When the internet first spread, many believed it would be an open space for everyone to express opinions, connect, and exchange knowledge. Over time, it became woven into daily life: work, study, and communication.
But as internet use expanded, so did the forms of violence and discrimination that already existed offline. New patterns emerged that the digital environment made possible. Violence was no longer confined to the street or the workplace. It moved behind screens: abusive comments, hacking, defamation campaigns, threats, blackmail, incitement, and other practices that target millions of users every day.
Women and girls are disproportionately affected. As their presence in public life has grown – as journalists, activists, researchers, content creators, and ordinary social media users – technology-facilitated violence, commonly known as "digital violence," has become one of the most serious threats to their right to participate safely in the digital space.
This is why terms like "cyberbullying" or "online harassment" no longer capture the scale of the problem. These practices fall under a broader concept that UN Women calls "technology-facilitated gender-based violence": any act committed, facilitated, or amplified through digital technology that causes physical, psychological, sexual, social, economic, or political harm, or violates rights and freedoms.
International institutions agree that technology has become a force multiplier for violence, increasing its speed, reach, and the difficulty of containing it. The UN Population Fund defines digital violence as any violent act committed or incited using the internet, mobile phones, social media, email, or other digital communication tools.
The danger of this type of violence lies not only in its reach but in the variety of its forms. It can begin with blackmailing a victim by threatening to publish private photos or videos, whether real or manipulated using editing software or artificial intelligence. It can extend to publishing personal data such as home addresses, workplaces, or phone numbers, with the intention of exposing the victim to harassment or threats. It can involve incitement that makes the victim feel that her private life has been laid bare and put at risk.
Digital violence also includes cyberstalking, hate speech, identity theft through fake accounts, hacking personal accounts, luring women and girls online in preparation for assault, using apps to track their location, and other more complex forms that turn technology itself into a tool for reproducing gender-based violence.
Because technology allows access to vast numbers of people in a short time, new forms of digital attack have emerged whose effects are difficult to contain. These include coordinated campaigns in which users collaborate to expose someone's identity, collect their personal data, and track their accounts in preparation for targeting or incitement. They also include organised floods of thousands of abusive comments and threatening messages aimed at psychologically exhausting the victim and forcing her into silence, apology, or withdrawal from public discourse.
The numbers confirm this reality. According to UN Women, between 16 and 58 per cent of women worldwide have experienced at least one form of digital violence – a range that varies across studies and regions but reveals that the phenomenon is far from marginal. Meanwhile, fewer than 40 per cent of countries have laws protecting women from online harassment or cyberstalking, leaving 44 per cent of the world's women and girls – 1.8 billion women – without legal protection, according to World Bank data.
The picture is bleaker in the Arab region, which records the highest rates of technology-facilitated violence globally. Studies indicate that around 60 per cent of female internet users in the region have experienced some form of digital violence in their lifetime. Nearly half reported feeling unsafe while using the internet because of online harassment, and a significant proportion said they had been targeted more than once, confirming that this is not a matter of isolated incidents but a recurring pattern of violations.
The data also reveals a more alarming dimension: how communities respond to victims. Instead of offering support, many women were told to ignore what happened. Others were blamed or doubted. Some faced violence within their own families after the digital attack. The harm doubles when the victim faces not only the attacker but a social environment that denies her right to protection or holds her responsible for what was done to her.
This crisis is most visible among journalists, activists, and human rights defenders, who are among the most frequently targeted. They are targeted not only because they are women but because of their presence in public life and their expression of views that may trigger organised campaigns of hatred, defamation, or intimidation aimed at silencing them and pushing them out of public discourse.
Digital violence is not a virtual problem that ends when you turn off your phone or log out of a platform. It is real violence that leaves lasting effects on mental health, social relationships, and career prospects, and can in some cases threaten physical safety. As the phenomenon grows, treating these acts as passing online abuse is no longer adequate. They are tied to fundamental rights: security, privacy, and freedom of expression. Confronting this kind of violence starts with creating a safer digital environment, developing more effective policies, and above all ensuring that practical steps are taken swiftly: protecting those who report, responding seriously to complaints, and holding perpetrators accountable.