SGInstababes patreon incident (2018)

Qualms about SgInstaBabes surfaced when they launched a Patreon campaign, which enabled people to donate to their page in exchange for special access to photographs, photoshoots and parties with the girls.

SgInstaBabes started as an Instagram account, with 42,000 followers before its eventual deactivation. The account’s first post was in April 2015. They have since expanded to Facebook, and even have their own website (official website). Their content mainly focuses on girls, nightlife and lifestyle events. They have promoted events, notably Ultra Music Festival 2018 and Eden Music Festival 2017. The founder of SgInstaBabes is Lai Wee Kiat, a Malaysian ex-body builder. He was also the winner of Mr Kuala Lumpur 2013.

The controversy

On 20 August 2018, SgInstaBabes launched their Patreon campaign. Patreon is a platform where users can make donations to support independent content creators, usually those in the creative and media industry. The SgInstaBabes Patreon campaign allowed users to make monthly payments in exchange for exclusive content and perks. These perks ranged from exclusive photographs of the girls to yacht party invitations.

The types of perks users received depended on the amount they paid to subscribe, which ranged from USD $3 to $3,750 (about SGD $4 to $5000) per month. Users are grouped and ranked in tiers based on the amount donated.

The types of payments available on SgInstaBabes’ Patreon (in SGD) and their corresponding perks are as such:

Patron Tier	Amount Donated / month (SGD)	Perks
Donor	$4	No perks
Fan	$10	Access to exclusive and complete photoshoot albums
Avid Fan	$30	Access to personal vlogs
Friend	$100	Exclusive access to 1 photoshoot as photographer or spectator
Bestfriend	$300	Unlimited access to photoshoots as photographer or spectator
Baller	$1,000	Fully paid private hangout with SgInstaBabes for donor & friends, only 5 slots available
Party King	$5,000	Yacht party with SgInstaBabes for 1 patron

The Patreon campaign quickly caught the attention of the mainstream media, such as The Straits Times and Channel News Asia, as well as netizens and social media influencers. The backlash for Netizens commented on the fact that many of the girls in the photographs were minors, potentially exposing the girls to online sexual harassment and exploitation.

SgInstaBabes received much backlash from netizens, as founder Lai Wee Kiat had also been involved in cases of alleged sexual harassment and mistreatment of minors under him before.

Responses

Lai Wee Kiat

Following the online criticism, Lai Wee Kiat addressed the issues raised by netizens via Instagram on 26 August 2018. He stated that the ages of the girls in SgInstaBabes ranged from 14 to 24 years old. However, he claimed that the membership programme only allowed girls aged 16 and above to partake in photoshoots, and only those of legal age would join the parties held. He also added that the safety of the girls is the biggest priority for SgInstaBabes when carrying out the Patreon activities.

In light of the incident and backlash, SgInstaBabes released a statement on their Instagram. The statement explained that the SgInstaBabes platform would be revamped to solely focus on ‘babes, beauty, above-18 events, nightlife and relevant issues and brands’. This new policy ensures that the girls involved with SgInstaBabes activities are above 18 years of age.

Social media influencers

Popular Singaporean social media personalities, such as Wendy Cheng (Xiaxue) and Darryl Koshy (DeeKosh) also commented on the incident. Xiaxue asserted that despite Lai Wee Kiat’s earlier claims of revamping SgInstaBabes’ policy, there was still evidence that a minor was still working under him. Xiaxue also stated that since the incident occurred, the minor’s pictures have been deleted ‘sneakily’ from the SgInstaBabes Instagram account. The legitimacy of the number of patrons of the Patreon campaign was also questioned when DeeKosh revealed screenshots of Lai Wee Kiat requesting the talents in SgInstaBabes to pose as patrons after the launch.

Social media influencer Preeti Nair (Preetipls) also made a parody video of the whole incident, titled ‘Preetipls’s Patreon Page! Sg Instant Regret’. The video was uploaded on Youtube on 22 September 2018 and mirrored the introduction video that SgInstaBabes posted regarding the Patreon scheme. The video has been viewed 2,598 times as of 14 February 2019.

Conclusion to Patreon incident

On 29 August 2018, Lai Wee Kiat stated that he would no longer be managing SgInstaBabes, and would be on hiatus from social media. His personal Instagram, as well as the SgInstaBabes Instagram, Patreon and Facebook pages has since been deleted. The SgInstaBabes website can still be accessed. Currently, SgInstaBabes is on hiatus. Any news of a possible relaunch or a definite launch date are not available.

SgJcBabes

Following the SgInstaBabes incident, an Instagram account, SingaporeJuniorCollegeBabes, (ig: @sgjcbabes) garnered attention for posting photographs of female students from Singapore’s junior colleges. Launched on 25 October 2018, the content posted by SgJcBabes is similar to that of SGInstaBabes as they both feature young Singaporean girls. Photographs of girls in their junior college uniforms are submitted by anonymous users. The identity of SgJcBabes’ administrator is unknown.

The social media account also holds contests, where the girl with the most liked post would be crowned as “Queen”. The “Queen” would then be featured on the account’s Instagram Story, where followers of the account are able to give a rating. It is also stated in the profile description that the account would block any users who made “unruly comments”. The account is currently private, and users have to direct message the account in order to gain verification for access.

As of 4 January 2019, the account currently has 2000 followers and 13 posts. The latest post is dated 8 November 2018. It should also be noted that the account’s profile photograph was taken from one of the articles the Singapore-based alternative news site, MustShareNews, without official permission. Netizens have taken action and emailed the respective junior colleges of the girls involved.