The misuse of technology, influenced by long standing gender inequalities, has led to an increase in gender-based violence, according to a report by international non-governmental organisation Rutgers.
The phenomenon — referred to as technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) — is used to tyrannise women and other vulnerable groups such as LGBTQI+ people, the report says.
Launched this week at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the study focuses mainly on online violence but acknowledges that TFGBV is wider in scope.
Drawn from interviews conducted with people in Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Rwanda, South Africa, and Uganda, it found links between online violence and the offline world.
Technology-facilitated gender-based violence occurs through phones, GPS tracking devices, drones or recording devices not connected to the internet.
“The digital revolution has been a blessing and a curse,” said Loes Loning, a researcher at Rutgers. “It has transformed societies, reshaping daily life, culture, politics, and economics, but as digital tools evolve and access expands, so too does the potential for people to misuse them.”
Although survivors are disproportionately women and girls, according to the report, boys and young men including male family members or friends of women and girls who have experienced this violence are also affected.
The report noted that access to technological innovations “is far from equal”, with only 25% of people in the world’s least developed countries using mobile internet, and most of the 3.4 billion people living without access globally being women.
“It is the result of various root causes, with the influence of patriarchy, social ideas of morality and socially imposed gender roles amplifying it,” it said.
Women are 25% less likely than men to know how to use digital technology for basic purposes like sending text messages. Only 19% of women in the “least developed countries” use the internet, compared with 86% in richer countries.
“This can make women and girls particularly vulnerable to TFGBV and puts them at a major disadvantage when it comes to using digital technology and navigating online spaces,” it said.
Evidence suggests that awareness about online safety is low, with many potential victims seeming unaware of the risks they face, or how they can protect themselves.
Online violence can exacerbate offline forms of gender-based violence such as sexual harassment, stalking, and intimate partner violence, The report added, saying 74% of people interviewed mentioned this.
For example, hate speech on X (formerly Twitter) can escalate into physical violence offline, and vice versa.
The report identified “sextortion” as one of the most common forms of violence, where perpetrators use content shared online, such as private images or conversations, to blackmail victims for money or sexual acts.
“There were threats via WhatsApp but (this) then continued to physical acts such as rape — this is a combination of offline and cyberspace,” the report quoted a government official from Indonesia as saying.
It said normal processes to address and prevent tech-facilitated gender-based violence do not align with rapid advancements in technology. This creates a significant gap in evidence-based responses to tackle the scourge.
Across all seven countries, gender-based violence reporting levels remain low while policies and legislation fail to provide people with protection.
“This compounds people’s vulnerability and exposure to violence,” the report said.
In South Africa, a girl was bullied on and off social media before being beaten and having a video of her filmed by school peers, posted on social media. Two days later, the girl killed herself after the video trended, the report said.
In Morocco, a civil society worker described how “sometimes ex-husbands/partners might use intimate pictures or videos for revenge, to get women to give up custody, alimony, or to ask her for money, property”.
In some countries, laws against technology-facilitated gender-based violence often clash with other legislation and can be used against survivors to charge them for crimes that they are the victims of.
“Laws that are seemingly there to protect victims actually do the opposite,” said Abishiag Wabwire, a project coordinator at the Uganda Association of Women Lawyers.
“Uganda is one of the few African countries that actually has a law against TFGBV. However, patriarchal standards and the cyber law that should protect victims are instead being evoked to oppress them and uphold patriarchal standards.”
In South Africa, the Protection from Harassment Act enables survivors to obtain protection orders against perpetrators of harassment, including TFGBV. However, the report said legislation can be used against survivors because perpetrators are considered to have the right to defend themselves against defamation. This was confirmed by four out of nine interviewees in South Africa.
In 2021, consultancy company NamTshuwe in partnership with several South African human rights organisations working in law, gender, digital rights, technology, and freedom of expression came together to produce a report that examines forms of online violence and the existing policy environment.
The findings on gender-based violence in the country led to additional training for law enforcement officials, making them better prepared to investigate and respond to online harassment and digital abuse cases, especially when dealing with LGBTQI+ survivors.
The report called for collaborative efforts between individuals, NGOs, civil society, governmental entities, technology companies and social platforms such as X, TikTok, Facebook and Meta, to combat technology-facilitated gender-based violence.