Content notice: This blog article contains references to online harassment, abuse and violence targeting women and girls that some readers may find distressing.
High-profile cases such as the Gamergate campaign in 2013, highlight how online spaces can be weaponised to target women with coordinated harassment, threats and abuse. It underscored the need for stronger protections in the digital sphere.
Gamergate was not the first online harassment campaign targeting women. However, the scale and coordination of the harassment, its amplification by social media and the use of online tactics such as publishing personal information, make it a note-worthy example of the online harassment women regularly face.[1]
In the 12 years since Gamergate occurred, evidence suggests that online violence against women and girls is increasing.
International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
25 November marked the UN’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and was followed by the launch of the UNiTE campaign, 16 days of activism to end violence against women. This year the Campaign is focusing on harassment and violence that takes place online. As stated on the Campaign’s website:
Violence against women on online platforms is today, a serious and rapidly growing threat that seeks to silence the voices of many women – especially those with a strong public and digital presence in fields such as politics, activism or journalism.
The Campaign states that digital violence and abuse is on the rise due to several factors. These include weak technological regulation, a lack of legal recognition of online abuse, the impunity of online platforms, new forms of abuse involving AI (for example AI generated deepfakes), increasingly vocal movements opposing gender equality, the anonymity of perpetrators and the limited support available to victims.
Online abuse and harassment can take many forms. The UN lists several examples of the types of abuse that are ‘increasingly being used to stalk, harass and abuse women and girls’ online. These include:
- Image-based abuse and the non-consensual sharing of images. This is frequently characterised as ‘revenge porn’.
- Cyberbullying and online threats.
- Online harassment and sexual harassment.
- AI generated deepfakes, including sexually explicit images, deepfake pornography and digitally manipulated images, video or audio.
- Hate speech and disinformation.
- Doxing, the publication of private information, including personal addresses and phone numbers.
- Online stalking.
- Online grooming and sexual exploitation.
- Catfishing, where someone creates a fake online profile with the intention to trick people into forming relationships with them and potentially giving them money.
The UN additionally highlights misogynistic networks – including communities within the ‘manosphere’ – as communities that claim to address men’s struggles, but promote harmful advice and attitudes and as an online area where harassment occurs. The report also mentions incel forums, which are built around the belief that some men are celibate due to women’s choices, as part of this network.
In 2020, the Economist Intelligence Unit developed a measurement of the global prevalence of online violence against women. The study found that 38% of women had reported personal experiences with online violence, 65% reported knowing other women who had been targeted online and 85% witnessed online violence against other women. The prevalence rate for online violence against women in Europe was 74%, with the most frequently reported form of online abuse being misinformation and defamation (67%).[2] This is defined as the spreading of rumours and slander to discredit or damage a person’s character. The report noted that owing to under-reporting, the results may underestimate the rates of online violence against women.[3]
This technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) carries real world harms and impacts for the victims of digital abuse. In the Economist’s report, 43% said they felt unsafe, 35% reported some kind of emotional harm and 10% said they experienced offline physical harm. Additionally, 32% said they thought twice before posting any content online while 14% reported their abuse to an offline protective agency. Finally, half of the survey respondents said that the internet is not a safe area to share their thoughts or voice opinions. This is forced self-censorship that results in women’s voices being under-represented, and ‘reduces diversity in societal, political and economic discussions and decisions’.
The UN’s Regional Information centre for Western Europe reported in 2023 that TFGBV is associated with health implications including depression and anxiety disorders. The impact on mental health can be extensive, with consequences such as depression, PTSD and suicidal thoughts (including attempted suicide).
Online violence against women in Northern Ireland
A 2024 report from the Open University, examining online violence against women across the UK, found that while the majority of surveyed women in Northern Ireland (79%) had not experienced such abuse, 12% reported that they had.
However, the report noted that there are ‘stark’ differences in the experience of online violence based on age and sexuality. 25% of women aged 25-34 and 18% of those aged 16-24 experienced online violence, compared to 4% of women aged 45-54. 43% of LGBTQIA+ women in NI experienced online violence, compared to 8% of heterosexual women. The report went on to state that ‘21% of [LGBTQIA+] women say they are ‘not sure’ if they experienced online violence suggesting the real figure could be much higher’.
The 2023 report Every Voice Matters: Violence Against Women in Northern Ireland, found that digital forms of abuse were rarely experienced before the age of 11, but increased afterwards. It is worth noting that a large proportion of the sample reached adolescence before the digital era. The most frequently experienced types of digital abuse in 2023 were:
- Harassment by phone, text or email
- Being sent sexually explicit messages or photos
The Table below shows the prevalence rates of different types of digital abuse by different age ranges, as well as whether an incident occurred within the last 12 months.
Table 1: Types of digital abuse experienced by different ages groups in Northern Ireland (2023)
| Up to age 11 | Between ages 11 and 18 | After the age of 18 | Happened in the past 12 months | |
| Someone has harassed you by phone, text or email | 2.6% | 22.1% | 33.9% | 11.4% |
| Someone has repeatedly bullied or trolled you online using social medial (X, Facebook etc.) | 3.0% | 13.7% | 10.5% | 4.4% |
| Someone has sent you sexually explicit messages or photos when you did not want them to | 2.2% | 22.1% | 31.0% | 14.6% |
| Someone has pressured you into sharing an intimate photo of yourself | 1.1% | 17.5% | 18.8% | 7.6% |
| Someone has shared intimate photos/ videos of you without your permission | 0.7% | 8.5% | 9.4% | 4.8% |
Source: Every Voice Matters! Violence Against Women in Northern Ireland. Pg 9.
The Open University report found that of women who experienced online violence:
- 64% reported a negative impact on their mental health and wellbeing
- 62% reported that it changed the way they acted online and putting measures in place to protect themselves
- 53% said the experience of the violence had a negative impact on their willingness to express views online
- 3% said online violence had no effect on them
When asked about who has the responsibility to prevent online violence, most respondents (both women and men) felt that online platforms have the responsibility (87%), followed by the police (81%) and the UK Government (80%). Between 2022 and 2023, 12% of women who experienced online violence reported the incident to the police. Among those who reported their experience, 82% were not satisfied with the outcome of their report. The research reports increasing normalisation of online abuse, which does not warrant serious action.
A 2023 report from Queen’s University, the Centre for Children’s Rights and Ulster University found that online abuse reinforced negative gender messages, objectification and a general lack of respect for women. Given the lack of consequences for perpetrators, ‘young women felt they had no recourse other than to simply ignore or tolerate [the abuse].’
Addressing online violence in Northern Ireland
The Open University report concluded with recommendations on the prevention and criminalisation of online violence. Recommendations for devolved governments included:
- Carrying out a comprehensive review of existing criminal laws, to ensure that all forms of online violence are captured within the law.
- Ensure that online violence is captured in devolved government’s strategies on violence against women and girls, including actions aimed at prevention and response to acts being committed.
- Allocate appropriate resources to support women and girls affected by online violence.
In July 2025, the Department for Justice opened a consultation to criminalise sexually explicit deepfake images (the consultation closed in October 2025). The consultation sought views on proposals to criminalise the ‘increasingly prevalent and despicable behaviours of creating and sharing sexually explicit deepfake images, where someone’s image is inserted into sexually explicit content without their consent.’
While there are protections already in place for children, no legislation exists in Northern Ireland which criminalises activities when deepfake images relate to adults. The UK Government announced similar plans to criminalise sexually explicit deepfake images of adults in January 2025, with the Scottish Government announcing it is open to adopting this Westminster policy. The Department’s proposals are to criminalise offending behaviours relating to the creation of a sexually explicit deepfake image. These behaviours include:
- Intentionally creating a sexually explicit deepfake image of an adult, without consent (or a reasonable belief in consent) for the purpose of sexual gratification.
- Intentionally creating a deepfake image (without consent or a reasonable belief in consent) with the intention of causing humiliation, alarm or distress.
Intentionally requesting a deepfake image to be created for the purpose of sexual gratification, or to cause humiliation, alarm or distress is also included. The 2022 Justice (Sexual Offences and Trafficking Victims) Act (Northern Ireland) introduced new offences on sending unwanted sexual images (also referred to as cyber-flashing) and disclosing private sexual photographs and films with the intent to cause distress (revenge porn).
The Executive Office’s 2024 Ending Violence Against Women and Girls strategy also makes explicit references to online and technology facilitated abuse. The Strategy forms part of the 2024-27 Programme for Government. The 2024-31 Strategic Framework outlines several outcomes and priority areas intended to tackle online abuse. These include:
- Outcome 1: Changes attitudes, behaviours and culture. The priority action for this is long term campaigns to change attitudes, behaviours and cultures, including online behaviour.
- Outcome 3: Women and girls are safe and feel safe everywhere. The priority action is to support the development of policies, procedures, tools and training to help women and girls feel safe online.
For more information on how to protect yourself online, the UN has developed this online safety guide: Online safety 101: What every woman and girl should know | UN Women – Headquarters
If you have experienced online harassment, you can report it through the PSNI’s online reporting portal.
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[1] Please note that sources used in this blog use the terms online abuse, online harassment and online violence interchangeable. All refer to the harassment and abuse women and girls face in the digital sphere.
[2] The methodology of the study says this was identified through a multinational survey, country-specific estimation models, literature reviews and interviews with experts.
[3] Based on the survey results from 1,662 women.