The UN Women’s global Gender-Based Violence (GBV) awareness campaign – 16 Days of Activism to End Gender-based Violence – takes place between 25 November and 10 December 2025. This year, under the theme “UNiTE to End Digital Violence against All Women and Girls”, the campaign seeks to raise awareness of and combat Digital Violence against women and girls.
What is digital violence?
In essence, digital violence is any form of technology-facilitated attack that threatens an individual’s safety or wellbeing. Though not a new phenomenon, digital violence is a rising cybersecurity threat. Examples include:
- Image-based abuse/ non-consensual sharing of intimate images, such as revenge porn or leaked nudes.
- Digital Sextortion, in which people threaten to release sexually explicit images – whether real, AI-generated or deep fake – without the consent to extort their targeted victim.
- Cyberbullying, trolling, and online threats.
- Online harassment and sexual harassment.
- AI-generated deepfakes such as sexually explicit images, deepfake pornography, and digitally manipulated images, videos or audio.
- Hate speech and disinformation on social media platforms.
- Publishing private information, known as doxxing.
- Online stalking or monitoring someone’s activities through online surveillance and tracking.
- Online grooming and sexual exploitation.
- Catfishing and impersonation.
- Misogynistic networks, e.g. manosphere, incel forums.
Why does Digital Violence Matter?
Perpetrators of Digital Violence often do so with the intention to cause psychological and emotional harm to their victims, exert power or control over their victims, damage their victims’ reputation or extort money from their victims. Digital violence often precedes or coincides with “analogue violence” – real-world stalking, physical attacks, coercion, or physical abuse – and creates long-lasting harm for survivors.
A report released by UN Women in 2024 suggests that 16% to 58% of women and girls have experienced some form of technology-facilitated violence, depending on the country they live in. A 2020 survey conducted across five sub-Saharan African countries by Pollicy, found that 28% of women had experienced online violence.
The most common forms of Digital Violence include misinformation and defamation (67%), cyber harassment (66%), and hate speech (65%). Data from INTERPOL Africa also shows a significant increase in reports of digital sextortion, with over 60% of countries noting a perceived rise.
What does South African law say about Digital Violence?
South African law, which is regarded as some of the most progressive national legislation against digital abuse, primarily relies on the Cybercrimes Act of 2020. The Act criminalises online offenses like cyberbullying and the non-consensual sharing of intimate images. The Protection from Harassment Act (2011) provides for protection orders, and the Domestic Violence Amendment Act (2021) recognises electronic harassment as a form of violence. Under these Acts, digital abuse includes:
- Sending threatening or intimidating messages via text or social media.
- Posting embarrassing, threatening, or hateful content about someone online.
- Sharing a person’s private sexual images or videos without their consent (“revenge porn”).
- Using electronic means to stalk or harass someone.
- Defamation or spreading false, damaging information online.
What to do if you are a victim of Digital Violence?
While digital violence against women and girls is more prevalent, there is rising evidence of victimisation of teenage boys as well. To protect yourself and your children against digital violence:
- Create unique, complex and strong passwords for your digital accounts and avoid using the same password across multiple accounts.
- Enable multi-factor authentication to add an extra layer of security to your accounts.
- Keep your operating system, apps, and security software updated to patch vulnerabilities that criminals can exploit.
- Ensure your home Wi-Fi network has a strong password and consider using a full-service internet security suite for your devices.
- Physically cover your webcam when it is not in use to prevent unauthorized access.
- Think before you post! Remember that what you share online can be permanent and may be used against you later.
- Adjust privacy settings on all your social media and online accounts to control who can see your posts, photos, and personal information.
- Do not publicly share sensitive information like your full name, home address, or phone number.
- Don’t feel pressured to accept friend or follower requests from people you don’t know.
- Be wary of links in emails or messages, as they could lead to phishing scams or malware.
If you or someone you know is experiencing digital violence:
- Don’t keep it to yourself. Talk to a friend, or a support organisation about what is happening.
- Don’t just block the attacker or delete your account. Report the abuse using the reporting features on the social media platform/s being used.
- If you know who the attacker is, report the abuse in the real world, too, for example through your workplace’s harassment and abuse reporting procedures or with your child’s school if they are the victim.
- Document the abuse. Take screenshots and save messages, photos, or videos of the harassment as evidence.
- Report the crime to the South African Police Service (SAPS) Cybercrime Unit on 08600 10111 or email childprotect@saps.org.za for online child-related crimes.
- Apply for a protection order under the Protection from Harassment Act, 2011, if you are experiencing persistent harassment.
Staying safe online requires vigilance, support, and action. Report abuse, protect your information, and seek help when needed to create a safer digital environment for everyone.