The digital frontier, once envisioned as a global town square for democratic discourse and the free exchange of ideas, has transformed into a volatile battlefield for women standing on the front lines of human rights, journalism, and social activism. A landmark report released today in Geneva reveals a harrowing escalation in technology-facilitated violence, suggesting that the boundary between online vitriol and physical danger has all but evaporated. According to the findings, the sheer volume and sophistication of digital attacks have reached a “tipping point,” threatening to silence women and dismantle the foundations of public participation.
The comprehensive study, titled “Tipping point: The chilling escalation of violence against women in the public sphere,” provides a sobering statistical look at the reality of modern advocacy. Produced by UN Women’s ACT to End Violence against Women programme, the report is the result of a high-level collaboration involving the European Commission, researchers from TheNerve, City St George’s, University of London, and the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), with additional support from UNESCO. The data paints a portrait of a systemic crisis: a staggering 70 per cent of surveyed women human rights defenders, activists, and journalists report being targeted by online violence in the direct course of their professional duties.
Perhaps most alarming is the rapid acceleration of “offline leakage”—the phenomenon where digital threats manifest as physical harm. The report finds that 41 per cent of all respondents have experienced real-world consequences or physical attacks linked directly to abuse that originated online. For women working in the media, this trajectory is even more steep. In a 2020 UNESCO survey, 20 per cent of women journalists reported a link between online abuse and offline attacks. In just five years, that figure has more than doubled, with 42 per cent of journalists in the 2025 survey now reporting that digital harassment has followed them into the physical world.
“These figures confirm that digital violence is not virtual—it’s real violence with real-world consequences,” said Sarah Hendricks, Director of Policy, Programme and Intergovernmental Division at UN Women. She emphasized that these attacks are rarely random acts of trolling; rather, they are calculated efforts to destabilize women who challenge the status quo. “Women who speak up for our human rights, report the news, or lead social movements are being targeted with abuse designed to shame, silence, and push them out of public debate. Increasingly, those attacks do not stop at the screen—they end at women’s front doors. We cannot allow online spaces to become platforms for intimidation that silence women and undermine democracy.”
The evolution of this violence is increasingly tied to the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence. The report highlights a new and terrifying frontier: AI-assisted abuse. Nearly one in four surveyed women reported being targeted by deepfake imagery, voice cloning, or manipulated content designed to destroy their reputations or inflict psychological trauma. For writers and public communicators, such as social media influencers and content creators focusing on human rights, the risk is even higher, with 30 per cent reporting exposure to AI-generated attacks. These tools allow perpetrators to automate harassment at an unprecedented scale, making it nearly impossible for individual victims to manage the onslaught without institutional support.
Professor Julie Posetti, the lead researcher and Director of TheNerve’s Information Integrity Initiative, noted that the rise of AI-fueled abuse is coinciding with a global surge in authoritarianism. “This data shows that in the age of AI-fueled abuse and rising authoritarianism, online violence against women in the public sphere is increasing,” Posetti observed. She pointed to the “dangerous and potentially deadly trajectory” of the data, noting that the doubling of offline harm against journalists in such a short window suggests that the safety protocols currently in place are failing to keep pace with the evolving threat landscape.
The report arrives as a centerpiece of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, a global campaign that this year has placed a specific lens on digital safety. The campaign argues that technology-facilitated violence should no longer be viewed as a secondary concern or a “soft” form of abuse. Instead, there is a growing international consensus that these digital attacks constitute a fundamental violation of human rights. Advocacy groups are calling for a multi-pronged approach: stronger legislative frameworks that hold perpetrators accountable, robust regulation for tech companies that currently profit from engagement driven by outrage, and immediate investment in safety protocols for those at risk.
To address these systemic failures, UN Women is concluding the 16 Days of Activism with the launch of a new corporate strategy specifically designed to combat technology-facilitated violence. This roadmap focuses on closing the massive gaps in data and evidence that currently allow tech platforms to evade accountability. The strategy aims to accelerate survivor-centered responses, ensuring that women who are targeted have access to immediate protection and legal recourse. Furthermore, it seeks to build resilience within women’s rights movements, providing them with the technical tools and organizational support needed to withstand coordinated digital campaigns.
The backdrop of this crisis is a broader erosion of democratic norms. When women are hounded out of digital spaces, the diversity of public discourse suffers. The “chilling effect” described in the report suggests that many women are choosing to self-censor or leave their professions entirely to protect themselves and their families. This mass exodus from the public sphere represents a significant victory for those who seek to suppress dissent and maintain traditional power structures. By targeting the most visible and vocal women, perpetrators send a message to all women that the digital world—and by extension, public life—is a space where they are not welcome and cannot be kept safe.
The ACT programme, which helped facilitate the report, represents a unique partnership between the European Commission and UN Women. As co-leaders of the Action Coalition on Gender-Based Violence, they are working in tandem with the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women to create a unified feminist front against these threats. The goal is to move beyond mere awareness and toward “transformative action”—changing the very structures of the internet and the laws that govern it to prioritize human safety over corporate profit or political suppression.
Central to this effort is the Information Integrity Initiative, a project of TheNerve. Founded by Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa, the digital forensics lab specializes in investigating the intersection of gender, disinformation, and freedom of expression. Ressa, who has herself been a target of state-sponsored digital harassment and legal “lawfare” in the Philippines, has long argued that the weaponization of social media is the primary threat to modern democracy. The initiative’s work provides the technical evidence needed to prove that online harassment is often a coordinated effort rather than a collection of isolated incidents.
As the world moves further into the age of generative AI, the report serves as a final warning. Without immediate intervention from governments and tech giants, the “tipping point” may lead to a permanent silencing of women’s voices in the digital age. The call to action is clear: technology must be redesigned to protect its most vulnerable users, and the international community must treat digital violence with the same urgency as physical warfare. Gender equality, as UN Women asserts, is not merely a goal but a prerequisite for a functioning, democratic society. If the digital world remains a hostile environment for women, the promise of an equal and just future will remain out of reach.
For those on the front lines, the message from Geneva is one of solidarity but also of extreme caution. The era of treating online comments as “just words” is over. In 2025, a tweet can be the precursor to a physical assault, and a deepfake can be a tool for political assassination. The report demands that we stop looking at the screen and start looking at the real-world wreckage left behind by digital violence. Only then can the work of rebuilding a safe, inclusive public sphere truly begin.
