The Real Trajectory of Online Spaces: Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence Against Women

Deepfake abuse, virtual harassment, and AI-driven threats—why online safety is no longer just a privacy issue.

The rapid expansion of digital technology has revolutionized how people connect, work, and express themselves. However, this progress has also brought new forms of harm, particularly against women and marginalized gender identities.[1] Technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) is not an abstract concept; it is an evolving reality that disproportionately affects women, restricting their rights, freedoms, and access to online spaces.[2] TFGBV is an umbrella term that is used to refer to the range of behaviors through which technology is used to harm women based on their sexual or gender identities.[3] Studies show that women are more likely to face cyber harassment than men, with a 2021 European Parliament report revealing that one in ten women in Europe has been subjected to online abuse since the age of 15.[4] The scope of this abuse is not limited to well-known forms of cyber harassment but extends into deeply invasive and harmful territories such as doxxing, deepfake pornography, sextortion, and even virtual reality assault.[5]

The reality of online gender-based violence is not theoretical.

The first incident was covered in 1993 as ‘virtual rape’, in a text-based game LambdaMOO by a player named Mr. Bungle.[6] He used a malicious script to force other avatars into non-consensual sexual acts, stripping players of control over their own digital bodies. The community decided to ban Mr. Bungle, which marked one of the first major reckonings with online sexual violence.

Furthermore, In 2018, 24-year-old Army veteran Jared Johns from South Carolina took his own life after being blackmailed in an online sextortion scam.[7] In this case, two inmates in a South Carolina prison deceived him into producing explicit images under the false pretense of online interaction. Once the images were obtained, the perpetrators threatened to expose them unless Johns paid a ransom. The psychological toll of such digital abuse can be devastating, often leading to profound personal consequences beyond financial loss or reputational harm.[8]

The issue extends beyond conventional cyber harassment. In 2016, a virtual reality (VR) gaming session exposed the alarming reality of digital sexual assault in immersive spaces. A woman using the alias Belamire recounted her experience while playing the VR game QuiVr.[9] Her avatar—nothing more than a floating helmet and hands—became the target of another player, who persistently rubbed and groped her virtual body despite her protests. The experience, though lacking physical touch, was deeply unsettling. The reaction on social media was equally disturbing, with many dismissing her experience as insignificant simply because it occurred in a digital space. This incident raised questions on the liability of gaming platforms and whether intervention should come from internal policies of the gaming platforms (i.e. terms of use, internal policies)[10] or regulatory frameworks such as the EU’s Digital Services Act[11], which mandates online platforms to moderate content and remove material violating fundamental rights.[12]

TFGBV manifests in diverse forms, affecting different demographics in different ways. While women in business, journalism, and politics often become targets of harassment campaigns aimed at silencing them, transgender individuals experience heightened levels of abuse based on their gender identity.[13] Studies analyzing gender-based violence in digital spaces reveal that a staggering 25.6% of participants admitted to perpetrating some form of TFGBV.[14]

Interestingly, some instances of technology-facilitated gender-based violence are not motivated purely by malice or control but by social retaliation or even an attempt to raise awareness.[15] In some cases, individuals repost harmful content to highlight systemic misogyny or transphobia, an action that, while well-intentioned, still risks perpetuating harm.[16] Understanding the modus operandi of digital violence is as critical as addressing the act itself.[17] Unlike traditional gender-based violence, which is often rooted in physical dominance, online abuse exploits anonymity, digital reach, and the permanence of information in cyberspace.

Additionally, the legal implications of these offenses remain complex. The 2024 report of the UN Secretary-General[18] identified three emerging challenges: (i) growing backlash against women’s rights, (ii) the rapid rise of artificial intelligence (AI), and (iii) the expansion of the manosphere – an ecosystem of misogynistic content that is seeping into mainstream culture, which shapes public attitudes towards women, and fuel violence.[19]

Essentially, the European Convention on Human Rights[20], EU Charter of Fundamental Human Rights[21] and Universal Declaration of Human Rights[22] guarantee protections for privacy, dignity and freedom from degrading treatment.[23] Yet, these rights are routinely violated in digital spaces.[24]

Deepfake pornography, for example using AI to create fabricated sexual content that is nearly impossible to identify the real image, is increasingly becoming part of investigations on the online abuse.[25] Women are frequent victims of such conduct, their pictures stripped away from them without their consent, violating both the right to privacy and the right to dignity.[26] As of now, the legal regime governing deepfake abuse is still developing, which leaves victims alone in legal loopholes battling tech companies, whilst their images (published without their consent) circulate around the internet indefinitely.[27]

Similarly, doxxing, or the exposure of private information online, has become a weapon of digital intimidation.[28] Women in politics, journalism, and activism are disproportionately targeted, with their home addresses, contact details, and family members’ information being leaked online.[29] A study conducted by UNESCO in 2020 found that 73% of female journalists had experienced online violence. Also, female political actors account for 37% of reported attacks and abuse, with 57% of these incidents perpetrated by anonymous or unidentified attackers.[30]

So, who is responsible?

Legally, states have an obligation to prevent TFGBV, not just prosecute it after harm occurs. The Istanbul Convention, ratified by many EU nations, explicitly requires states to criminalize all forms of gender-based violence, including those committed in digital spaces.[31] The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), one of the strongest existing human rights instruments with strong incentives in influencing states to adopt appropriate legislation addressing TFGBV, similarly mandates government action against TFGBV and gendered abuse.[32]

However, many EU member states have yet to fully implement these obligations. Countries with outdated cybercrime laws fail to recognize emerging threats like deepfake abuse, virtual reality harassment, and AI-driven exploitation.[33]

Call for Action

In conclusion, gender-based violence is a global and urgent human rights concern. As much as surveillance and communication technologies and AI advancements are helpful, they are also equipped in novel forms of harm, harassment, violence and abuse. As over a third of women have experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence, or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime[34], TFGBV needs better reforms and activism to address the matter effectively. This would ensure that legal definitions are written in inclusive ways, while avoiding harm to marginalized communities. Moving towards International Women’s Day on 8 March, it is essential to commit to gender equality by moving towards an ecosystem of legal, social, and institutional responses that address different aspects of the victim-survivor experience and allow them to craft individualised pathways to justice.[35] TFGBV is not an unfortunate side effect of digital progress—it is a systemic issue that demands urgent legal, policy, and societal responses.

 

[1] Powell, A., Scott, A. J., & Henry, N. (2020). Digital harassment and abuse: Experiences of sexuality and gender minority adults. European Journal of Criminology, 17(2), 199 https://doi-org.tilburguniversity.idm.oclc.org/10.1177/1477370818788006 accessed 27 February 2025.

[2] Suzie Dunn, Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence: An Overview (Centre for International Governance Innovation, 2020) 7 https://www.cigionline.org/static/documents/SaferInternet_Paper_no_1_coverupdate.pdf accessed 17 February 2025.

[3] Henry, N., & Powell, A. (2018). Technology-facilitated sexual violence: A literature review of empirical research. Trauma Violence & Abuse, 19(2), 196. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838016650189 accessed 27 February 2025.

[4] ‘One in 10 women in the European Union has experienced cyber-harassment since the age of 15, including having received unwanted and/or offensive sexually explicit emails or SMS messages, or offensive and/or inappropriate advances on social networking sites’ See: UN Women Europe and Central Asia, Facts and Figures: Ending Violence Against Women (UN Women, 2023) https://eca.unwomen.org/en/stories/explainer/2023/12/facts-and-figures-ending-violence-against-women  accessed 27 February 2025.

[5] Khan, Samina; Nordin, Rohaida; Hassan, Muhamad Sayuti. A Human Rights-Centric Approach to Technology-Facilitated Violence. Asian Journal of Law and Governance, [S.l.], v. 6, n. 4, p.2, dec. 2024. https://myjms.mohe.gov.my/index.php/ajlg/article/view/28404 accessed 15 February 2025.

[6] ‘Rape in Cyberspace’ (Stanford University, 1993) https://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/cs181/projects/controlling-the-virtual-world/history/rape.html  accessed 27 February 2025.

[7] Washington Post, ‘A Veteran’s Suicide Was Blamed on Depression. Then Police Found the Threatening Texts Sent from Prison’ (Washington Post, 14 May 2019) https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/05/14/veterans-suicide-was-blamed-depression-then-police-found-threatening-texts-sent-prison/ accessed 17 February 2025.

[8] European Institute for Gender Equality. (2020). Cyber violence against women and girls. https://eige.europa.eu/thesaurus/terms/1484 accessed 16 February 2025.

[9] Kyle Chayka, ‘I was sexually assaulted in virtual reality’ (New York Post, 26 October 2016) https://nypost.com/2016/10/26/i-was-sexually-assaulted-in-virtual-reality/ accessed 27 February 2025.

[10] ALTI Amsterdam, ‘Online Violence Against Women Gamers: A Reflection on 30 Years of Regulatory Failures’ (ALTI Amsterdam, 2024) https://alti.amsterdam/online-violence-against-women-gamers-a-reflection-on-30-years-of-regulatory-failures/ accessed 27 February 2025.

[11] A new application, CaLICO, is being developed for this purpose for large platforms to take down such abusive content; see: The Brussels Times, ‘The Belgian Company Building the World’s First AI Model to Track Hate Speech Online’ (Brussels Times, 2024) https://www.brusselstimes.com/1140252/the-belgian-company-building-the-worlds-first-ai-model-to-track-hate-speech-online accessed 27 February 2025.

[12] European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS), ‘The Digital Services Act: Overview and Implementation’ (European Parliament, 2024) 1 https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2024/767146/EPRS_BRI(2024)767146_EN.pdf  accessed 27 February 2025.

[13] A study from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in 2018 found that 82 % of female parliamentarians have experienced some form of psychological violence, 44 % had received threats of death, rape, beatings or abduction; and 65 % had been subjected to sexist remarks. Only 28 % had a procedure for settling complaints. See at: Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Report with IPU Data: Violence Against Women in Politics Presented to UNGA (Inter-Parliamentary Union, 2018) https://www.ipu.org/news/news-in-brief/2018-10/report-with-ipu-data-violence-against-women-in-politics-presented-unga accessed 17 February 2025.

[14] Jone Martínez-Bacaicoa, Mariana Alonso-Fernández, Sebastian Wachs and Manuel Gámez-Guadix, ‘Prevalence and Motivations for Technology-Facilitated Gender- and Sexuality-Based Violence Among Adults: A Mixed-Methods Study’ (2023) 89 Sex Roles 676 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-023-01412-7 accessed 27 February 2025.

[15] Ibid, 677.

[16] ‘Sharing violent content not as a way to exercise violence but as a way to denounce it; “I do it to raise awareness, as a criticism of everything we go through.”; “I did it to make people aware of what is happening in society.”; “I did it to raise awareness about the harassment that all these minority groups suffer, to give them a voice and make a public denouncement about the cases of harassment that seem to be forgotten.”’ See: Ibid.

[17] Roderic Broadhurst and Kim-Kwang Raymond Choo, ‘Cybercrime and On-Line Safety in Cyberspace’ in C Smith, S Zhang and R Barbaret (eds), International Handbook of Criminology (Routledge 2011) 153 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2171559 accessed 27 February 2025.

[18] United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), ‘Ending Violence Against Women and Girls: Infographic and Recommendations’ (United Nations, 2024) https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2024-10/a-79-500-sg-report-ending-violence-against-women-and-girls-2024-infographic-and-recommendations-en.pdf accessed 27 February 2025.

[19] United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), ‘Digital Abuse, Trolling, Stalking, and Other Forms of Technology-Facilitated Violence Against Women’ (United Nations, 2024) https://www.unwomen.org/en/articles/faqs/digital-abuse-trolling-stalking-and-other-forms-of-technology-facilitated-violence-against-women accessed 27 February 2025.

[20] European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) https://www.echr.coe.int/documents/convention_eng.pdf  accessed 27 February 2025.

[21] Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union [2012] OJ C 326/02 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:12012P/TXT accessed 27 February 2025.

[22] Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted 10 December 1948 UNGA Res 217 A(III)), https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights accessed 27 February 2025.

[23] UNHRC, United Nations Human Rights Council, 2016 United Nations Human Rights Council [UNHRC]. (2016). The promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the internet, p.2. https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/g16/156/90/pdf/g1615690.pdf accessed 15 February 2025.

[24] Rani, S., Kaur, J., Bhambri, P. (2024). Technology and Gender Violence: Victimization Model, Consequences and Measures. In: Mishra, D., Ngoc Le, A., McDowell, Z. (eds) Communication Technology and Gender Violence. Signals and Communication Technology. Springer, Cham., p.10 https://doi-org.tilburguniversity.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/978-3-031-45237-6_1 accessed 14 February 2025.

[25] Deepfakes are based on AI deep learning algorithms, an area of machine learning that applies neural net simulation to massive data sets to create fakes videos of real people. They are trained algorithms that allows the recognition of data patterns, as well as human facial movement and expressions and can match voices that can imitate the real voice and gestures of an individual. See: European Parliamentary Research Service, “What if deepfakes made us doubt everything we see and hear (Science and Technology podcast], https://epthinktank.eu/2021/09/08/what-if-deepfakes-made-us-doubt-everything-we-see-and-hear/ accessed 27 February 2025.

[26] Ibid; Clare McGlynn, Erika Rackley, Image-Based Sexual Abuse, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Volume 37, Issue 3, Autumn 2017, p.544, https://doi.org/10.1093/ojls/gqw033 accessed 27 February 2025.

[27] For specific information regarding the work of the US government to counter the use of deepfakes, see CNN, “Inside the Pentagon’s race against deepfake videos”, https://bit.ly/38aEqCShttps://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2019/01/business/pentagons-race-against-deepfakes/ accessed 27 February 2025.; EURACTIV, “EU police recommend new online ‘screening tech’ to catch deepfakes”, November 20, 2020, https://www.euractiv.com/section/digital/news/eu-police-recommend-new-online-screening-tech-to-catch-deepfakes/ accessed 27 February 2025.

[28] Clare McGlynn and Erika Rackley, ‘Image-Based Sexual Abuse’ (2017) 37(3) Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 534, 545 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2874136 accessed 27 February 2025.

[29] United Nations General Assembly, ‘The Right to Privacy in the Digital Age’ (2021) UN Doc A/76/136 https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/n21/212/16/pdf/n2121216.pdf accessed 27 February 2025.

[30] UNESCO, ‘The Chilling: Global Trends in Online Violence Against Women Journalists’ (2021) https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000375136 accessed 27 February 2025; The Inter-Parliamentary Union found that 58 per cent of African women parliamentarians had experienced online attacks. See: https://www.ipu.org/resources/publications/issue-briefs/2021-11/sexism-harassment-and-violence-against-women-in-parliaments-in-africa accessed 27 February 2025.

[31] European Parliament, ‘Violence Against Women: Psychological Violence and Coercive Control’ (European Parliamentary Research Service, 2021) 698801 https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/ATAG/2021/698801/EPRS_ATA(2021)698801_EN.pdf  accessed 27 February 2025.

[32] UN Women, ‘Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence: A Shared Research Agenda’ (September 2024) https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2024-09/technology-facilitated-gender-based-violence-shared-research-agenda-en.pdf  accessed 27 February 2025.

[33] Rathenau Instituut, ‘Cyber Resilience with New Technology’ (July 2020) https://www.rathenau.nl/sites/default/files/2020-07/REPORT%20Cyber%20resilience%20with%20new%20technology%20-%20Rathenau%20Instituut.pdf  accessed 27 February 2025.

[34] World Health Organisation (WHO). (2013). Global and regional estimates of violence against women: Prevalence and health effects of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence. WHO. https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/85241/WHO_RHR_HRP_13.06_eng.pdf accessed 27 February 2025.

[35] Akrivopoulou C and Fotiadou M, ‘Gendered Harassment in Digital Spaces: The New Face of Violence Against Women’ in Magliveras K and Tsili M (eds), Human Rights in the Age of Digitalization (Springer 2022), 527 https://link-springer-com.tilburguniversity.idm.oclc.org/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-83734-1_25 accessed 27 February 2025.