Non-consensual images, misogyny, harassment, threats of violence. These are just a small number of the dangers women and girls are forced to navigate in an increasingly hostile online world.
Our government has pledged to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) by 2034, but we must remember that much of this violence is now happening behind screens, not just closed doors. What’s equally worrying is that the tech companies which provide these platforms have fostered an online environment in which perpetrators can abuse with ease, and women face countless barriers to safety and justice.
I have spoken publicly about my experiences of online VAWG this year, and I know I am far from alone in what I have been subjected to. Now, a new report from Refuge, the UK’s largest specialist domestic abuse charity, and the End Violence Against Women coalition (EVAW), lays bare not only the extent of online VAWG, but the very real and detrimental impact it is having on women and girls.
Drawing on nationally representative polling of 2,000 women aged 16 and over in the UK, the Dangerous by Design report reveals that 36% of women reported experiencing online VAWG, rising to a staggering 47% of women aged 16-24.
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While perpetrators of online VAWG must be held responsible, there is no denying that tech platforms are actively facilitating the spread of misogynistic material. Disturbingly, the report found that one in five (21%)16-24-year-olds who use social media said they are recommended content that is humiliating, degrading or sexually violent towards women most or every time they use it.
Online VAWG is also strongly intertwined with both domestic abuse, and existing forms of discrimination and inequality. Refuge and EVAW found that of the women who reported experiencing online VAWG, one in five (20%) said it was perpetrated by a former partner, rising to 25% of 16-24 year-olds. The research also suggests that marginalised and disabled women are disproportionately affected by online misogyny and sexual violence.
Beyond the direct consequences, online VAWG is actively pushing women out of online spaces. It is seriously limiting women’s freedom and participation in public discourse. One in seven women reported leaving platforms because of the VAWG they experienced, while 7% said it made them feel suicidal. Of those who reported experiencing online VAWG, 14% said they felt more at risk of physical violence.
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As technology evolves, so do the ways in which perpetrators weaponise it at the expense of women and girls. The rapid development of AI is perhaps the most profound and devastating example of this – one which I am all too familiar with. I made the decision earlier this year to take xAI to court over the creation of non-consensual deepfake images of myself through the platform’s Grok tool.
Both deeply violating and misogynistic, the impact of non-consensual images cannot be understated, nor can the scale of this vile form of online VAWG. According to the Dangerous by Design report, a considerable 66% of the women surveyed were concerned about the role of AI in enabling VAWG.
Under the Labour Government, a ban on the creation of intimate deepfakes without consent has come into force, representing a vital step in the fight against online VAWG. Crucially, this offence places a much-needed onus on tech companies to take proactive steps to prevent non-consensual intimate deepfakes from taking place on their platforms.
But profit-driven technology never stops advancing, and so our laws must keep pace.
Ofcom’s recent guidance for tech companies on tackling online VAWG lays out the framework needed, but this must be made legally enforceable as a matter of urgency. In January this year the then Technology Secretary, Liz Kendall, issued an ultimatum calling on tech companies to introduce Ofcom’s guidance without delay. Where is the evidence they have done that?
The Government should also introduce mandatory ‘safety by design’ standards for online services to ensure protections are embedded within platform design, rather than responding to harm when it has already happened. Stronger regulations for tech companies must be accompanied by swifter access to justice for survivors of online VAWG through dedicated training for police and prosecutors and access to civil redress.
Tech companies cannot be allowed to act with impunity when women’s dignity, wellbeing and safety is on the line. Knowing that so many other women have endured such abuse is what will keep me pushing for greater action by the tech companies and if they fail to act, the Government must do so instead.
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