Digital abuse of women journalists escalates with AI tools

ISLAMABAD: Online violence against women journalists has increased sharply since 2020, with artificial intelligence making such abuse more sophisticated, invasive and harmful, according to a study released ahead of World Press Freedom Day, observed each year on May 3.

The report, issued by UN Women and its partners, says technology-driven abuse targeting women in public life has become more damaging in the AI era. It adds that forms of abuse once seen as relatively uncommon now make up a notable share of the wider online violence landscape.

Titled Tipping Point: Online Violence Impacts, Manifestations and Redress in the AI Age, the study is based on a 2025 survey of 641 participants from 119 countries. It examined the experiences of women human rights defenders, activists, journalists, media workers, writers and other public communicators.

The findings show that 12pc of the women surveyed said they had experienced the non-consensual circulation of personal images, including sexually explicit or intimate material. Another 6pc said they had been targeted through deepfakes or other manipulated images.

Kalliopi Mingerou, who heads UN Women’s work on ending violence against women, said: "AI is making abuse easier and more damaging, and this is fueling the erosion of hard-won rights in a context marked by democratic backsliding and networked misogyny,

Rising self-censorship

The report says women journalists and media workers are increasingly limiting their own expression in response to online abuse. In 2020, 30pc of respondents in this group said they self-censored because of online violence. By the end of 2025, that figure had climbed to 45pc, which the report describes as a 50pc increase.

Among women identifying as writers and other public communicators, 50pc said they self-censor on social media because of online violence, while more than a quarter, or 26pc, said they do so at work. For journalists and media workers, around 45pc said they silence themselves online, while more than one-fifth, or 22pc, reported self-censorship in the workplace. The figures for human rights defenders and activists were similar, with 43pc saying they self-censor on social media and 20pc saying they do so at work.

Across the broader respondent pool, 41pc said they self-censor on social media to avoid abuse, while 19pc said they self-censor in their professional work for the same reason.

The study also found that 12pc of women human rights defenders, activists, journalists and other media workers had faced the non-consensual sharing of personal images, including intimate or sexual content. 6pc had been victims of deepfakes, described as AI-generated images that appear real, while one in three had received unsolicited sexual advances online.

Mental health and legal response

Online violence is taking a serious toll on mental health. Nearly a quarter of women journalists and media workers, 24.7pc, said they had been diagnosed with or treated for anxiety or depression. Almost 13pc said they had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

One respondent, identified as a journalist and community organiser, described the effect of sustained abuse on her life and work. She said: "When we speak aloud about democracy, there is no ‘feel’ of democracy – only a ‘demo of craziness,’

"Unable to cope with the relentless pressure, I resigned from my job in December 2023. I am now sitting at home, focused solely on restoring my mental wellness," she added.

The same respondent said the situation had also created severe financial hardship and that she was currently subsisting on rice porridge, a direct consequence of being forced into silence and out of work.

The report says women journalists and media workers were twice as likely to report incidents of online violence to police as compared to 2020, with the figure rising to 22pc from 11pc. It also says they are increasingly pursuing legal action against perpetrators, enablers such as technology companies, or employers, with that proportion rising from 8pc in 2020 to 14pc in 2025.

It notes that while the public spread of nudification content has emerged as a significant new development, much image-based abuse still reaches women through direct messages on social media platforms in the form of unwanted sexual advances involving sexual imagery, sometimes referred to as cyber-flashing.

Despite the scale of the problem, legal protections remain limited. Citing World Bank data, the report says fewer than 40pc of countries have laws protecting women from cyber harassment or cyberstalking.

The study is the second in a series based on a global survey. The next edition will examine a broader set of issues related to online violence against women in public-facing roles, including the characteristics and behaviour of perpetrators and the role of Big Tech companies.