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The alarm is being sounded this week by the UN agency for women’s rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment ( UN Women ) as the 16 Days of Activism campaign begins, calling for urgent action against soaring digital violence.
The space has become a frontline in the fight for gender equality, with less than 40 per cent of countries having laws addressing cyber harassment or cyberstalking, leaving perpetrators largely unchallenged and victims without justice.
The rise of AI has dramatically amplified digital abuse , making it faster, more targeted, and harder to detect. According to one global survey, 38 per cent of women have experienced online violence, and 85 per cent have witnessed it.
AI-powered deepfake technology is being weaponised on a large scale: up to 95 per cent of online deepfakes are non-consensual pornographic images, and 99 per cent of those targeted are women.
Digital abuse isn’t confined to screens. Online attacks quickly spill into real life, escalating in severity.
Many deepfake tools, developed by male teams, are not even designed to work on images of men, underscoring the gendered nature of this technology.
Source: AI, Anonymity Drive Rise in Online Violence Against Women | Mirage News