#Keep Girls on the Internet: Protecting Girls from Digital Gender-Based Violence
A blog by Elena Sarigeorgiu, Young Expert at GHRH
#Keep Girls on the Internet: Protecting Girls from Digital Gender-Based Violence
Across the globe, young girls are disproportionately targeted in a culture war against social activism. The rise of digital gender-based violence (GBV) is a new intentional tool designed to stifle women and girls’ voices.
Digital GBV is becoming increasingly used by states and their supporters to suppress political expression, disproportionately targeting young girls who participate in online activism. By manipulating digital platforms, aggressors use tactics like online harassment, surveillance, doxxing, and disinformation to target young activists. This coercion silences girls’ voices, discouraging civic participation and violating universal human rights to freedom of speech and digital safety. Urgent, united action is needed to safeguard digital spaces and protect young girls’ digital rights to prevent further invasion of their freedoms.
Take the case of sixteen-year-old Iranian activist Armita Geravand who passed away in a Tehran hospital after sustaining severe head trauma, injuries allegedly caused by the state’s morality police. Armita was reportedly targeted by state surveillance systems for not wearing a hijab on public transit, violating regime laws and alerting the authorities. Armita’s story represents the harsh reality of the Iranian regime’s crackdown on dissent and the global emergence of AI-powered repression.
This trend isn’t unique to Iran or authoritarian states. In Myanmar, military forces manipulate social media for mass surveillance and disinformation campaigns, targeting women protesters with psychological and physical harm. These tactics reflect a clear government interest in exploiting technology to silence, surveil, and suppress expression of political grievances. Misuse of state technology creates these stories and many more of emerging digital human rights violations.
Technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV), also known as digital GBV, refers to violent acts against women “committed, assisted, or amplified” using digital tools. These acts cause physical, psychological, social, or economic harm and disproportionately target women and girls. For many young activists, the fight for freedom has expanded; offline dangers now meet digital ones, creating a dual threat to personal safety.
This personal safety was once protected by digital platforms, but has now been corrupted. Platforms like Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), initially hailed as democratizing forces, have become fertile ground for public harassment. This is because the algorithms engineered for engagement actually amplify inflammatory content, thereby making women content creators targets for harassment. Reportedly fifty-eight percent of girls and young women have experienced some form of online harassment. This harassment, combined with invasive surveillance, disinformation, and threats, often pushes them to withdraw from activism altogether. Meanwhile, cuts to safety teams and inadequate moderation policies deepen these platforms' failure to ensure accountability and prevent these crimes from impacting children.
According to Amnesty International, three in five young activists globally report harassment for sharing human rights content online. With some respondents citing social media platforms as “enabling state-led intimidation and censorship campaigns.” When an activist’s voice is suppressed, it doesn’t just disappear—it diminishes the strength of the entire movement. This unfairly leads young girls to withdraw from public discourse out of fear for their safety.
Private media companies are not the only ones to blame. Even legislation lags behind. There’s no cohesive global framework to address violence against women in digital spaces. Without legislation, structural inequalities thrive and companies continue to lack accountability for this violence. Women, especially young activists, have become targets. This isn’t incidental. It’s deliberate. The exploitation of technology to harm girls mirrors and reinforces patriarchal structures, making the fight for gender equality even more urgent.
But not all is lost. Governments with the resources must enact policies like the EU’s Digital Services Act, which holds platforms accountable for failing to protect users. Platforms must do more than promise—they must act to enforce transparency, swift content moderation, and survivor-centered interventions. And civil society must educate young activists on digital literacy and self-protection tools from coercion tactics.
Across the globe, girls and women fighting for justice face the dual burden of physical threats and online harassment, supported by unregulated technologies and platforms. Each act of silencing weakens movements for freedom and equality. Yet, the tools that suppress can also liberate. With action, we can reclaim the promise of digital spaces. We can ensure they amplify, rather than silence, the voices of young activists.
*The opinions expressed on this blog are those of the Young Experts and do not necessarily reflect the views or official positions of the Girls Human Rights Hub. The content shared here is intended to provide insights and perspectives on girls human rights and human rights issues, but it is important to recognise that individual opinions may vary.
References:
Amnesty International. (n.d.). Freedom of expression and protest. Retrieved from https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/freedom-of-expression/protest/
Amnesty International. (n.d.). Online violence: What is online violence? Retrieved from https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/technology/online-violence/#whatisonlineviolence
Amnesty International. (2024, July). Three out of five young activists face online harassment globally for posting human rights content. Retrieved from https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/07/three-out-five-young-activists-face-online-harassment-globally-for-posting-human-rights-content/
Council on Foreign Relations. (2023, December 7). AI assault on women: What Iran's tech-enabled morality laws indicate for women’s rights movements. Retrieved from https://www.cfr.org/blog/ai-assault-women-what-irans-tech-enabled-morality-laws-indicate-womens-rights-movements
Electronic International Relations. (2024, May 4). Opinion: Gendered digital repression in Myanmar’s online dissent. Retrieved from https://www.e-ir.info/2024/05/04/opinion-gendered-digital-repression-in-myanmars-online-dissent/
European Parliament. (2024, June). Gender and digital technology: Addressing online violence against women. Retrieved from https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2024/754450/EXPO_IDA(2024)754450(SUM01)_EN.pdf
Tech Policy Press. (2024, January 30). A growing number of women activists confront technology and gender-based violence. Retrieved from https://www.techpolicy.press/a-growing-number-of-women-activists-confront-technology-and-genderbased-violence/
Tech Policy Press. (2024, June 19). Platform-enabled structural harms: The limits of the current accountability regime. Retrieved from https://www.techpolicy.press/platform-enabled-structural-harms-the-limits-of-the-current-accountability-regime/
Tech Policy Press. (2023, August 22). Technology companies must make platforms safer for women in politics. Retrieved from https://www.techpolicy.press/technology-companies-must-make-platforms-safer-for-women-in-politics/
United Nations Regional Information Centre. (2023, November 11). How technology-facilitated gender-based violence impacts women and girls. Retrieved from https://unric.org/en/how-technology-facilitated-gender-based-violence-impacts-women-and-girls/
UN Women. (2023, November 13). Creating safe digital spaces free of trolls, doxing, and hate speech. Retrieved from https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/explainer/2023/11/creating-safe-digital-spaces-free-of-trolls-doxing-and-hate-speech