Combating tech-facilitated GBV

THE UN themed this year’s 16 days of activism (November 25-December 10) “End digital violence against all women and girls”, mobilising under the slogan #NoExcuse for online abuse.

- JILL RYAN

According to the UN, this is the fastest-growing form of abuse with close to 60% of women and girls experiencing online violence. Shockingly, girls as young as 8 years old are subjected to such forms of violence. Technology-facilitated violence, though online, holds real-world consequences, which is why it is noted as being just as harmful and life-threatening as other forms of gender-based violence (GBV).

Online violence refers to a range of acts facilitated through the use of everyday technology like our cellphones. These include bullying, harassment, image-based violence like revenge porn, doxxing (publishing of private information), AI-generated deepfakes, stalking, sexual exploitation, hate speech and disinformation, to name but a few. Again, these online acts can lead to offline violence such as coercion and intimidation, physical violence, and femicide — especially in misogynistic spaces such as the ‘Manosphere, a varied network of communities that claim to address men’s struggles or lived experiences about dating, fitness or fatherhood, for example, but often promote harmful advice and attitudes and spreading gendered disinformation.