Africa: Digital Violence Is Intensifying, Yet Nearly Half Of The World’s Women And Girls Lack Legal Protection From Digital Abuse

UN Women’s 16 Days of Activism campaign demands a world where technology is a force for equality – not harm.

New York – The digital world promised connection and empowerment – but for millions of women and girls, it has become a world of abuse. Digital violence is spreading at alarming speed fueled by artificial intelligence, anonymity, and the absence of effective laws and accountability. It now spans every corner of the Internet – from online harassment and cyberstalking to doxing, non-consensual image sharing, deepfakes, and disinformation – weaponized to silence, shame, and intimidate women and girls. According to World Bank data, fewer than 40 per cent of countries have laws protecting women from cyber harassment or cyber stalking. This leaves 44 per cent of the world’s women and girls – 1.8 billion – without access to legal protection.

Women in leadership, business, and politics face deepfakes, coordinated harassment, and gendered disinformation designed to drive them to deplatform or leave public life altogether. Across the world, one in four women journalists report online threats of physical violence, including death threats. 

“What begins online doesn’t stay online. Digital abuse spills into real life, spreading fear, silencing voices, and—in the worst cases—leading to physical violence and femicide,” said UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous. “Laws must evolve with technology to ensure that justice protects women both online and offline. Weak legal protections leave millions of women and girls vulnerable, while perpetrators act with impunity. This is unacceptable. Through our 16 Days of Activism campaign, UN Women calls for a world where technology serves equality, not harm.”

Reporting of online abuse and violence remains low, justice systems are ill-equipped, and tech platforms face little accountability. The rise of AI-generated abuse has only deepened impunity across borders and platforms. But there are signs of progress. Laws are beginning to evolve to meet the challenges of technological change: from the UK’s Online Safety Act to Mexico’s Ley Olimpia to Australia’s Online Safety Act and the EU’s Digital Safety Act, new reforms are taking shape. As of 2025, 117 countries reported efforts addressing digital violence, but efforts remain fragmented for a transnational challenge.

UN Women is calling for:

Global cooperation to ensure digital platforms and AI tools meet safety and ethics standards.
Support for survivors of digital violence by funding women’s rights organizations.
Holding perpetrators accountable through better laws and enforcement.
Tech companies to step up by hiring more women to create safer online spaces, removing harmful content quickly, and responding to reports of abuse.
Investments in prevention and culture change through digital literacy and online safety training for women and girls, and programmes that challenge toxic online cultures.

Feminist advocacy has driven global recognition of digital violence as a threat to women’s fundamental human rights resulting in growing prioritization and action against digital violence by countries. However, shrinking civic space, coupled with unprecedented funding cuts and pushback against feminist movements threatens to undermine decades of progress. In this context, initiatives such as the EU-funded ‘ACT to End Violence against Women and Girls’ programme are more important than ever to support feminist movements in their push for justice.

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