Digital abuse is “spreading at alarming speed”, fuelled by AI, anonymity, and weak laws.
UN Women says 44% of the world’s women and girls lack legal protection against cyber harassment and stalking.
Women in public life face deepfakes, coordinated harassment and gendered disinformation.
One in four women journalists report online threats of physical violence.
UN Women has warned that digital violence is accelerating worldwide, leaving nearly half of all women and girls without legal protection from online abuse.
The United Nations agency launched its annual 16 Days of Activism campaign on November 17, 2025 with an assessment that underlined how technology is increasingly being used to harm women and girls, rather than empower them. It said digital abuse was “spreading at alarming speed”, fuelled by artificial intelligence, anonymity, and weak or non-existent laws.
Online harassment, cyberstalking, doxing, non-consensual image sharing, deepfakes and gendered disinformation now affect “every corner of the Internet”, according to the organisation. Citing World Bank data, UN Women said fewer than 40 per cent of countries had laws protecting women from cyber harassment or cyberstalking, leaving 1.8 billion women and girls without access to legal safeguards.
Women in public life are among those most exposed. UN Women said women in leadership, business and politics are experiencing deepfakes, coordinated harassment and disinformation campaigns designed to force them offline. It added that one in four women journalists report online threats of physical violence, including death threats.
“What begins online doesn’t stay online. Digital abuse spills into real life, spreading fear, silencing voices, and — in the worst cases — leading to physical violence and femicide,” said UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous. “Laws must evolve with technology to ensure that justice protects women both online and offline. Weak legal protections leave millions of women and girls vulnerable, while perpetrators act with impunity. This is unacceptable. Through our 16 Days of Activism campaign, UN Women calls for a world where technology serves equality, not harm.”
The agency warned that reporting of online abuse remains low, while justice systems are “ill-equipped” and technology platforms face “little accountability”. The rise of AI-generated abuse, it said, has worsened impunity across borders. A new generation of highly sophisticated AI tools — many of them trained on data reflecting existing gender biases — is accelerating the spread of digital abuse, making it faster, harder to detect, and more complex than ever before. The technology is creating new forms of abuse and amplifying existing ones at alarming rates, it pointed out.
Some governments have updated legislation in response. UN Women pointed to reforms including the United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act, Mexico’s Ley Olimpia, Australia’s Online Safety Act and the European Union’s Digital Safety Act. As of 2025, 117 countries reported efforts to address digital violence, but UN Women said these remain “fragmented” for what is inherently a transnational problem.
The campaign calls for global cooperation to improve safety standards for digital platforms and AI tools, stronger laws and enforcement, better support for survivors, and greater responsibility from technology companies. It also urges investment in prevention, digital literacy and the women’s rights organisations that support those affected.
UN Women will launch new tools to assist governments and police forces, including updated legislative guidance on technology-facilitated violence and a guide for law enforcement on prevention and response.
The 16 Days campaign runs from November 25 to December 10 and this year focuses on ending digital violence.