Stop tech-facilitated gender-based violence against journalists
This week, as we mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and the beginning of 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence, we call for urgent state action to protect women journalists, to recognise the specific gendered risks they face, and to ensure accountability for threats against them.
With the launch of our new briefing, From impunity to accountability: Investigating tech-facilitated gender-based violence against journalists, we urge governments around the world to counter online threats posed to women journalists so they can safely exercise their rights to freedom of expression and gender equality in an increasingly hostile digital landscape.
The theme of this year’s 16 Days of Activism is #NoExcuse for online abuse, calling on the global community to ‘rally for a world where technology is a force for equality – not harm’.
Surveillance, doxxing, identity theft, deepfake sexual content, and other digital threats are a daily occurrence in the lives of women journalists globally. These attacks threaten not only their physical safety, but have grave repercussions on freedom of expression, media freedom, and non-discrimination. In many cases, online abuse drives women journalists out of online spaces entirely, or stops them from reporting on issues that could expose them to greater harassment.
Despite the gravity of the abuses, women journalists face significant barriers to justice. Public authorities frequently fail to take online harassment seriously, and law enforcement often lacks the understanding, capacity or will to investigate such cases effectively. Online harms are often perceived as separate from or less severe than offline attacks, even though they often precede or occur alongside offline violence.
In our new briefing, part of the Equally Safe: Towards a Feminist Approach to the Safety of Journalists project, we set out how law enforcement authorities can respond effectively to tech-facilitated gender-based violence against women journalists, while protecting and respecting freedom of expression.
More must be done to ensure effective investigations into abuse are conducted with a gender intersectional approach, given the distinct and specific risks faced by women journalists.
Because silencing women journalists threatens the right to information for all of us.
