Digital tools are increasingly being used to stalk, harass, and abuse women and girls. This includes:

• Image-based abuse/ non-consensual sharing of intimate images – often called revenge porn or leaked nudes. 
• Cyberbullying, trolling, and online threats. 
• Online harassment and sexual harassment. 
• AI-generated deepfakes such as sexually explicit images, deepfake pornography, and digitally manipulated images, videos or audio. 
• Hate speech and disinformation on social media platforms. 
• Doxxing – publishing private information. 
• Online stalking or surveillance/tracking to monitor someone’s activities. 
• Online grooming and sexual exploitation. 
• Catfishing and impersonation. 
• Misogynistic networks – e.g. manosphere, incel forums. 

These acts don’t just happen online. They often lead to offline violence in real life (IRL), such as coercion, physical abuse, and even femicide – killing of women and girls. The harm can be long-lasting and affect survivors over a prolonged period of time. 

Digital violence targets women more than men, across all walks of life, but especially those with public or online visibility – such as activists, journalists, women in politics, human rights defenders, and young women. 

The impact is even worse for women facing intersecting forms of discrimination, including race, disability, gender identity, or sexual orientation.

• Weak regulation of the technology sector or lack of legal recognition of digital violence in countries. 
• Lack of accountability from tech platforms and social networking sites.
• Normalization of violence in manosphere spaces.
• Artificial Intelligence creating new forms of abuse and amplifying digital violence.
• Growing backlash against gender equality.
• Anonymity of perpetrators and cross-border abuse make it harder to get justice.
• Limited support systems for survivors of cyberbullying or personal data leaks.

Thanks to years of advocacy by feminist and digital rights movements, major progress has been made: 

• The 2024 Global Digital Compact  set the first UN-wide standards for digital safety and AI governance. 
• In December 2024, Member States adopted the UN Cybercrime Convention – the first legally binding international instrument with implications for addressing digital violence. 
• The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on Violence Against Women in Digital Environments in 2024, urging states to take immediate, effective action to prevent and eliminate digital violence and to strengthen regulation and accountability of platforms. 
• In 2024, the UN Statistical Commission called for the development of global methods to measure technology-facilitated gender-based violence, with work now underway. 
• Regional bodies also acted – from the African Union’s Convention on Ending Violence against Women and Girls to the EU’s Digital Services Act.

We must all act to stop digital abuse. To mark the 16 Days of Activism, the campaign calls on: 

• Governments to pass and enforce laws that criminalize digital violence, protect personal information and strengthen tech sector accountability. 
• Tech companies to ensure platform safety, remove harmful content, enforce codes of conduct and publish transparent reports. 
• Donors to invest in feminist organizations working to end violence against women and digital rights advocates. 
• Individuals to speak out, support survivors, and challenge harmful online norms.

From 25 November to 10 December, organize visible and bold activities to promote safety and justice online. Partners can include: 

• Civil society 
• Youth-led groups 
• Academia 
• Local governments and community leaders 
• Private sector, and more 

You can take action in many ways – learn and share information from this year’s campaign, support local services that support survivors of gender-based violence, host or participate in digital safety sessions, support male allyship campaigns that reject and prevent digital violence against women and girls, and encourage governments and companies to adopt better laws and policies.  

Don’t forget to wear or display the colour orange – a symbol of hope and a future free from violence. 

Join the 16 Days conversation on social media: use #NoExcuse and #ACTtoEndViolence.