\u00a0had been \u201cunprofessional\u201d while speaking to teachers during a dialogue, and calling on readers to \u201cvote wisely\u201d.<\/p>\n
Two of the 10 most upvoted posts on the subreddit in 2025\u00a0were from users expressing their disappointment at the general election results, which saw a sizeable upswing in the PAP\u2019s popular vote share.<\/p>\n
Alongside this came dozens of users proclaiming that Reddit is an \u201cecho chamber\u201d, unrepresentative of the views of broader Singapore. \u00a0<\/p>\n
So what is the true picture?<\/p>\n
Across Singapore\u2019s subreddits, according to ST\u2019s findings, the number of users who created posts forms only a thin slice of their user base.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the three largest subreddits by volume of posts, r\/asksingapore, r\/sgexams and r\/singapore, there were around 19,000, 18,500 and 16,000 post authors respectively for the whole of 2025, meaning that the vast majority of users \u2013 between 90 and 97 per cent of weekly visitors \u2013 do not ever create posts.<\/p>\n
Among the 12 local subreddits analysed, the most prolific 10 per cent of users created between 32 per cent and 91 per cent of all non-deleted 2025 posts. For subreddits r\/singaporehappenings, r\/sgrabak and r\/singaporeraw, this active subset of users made over half of all posts in 2025.<\/p>\n
This dynamic is not unique to Reddit. The nature of online communication means that the bulk of attention nearly always flows towards a small minority of users, something that has existed since the early internet\u2019s blogging era, says Dr Carol Soon, an associate professor with NUS\u2019 department of communications and new media.<\/p>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cassette.sphdigital.com.sg\/image\/straitstimes\/0becab1b730943b37a74f0026ae05d2c2df8f22b430e2c5a637ecf7c60de6a47\")
<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/figure>\nAnother point that lends credence to those who subscribe to Reddit being an echo chamber: In r\/singapore, posts in 2025 had a median upvote ratio of 0.92, meaning that 92 per cent of users voting on a post gave it an upvote instead of a downvote.<\/p>\n
Removed posts are excluded from this analysis because they would create the misleading impression of an even higher upvote ratio (as other users are unable to downvote it).<\/p>\n
Overall, r\/singapore\u2019s upvote ratio was the highest of all local subreddits analysed, tied with r\/singaporeeats, a forum primarily used by its users to share food recommendations. Of the 11 comparably sized international subreddits analysed by ST, only one (r\/manila) had a higher upvote ratio.<\/p>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cassette.sphdigital.com.sg\/image\/straitstimes\/2445b9942b8f2d45136cebe72f2c46f2c50274bae7685604ba359a756d1986fe\")
<\/picture><\/div>\nOn r\/singaporeeats, users share food recommendations and homecooked meals.<\/p>\n
PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM REDDIT<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Moderators of r\/singapore say the high upvote ratio is reflective of \u201cthe community self-policing the content they wish to see, and also of the overall online sentiment\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cPosts and topics that get many upvotes tend to attract more of such posts in the future,\u201d they say.<\/p>\n
While the structure and history of Reddit lend itself to the creation of like-minded niche communities, with the site\u2019s demographics elsewhere skewing young, male and more educated, this data indicates that r\/singapore\u2019s users have a relatively high degree of consensus over the content they want to see.<\/p>\n
This is the experience of Ms Taara Kumar, a student assistant at NUS, who recalls\u00a0to ST\u00a0an instance when she was criticised by other users on r\/singapore for a 2020 comment expressing her disapproval of misogynistic verses in Purple Light, a popular Singapore Armed Forces song. <\/p>\n
That lyric, \u201ckill the man, rape my girlfriend\u201d, was banned by the Ministry of Defence in 2013.<\/p>\n
Reddit users responded to her comment with backlash, stating that women do not go through or understand\u00a0the things that men experience in the army.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were vocal in these spaces, but in real life, I didn\u2019t really see it,\u201d she says, noting that the fierce backlash led her to withdraw from the platform. <\/p>\n
She adds that while many local Reddit communities have discussions that reflect the perspectives of a predominantly male demographic, an equivalent space does not appear to exist for women.<\/p>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cassette.sphdigital.com.sg\/image\/straitstimes\/1cf1cf79639b08db9f32f5187f475a0ab2ad7eda435d7f3d5f28f535afd25d20\")
<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/figure>\nFor Dr Kokil, these results are not surprising.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cReddit here is less a gateway to new information ecosystems and more a reinterpretation layer,\u201d she says. In these spaces, Reddit threads function as spaces where users can argue over mainstream news and dominant narratives.<\/p>\n
Many Reddit users do not click through to the linked articles. A 2017 study by researchers from the University of Notre Dame in the US found that 73 per cent of users upvoted or downvoted a post before even viewing its content.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe posts that are pro-establishment will not get upvotes. Why would they get upvotes? They\u2019re already \u2018winning\u2019 in real life,\u201d says Dr Kokil.<\/p>\n
As with other social media platforms, contentiousness is key to attaining visibility through the algorithms that manage what users see. \u201cThey need to be contentious to succeed. So confusing contentiousness with public opinion can be a mistake,\u201d she adds. <\/p>\n
This contentiousness is key to understanding Reddit\u2019s role in the lives of Singaporeans. The Institute of Policy Studies\u2019 2020 and 2025 surveys on media use during the general election \u2013 co-led by Dr Soon \u2013 finds that while Singaporeans are increasingly turning to discussion forums (including Reddit) for information, they rank these as the second-least trustworthy sources after podcasts.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the common threads that came up is that forums provide them with access to what they feel is a less sanitised, less filtered news and commentary about life in Singapore,\u201d says Dr Soon.<\/p>\n
The limited offline avenues for people to air their grievances without consequence also plays a role, says Dr Kokil. This potentially explains why Singapore Reddit communities can at times seem complaint- and grievance-centric, as this is the informational niche that the platform is seen to be filling.<\/p>\n
Mr Soh notes that venting and voyeurism are popular genres of content on the platform \u2013 in that users often use the platform to confess their concerns anonymously, and to collectively discuss instances where private life enters the public sphere.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe amount of people texting on their phones while driving is insane,\u201d writes one user in response to a video of a road accident shared on r\/drivingsg, where such posts predominate. \u201cOur traffic laws need to be much harsher.\u201d<\/p>\n
These posts about private confessions and public controversies\u00a0are often seen as \u201can index of a larger political or social issue that needs to be addressed\u201d, says Mr Soh. \u201cThat link is always implied. That implication is key for these posts to circulate.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is worth noting that the anti-establishment tone adopted by Singapore\u2019s Reddit communities bears notable differences from its manifestations elsewhere, he adds. <\/p>\n
In the US, Reddit\u2019s largest user market, the platform is often seen as one of the bastions of centre-left discussion. These communities are anti-establishment in a variety of ways, ranging from criticising the current administration to agitating for broader change of the status quo. <\/p>\n
In contrast, Singapore\u2019s Reddit communities tend to be anti-establishment only in one dimension, seeing it as an outlet for one-off criticisms of the Government and its leadership. \u201cIt\u2019s not generally anti-establishment as in anti-status quo,\u201d Mr Soh says. \u201cThis is a really big difference that I must emphasise.\u201d<\/p>\n
This particular niche \u2013 accessing unfiltered discussions \u2013 explains both Reddit\u2019s cultural impact and its limits.\u00a0Many of its users turn to it for discussions on the personal, not the political. <\/p>\n
Singapore\u2019s largest online community dedicated to discussing personal finance topics, r\/singaporefi, short for Singapore Financial Independence, is one of the central nodes of the local Financial Independence, Retire Early (Fire) movement.<\/p>\n
When Reddit user Kyith (who declined to share his real name) first launched it in 2015, he did not expect it to grow to over 20,000 users in a matter of days. The community now receives more than 177,000 weekly visitors, making it Singapore Reddit\u2019s fourth largest.<\/p>\n
While its reach remains lower than that of many of Singapore\u2019s financial content creators, what makes it distinct is how it enables discussions that do not emerge in other avenues where finance knowledge is shared. The community\u2019s most upvoted posts of 2025 were from users sharing their Fire journeys, often with breakdowns of their investment portfolios.<\/p>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cassette.sphdigital.com.sg\/image\/straitstimes\/d2254c7cbf1650e698b4531313294bed27888c641dba6913f2135aa7a7304ba2\")
<\/picture><\/div>\nA post shared by a user on r\/singaporefi, the country’s largest online community for discussing personal finance topics.<\/p>\n
PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM REDDIT<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u201cNo inheritance, no windfall,\u201d writes one user, sharing the result of 27 years of working life. \u201cJust regular folks trying to make it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is surprising is how this generation will share their life and financial situation, and how others will share their situation to help others,\u201d says Kyith. \u201cYou might not get someone able to share a potential perspective that is so particular to your own situation in a public setting in other ways.\u201d<\/p>\n
Similarly, some of the most-upvoted posts on r\/singaporejobs were about dealing with wrongful dismissal and layoffs. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m starting this because I want to help others navigate this process as I found it frustrating that there were no accounts or resources of the process anywhere,\u201d writes one user about their experience with Singapore\u2019s employment claims tribunal.<\/p>\n
That Reddit has become synonymous with being the place for finding human answers has become increasingly relevant in a post-AI world. In 2024, Reddit inked partnerships with Google and OpenAI so that its user data can be used in these companies\u2019 products.<\/p>\n
The communities where Reddit\u2019s influence runs deepest here might be NSmen and students, who flood r\/nationalservicesg and r\/sgexams with anxiety-filled posts around periods of enlistment and national exams respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cassette.sphdigital.com.sg\/image\/straitstimes\/b07f198054f6cee1414515012a3c8be52a76e88977167ab3235570a0d436ae9a\")
<\/picture><\/div>\nMany of the nation’s conscripts turn to r\/nationalserviceSG for advice and solidarity.<\/p>\n
PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM REDDIT<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Here, stressful and hyper-local encounters are experienced collectively, with users chiming in with advice and a listening ear, often centring on \u201cmegathreads\u201d created by moderators for users to discuss important events.<\/p>\n
\u201cNS criticism, self-disclosure and emotional trauma stories, which would be politically sensitive in mainstream spaces, find a home in r\/nationalservicesg,\u201d says Dr Kokil. \u201cThis makes r\/nationalservicesg a pressure-release valve where conscripts narrate system failures in detail under pseudonyms.\u201d<\/p>\n
While 2025\u2019s AI cheating scandal at NTU was r\/sgexams\u2019 most visible entry into mainstream culture, the subreddit has a long history in shaping student opinion, often as a space where \u201ccontroversial\u201d views (such as students recommending against taking a particular course) and taboo experiences are shared. <\/p>\n
In 2021, an anonymous post from a user alleging discrimination because of her transgender status was the inciting incident that led to a protest in front of the Ministry of Education\u2019s headquarters that made global headlines.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say what contributed to SGExams\u2019 growth and evolution was that it filled a gap previously empty in the Singaporean youth context,\u201d says Ms Emmeline Kao, a 20-year-old medical undergraduate who is one of r\/sgexams\u2019 moderators. <\/p>\n
\u201cModeration is there to ensure there is a good balance between academic and non-academic content,\u201d she adds. \u201cEven if the latter is what users find more interesting and helps cement SGExams as an online youth space.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Mr Soh, that a subreddit focused on exams is one of the largest in Singapore says a lot about the country and what it values. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no other country that has something as peculiar as this,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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