Digital abuse is “spreading at alarming speed”, fuelled by AI, anonymity, and weak laws. 

What is digital violence against women?

• It refers to acts of digital abuse generated and spread by AI technology, resulting in physical, sexual, psychological, social, political, or economic harm, or other infringements of women’s rights and freedoms.

Emerging challenges intensifying violence against women

• Anti-rights actors:They are increasingly using online spaces to push back against women’s rights.E.g., cyberbullying,harassment, and threats of violence.
• Growth of AI:by facilitating the spread of targeted disinformation as well as the proliferation of image-based abuse and deepfake pornographic videos.E.g. 90–95% of online deepfakes are non-consensual porn, with ~90% depicting women.
  • New AI-powered abuses against women include AI-driven impersonation and sextortion (blackmail), and sophisticated doxing (personal data exposure) escalating psychological harm.
• Expansion of the manosphere :an ecosystem of misogynistic content that is seeping into mainstream culture, shaping public attitudes towards women, and fueling violence.
• Legal Gaps: Current laws (such as UK’s Online Safety Act, Mexico’s Ley Olimpia , EU’s Digital Safety Act ) struggle to keep up with fast-evolving generative AI.

Wayforward

• Global cooperation to ensure digital platforms and AI tools meet safety and ethics standards.
• Support for survivors of digital violence by funding women’s rights organizations.
• Investments in prevention and culture change through digital literacy and online safety training for women and girls, and programmes that challenge toxic online cultures.
• Use of technology to usher in positive social change. E.g:French Tech firm Bodyguard.AI app filters out online abuse.