A study of 2,000 women aged 16 and over in the UK claims as many as one in three women reported experiencing online violence, rising to 47 per cent among women aged 16 to 24. Those in this age group reported higher levels of harm across every category measured, with 38 per cent reporting experiences of misogyny and sexual violence online.
Meanwhile, 30 per cent of those asked reported experiences of coercive control and stalking, and 31 per cent reported image-based sexual abuse. Moreover, one in five (21 per cent) 16 to 24-year-olds who use social media said they are recommended content that is humiliating, degrading or sexually violent towards women most or every time they use it.
Disproportionate impact on LGBTQIA+ and disabled women
The report also highlights how online VAWG can be compounded by other forms of discrimination and inequality. The research suggests that LGBTQIA+ women (57 per cent) and disabled women (34 per cent) are disproportionately affected by online misogyny and sexual violence.
Both groups also reported experiencing higher levels of harms suggestive of coercive control, stalking, monitoring and harassment (46 per cent and 29 per cent respectively), as well as image-based sexual abuse (42 per cent and 24 per cent). Of the women who reported experiencing online VAWG, one in five (20 per cent) said it was perpetrated by a former partner, rising to 25 per cent among 16-24 year-olds.
Calls for legally enforceable guidance
Experts say jilted partners are using digital spaces to "harass, abuse and exert control even after a relationship ends". Refuge and EVAW are calling for urgent action to make Ofcom's guidance on VAWG legally enforceable, introducing mandatory Safety by Design standards for online services, and establishing robust AI regulation that prioritises the safety of women and girls.
Janaya Walker, End Violence Against Women Interim Director, said: "All women and girls deserve to live free from violence and abuse. This report is a stark reminder of the ways in which online VAWG is a major feature of women's everyday lives to devastating effect, particularly for young women."
"The status quo is untenable and the government's efforts to prevent violence against women and girls (VAWG) needs to confront the business model of big tech, with a regulatory system which has the teeth to hold them to account. A world in which such violence and abuse is routine carries wider consequences for society at large - for our relationships and gender equality, our sense of safety, and democracy. We urge the government to take this opportunity to reflect and change course."
Survivor account and response
One woman, using the pseudonym Jane, said intimate photos were posted on a website, where users trade sexual and explicit images of women and girls without their consent, leaving derogatory comments. She is one of a group of women from the same area in the UK whose photos and videos were shared on the online image board.
The images appear to have been obtained when some of the women's personal Facebook and Snapchat accounts were hacked in 2022. At the time, some of the women were aged under 18. Since then, Jane and some of the other women have been approached on social media by men who they understand have seen the videos and photographs online. When Jane and the other survivors initially went to the police, they were of little help and even warned her off researching where her personal pictures may have been shared because they said that would put her at risk of breaking the law.
Gemma Sherrington, CEO of Refuge, said: "This report comes almost one year after Ofcom introduced its guidance for tech companies on how to tackle VAWG on online platforms. Despite being a welcome step forward, Refuge has long-been clear that voluntary guidance lacks the force needed to address the shocking levels of abuse and violence faced by women and girls online every day."
"Our report testifies to this, shining a light on the sheer scale of harm that women in this country are experiencing and the lack of confidence they have in tech companies, the criminal justice system, and policymakers to protect them. These findings are reflective of a system that has continued to prioritise profits over safety, leaving women to pay the price."
"This cannot continue. The government and Ofcom must go much further in holding tech companies legally responsible for combatting the normalisation of misogyny, holding perpetrators to account, and keeping all women and survivors safe."
