STUDY

For the FEMM committee

Cyber violence and

hate speech online
against women

WOMEN’S RIGHTS & GENDER

EQUALITY

Policy Department for Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs

Directorate General for Internal Policies of the Union
PE 604.979 – September 2018
EN
 Cyber violence and hate
speech online against
women
STUDY

Abstract
This study, commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’
Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the FEMM Committee, looks into the
phenomenon of cyber violence and hate speech online against women in the European
Union. After reviewing existing definitions of the different forms of cyber violence, the
study assesses the root causes and impact of online violence on women. It continues by
analysing and mapping the prevalence, victims and perpetrators. The document ends with
an outline of the existing legal framework and recommendations for action within the EU
remit.
ABOUT THE PUBLICATION
This research paper was requested by the European Parliament's Committee on Women's Rights and
Gender Equality and commissioned, overseen and published by the Policy Department for Citizen's
Rights and Constitutional Affairs.
Policy Departments provide independent expertise, both in-house and externally, to support European
Parliament committees and other parliamentary bodies in shaping legislation and exercising democratic
scrutiny over EU external and internal policies.
To contact the Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs or to subscribe to its
newsletter please write to: [email protected]

RESPONSIBLE RESEARCH ADMINISTRATOR

Jos HEEZEN
Policy Department for Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs
European Parliament
B-1047 Brussels
E-mail: [email protected]

AUTHOR(S)
Adriane VAN DER WILK

STUDY COORDINATOR
Monika NATTER, ÖSB Consulting GmbH

LINGUISTIC VERSION(S)

Original: EN

Manuscript completed in August 2018

© European Union, 2018

This document is available on the internet at:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/supporting-analyses

DISCLAIMER
The opinions expressed in this document are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily
represent the official position of the European Parliament.

Reproduction and translation for non-commercial purposes are authorised, provided the source is
acknowledged and the publisher is given prior notice and sent a copy.
 Cyber violence and hate speech online against women
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CONTENTS

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 5

LIST OF MAPS 7

LIST OF FIGURES 7

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 8

1. INTRODUCTION 10
1.1. Context, trends and recent developments 10
1.2. Defining cyber violence and hate speech online against women 11
1.2.1. UN, EU and national definitions 11
1.2.2. Academic and civil society definitions 16
1.2.3. A glossary of cyber violence and hate speech online terms 18

2. SOCIETAL CONTEXT AND ROOT CAUSES OF CYBER VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH ONLINE
AGAINST WOMEN 20
2.1. Societal gender stereotypes reverberate in the online world 20
2.1.1. Gender inequality and the continuum of violence against women 20
2.1.2. Normalisation and invisibility of online cyber violence against women 21
2.2. Gender imbalance in the tech sector trickles down 22
2.2.1. Facts and figures 23
2.3. The architecture of cyber spaces and women’s victimisation 25
2.3.1. Privacy 25
2.3.2. Anonymity 26
2.3.3. Mob mentality 27
2.3.4. Permanence of data and re-victimisation 28

3. IDENTIFICATION OF VICTIMS AND PERPETRATORS 30

3.1. The victims 30
3.1.1. Gender, age, sexual orientation and intersectional vulnerabilities 30
3.1.2. Racist threats 31
3.1.3. Women’s visibility and representation online 31
3.2. The impact of cyber violence and hate speech online against women 32
3.2.1. Impact on women’s health and their social development 33
3.2.2. The economic impact 33
3.2.3. The societal impact 34
3.3. The perpetrators 34
3.3.1. Types of online platforms where perpetrations occur 35
3.3.2. Perpetrators’ characteristics 36
3.3.3. Mapping cyber violence and hate speech online against women in Europe 37

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4. MEASURING THE PREVALENCE OF CYBER VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH ONLINE AGAINST
WOMEN IN THE EU 40
4.1. Data collection at EU and Member State level 40
4.1.1. EU wide surveys and data collection mechanisms 40
4.1.2. National databases and data collection mechanisms 41
4.2. Interpreting existing data 42
4.2.1. Scope and numbers of victims 42
4.2.2. Specific results on Member State level 42
4.3. Gaps in current data and statistics 44

5. UNDERSTANDING THE EMERGENCE AND EVOLUTION OF CYBER VIOLENCE AND HATE

SPEECH ONLINE AGAINST WOMEN IN THE EU 45
5.1. European pre-broadband and broadband age, technological and regulatory background 45
5.2. Trends in access and use of internet and new technologies in the EU 47
5.3. The emergence of new threats for women 48
5.3.1. On social media 48
5.3.2. Technology-facilitated trafficking of women and girls 48

6. OVERVIEW OF THE INTERNATIONAL AND EUROPEAN LEGAL FRAMEWORK 50

6.1. UN resolutions, strategies and reports 50
6.2. Council of Europe treaties 51
6.3. The European Union legal framework 52
6.3.1. Regulations and directives 52
6.3.2. Resolutions of the European Parliament 55
6.3.3. European Commission strategies and policies 58

7. INITIATIVES AND GOOD PRACTICES IN PREVENTION OF AND PROTECTION AGAINST CYBER

VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH ONLINE AGAINST WOMEN 59
7.1. EU programmes, guidelines and actions 59
7.1.1. Gender equality and cyber violence 59
7.1.2. Child protection and cyber violence 60
7.1.3. Council of Europe actions 61
7.2. Initiatives at Member State level 61
7.2.1. Civil Society initiatives 61
7.2.2. Awareness raising campaigns 62

8. CONCLUDING REMARKS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ON POSSIBILITIES AND REMITS FOR

ACTION AT EU LEVEL AND NATIONAL LEVEL 63
8.1. Concluding remarks 63
8.2. Recommendations on recognition, definitions, data collection and research 64
8.3. Legislation and policies against cyber violence against women at EU level 65
8.4. Further instruments at Member States level 65
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AI Artificial Intelligence

APC Association of Progressive Communications

BIK Better Internet for Kids

CBS Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek

CEDAW UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

COE Council of Europe

DG Directorate General

DSM Digital Single Market

EC European Commission

ECJ European Court of Justice

EIGE European Institute for Gender Equality

ENISA European Union Agency for Network and Information Security

EP European Parliament

EU European Union

FEMM European Parliament Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality

FRA Agency for Fundamental Rights

GBV Gender-Based Violence

GDPR General Data Protection Regulation

GPS Global Positioning System

ICRW International Center for Research on Women

ICT Information and communications technology

IPU Inter-Parliamentary Union

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IPV Intimate partner violence

LGBTI Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersexed

MEP Member of the European Parliament

MP Member of Parliament

OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

SELMA Social and Emotional Learning for Mutual Awareness

SID Safer Internet Day

SIF Safer Internet Forum

SMS Short Message Service

STEM Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

STI Sexually transmitted infections

TFEU Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union

UK United Kingdom

UN United Nations

UNGA United National General Assembly

US United States

VAWG Violence Against Women and Girls

WHRD Women Human Rights Defenders

YEP European Youth Panel

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LIST OF MAPS

MAP 1
European map of sexual harassment and stalking/cyber harassment since the age of 15. Source:
Fundamental Rights Agency 38
MAP 2
Experiencing cyber stalking since the age of 15. Source : FRA 38
MAP 3
Experiencing cyber stalking in the year before the interview with FRA, Source : FRA 39

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE 1
Council of Europe Cyberviolence framework 14
FIGURE 2
ICRW framework on technology-facilitated gender-based violence 17
FIGURE 3
Internet use by women in the EU-28, Source : Eurostat 47
FIGURE 4
Internet use in the EU-28 disaggregated by sex. Source: Eurostat 47

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
As we are entering a period of increased scrutiny of social media corporations, the reach and use of
these platforms and the new technologies they are based on continue to proliferate. Although women
have benefited from outstanding possibilities on the internet and via new technologies, both in terms
of power and visibility and in terms of access and opportunities, they are also at threat of violence in
dire ways in the digital world. 20% of young women in the European Union have experienced cyber
sexual harassment, and 14% of women have experienced cyber stalking since the age of 15. Illegal hate
speech online targeting gender identity is, to this day, equivalent to 3.1% of reports to internet
platforms. Although the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the European Union institutions
recognise, partly, the phenomenon of cyber violence and hate speech online against women, there are
to this day no commonly accepted definitions of the various forms of violence targeting women online.

Cyber violence and hate speech online against women occurs on a variety of platforms: social media,
web content and discussion sites, search engines, messaging services, blogs, dating websites and apps,
comment sections of media and newspapers, forums, chat rooms of online video games, etc. Research
shows that women are specifically targeted by cyber violence and that age and gender are significant
factors in the prevalence of cyber violence. Young women are particularly under threat of sexual
harassment and stalking. Moreover, cyber violence does not have to be experienced directly to leave
an impact. Violence against women harms in durable ways. It infringes women’s fundamental rights
and freedoms, their dignity and equality and impacts their lives at all levels. It impacts their physical and
mental health and well-being as well as their social and financial development, thus costing society as
a whole.

The unregulated nature of social media platforms and other online spaces, which is at the basis of their
growth, increases the risks for women to be victimised. Systemic gender inequality as well as other
intersecting identity factors and vulnerabilities lay a fertile ground for perpetrators to threaten and
abuse women. Although online violence can take on various shapes, e.g. sexual harassment, image-
based sexual abuse or sexist hate speech, experts are now recognising these forms of cyber violence
and hate speech online against women as part and parcel of a continuum of violence, often starting
offline and reverberating online and vice versa, pushing back women from public spaces to the private
sphere. Moreover, gender stereotypes as well as legitimisation and normalisation of violence against
women in the media lead to victim-blaming and the invisibilisation of victims’ perspectives when it
comes to cyber violence and hate speech online against women. Gender inequality in the tech sector
also reverberates on platforms and algorithms are not immune to gender biases and can contribute to
creating toxic “technocultures”, where anonymity, mob mentality and the permanence of harmful data
online lead to women being constantly re-victimised.

The extension of the broadband network, the proliferation of 3G and 4G networks across Europe and
the affordability of smartphones has made it easier for European consumers to own, access and use new
technologies and internet. As more and more users access internet and social media on a daily basis,
social networks and media moderation policies had to evolve and respond to the growing amount of
harmful content and behaviours targeting women online.

The UN has recognised and broadly described the phenomenon of cyber violence against women. In
Europe, cyber violence and hate speech online against women is partly addressed through the Council
of Europe’s Conventions of Budapest, Istanbul and Lanzarote. Increased synergies between these
instruments on the topic of online violence against women is necessary. Although there is no specific
instrument focusing on cyber violence and hate speech online against women at EU level, the recently

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adopted General Data Protection Regulation and the Electronic-Commerce Directive, as well as
Directives on Victim’s Rights, Trafficking and on Sexual Exploitation of Children can cover some of these
forms of violence. At EU level, several policies, strategies and actions also focus on the phenomenon.
The European Parliament through several different resolutions has already called for the recognition of
cyber violence and hate speech online against women in the European Union.

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1. INTRODUCTION

KEY FINDINGS

• In Europe 1 in 10 women have experienced some kind of cyber violence since the age of 15.

• The UN, the Council of Europe and the EU institutions partly recognise cyber violence and hate
speech online against women but there are no commonly accepted definitions of the various
forms of violence targeting women online.

1.1. Context, trends and recent developments

As we are entering a period of increased scrutiny of social media platforms, the reach and use of these
platforms and the new technologies they are based on continue to proliferate. Although women have
benefited from outstanding possibilities on the internet and via new technologies, both in terms of
power and visibility and in terms of access and opportunities, they are also at threat of violence in dire
ways in the digital world. In Europe, one in ten women have experienced some kind of cyber violence
since the age of 15 1. Recent research shows that women in the EU experience cyber violence and hate
speech online, but, to this day, little is known about the scope or extent of the phenomenon in the EU 2.

The contents and wide diffusion of social media have not only reinforced existing forms of violence
against women, they have also created new tools to threaten women and inflict harm, both offline and
online 3. Defining cyber violence and hate speech online against women remains challenging as many
of these new forms of violence are constantly evolving and changing. Member States’ laws addressing
cyber violence and hate speech online against women vary and reflect their societies’ perceptions and
stands on gender equality and violence against women. Women’s human rights have evolved greatly
in the past two decades, both globally and in the EU. However, gender inequality is still pervasive in
every dimension of society. This reverberates in the online world.

This study will start with defining cyber violence and hate speech online against women, exploring
definitions used at UN, EU and Member States level, as well as academic definitions. A glossary of terms
on cyber violence and hate speech online against women will be proposed for the purpose of reading
this study. The study will then look into the root causes of these forms of gender-based violence and
will show how and why women are specifically victimised online. In the third chapter, the scope of cyber
violence and hate speech online against women in the EU will be analysed. This includes a typology of
the victims and perpetrators, the impact of such violence and the means of perpetrations. The fourth
chapter will propose a preliminary estimation of the prevalence of the phenomenon in the EU and will
point out existing data gaps. The fifth and sixth chapters will draw a timeline of legislation on cyber
violence and hate speech online against women, and will present the relevant regulations, directives
and policies. The seventh chapter will showcase good practices, both at EU and Member State level. The
report concludes with recommendations within the remit of the EU institutions and Member States.

1 UN Broadband Commission for Digital Development (2015), “Cyber Violence Against Women and Girls: A World- Wide Wake-Up Call”,
available at:
http://www.unwomen.org/~/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2015/cyber_violence_gender%20report.p
df?v=1&d=20150924T154259
2 For instance recent research carried out by the European Institute of Gender Equality (EIGE, 2017), the European Union Agency for
Fundamental Rights (FRA, 2014), the UN Broadband Commission (2015), available at:
http://eige.europa.eu/rdc/eige-publications/cyber-violence-against-women-and-girls
http://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2014/violence-against-women-eu-wide-survey-main-results-report
http://www.broadbandcommission.org/Documents/reports/bb-wg-gender-discussionpaper2015-executive-summary.pdf
3 “70% of women victims of cyberstalking also experienced at least one form of physical or/and sexual violence from an intimate partner ».
EIGE (2017), “Cyber violence against women and girls”, available at http://eige.europa.eu/gender-based-violence/eiges-studies-gender-
based-violence/cyber-violence-against-women

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1.2. Defining cyber violence and hate speech online against women
Cyber violence and hate speech online against women are a form of Gender-Based Violence (GBV). The
terms “cyber violence” and “hate speech online against women” encompass different types of cyber
violence such as cyber harassment, cyber stalking, non-consensual image-abuse, and also the specific
term “sexist hate speech”. There is however no commonly accepted terminology for these relatively
new forms of violence against women. Online platforms where these various forms of violence and
abuse occur include social media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn), web content and
discussion sites (e.g. Reddit), search engines (e.g. Google), messaging services (e.g. Whatsapp, Facebook
Messenger, Snapchat, WeChat or Skype), blogs, dating websites and apps, comment sections of media
and newspapers, forums (e.g. 4chan), chat rooms of online video games, etc. Often, existing definitions
of GBV and cybercrime are extended in order to grasp the phenomenon of cyber violence and hate
speech against women and the different types as cited above. As will be pointed out in the subsequent
chapters, definitions and terminology matter because they make it possible to collect and compare
statistics on the prevalence and to develop and effectively enforce legislation to prevent cyber violence,
protect victims and prosecute perpetrators.

This chapter will start by exploring how cyber violence against women is defined by multilateral
organisations, including the UN, the Council of Europe and the EU, as well as legal definitions used in
EU Member States. Secondly, a more detailed overview of the different types of cyber violence against
women is provided by delving into typologies and definitions provided by academic sources and civil
society. The chapter ends with a tentative glossary of terms which should guide the reader throughout
this study.

For the sake of terminology, “women” will in this report include also the group of teenage girls that are
at specific risk on digital spaces. Whenever appropriate, girls will be identified separately.

1.2.1. UN, EU and national definitions

UN definitions
• The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) General
Recommendation 19 defines gender-based violence as “violence that is directed against a woman
because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately. It includes acts that inflict physical,
mental or sexual harm or suffering, threats of such acts, coercion and other deprivations of liberty” 4.
• CEDAW General Recommendation 35 extends the definition coined under General Recommendation
19 by adding that “...Gender-based violence against women (...) manifests in a continuum of multiple,
interrelated and recurring forms, in a range of settings, from private to public, including technology-
mediated settings”. And “Gender-based violence against women occurs in all spaces and spheres of
human interaction, whether public or private (...) and their redefinition through technology-mediated
environments, such as contemporary forms of violence occurring in the Internet and digital spaces” 5.
• The UN General Assembly (UNGA) 2013 Consensus Resolution on protecting women human rights
defenders contains language on technology-related human rights violations: “information-
technology-related violations, abuses and violence against women, including women human rights
defenders, such as online harassment, cyberstalking, violation of privacy, censorship and hacking of e-

4 CEDAW (1992), “General Recommendation No. 19” (11th session, 1992), available at
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/recommendations/index.html
5 CEDAW (2017), “General recommendation No. 35 on gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19”,
available at https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/1_Global/CEDAW_C_GC_35_8267_E.pdf

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mail accounts, mobile phones and other electronic devices, with a view to discrediting them and/or
inciting other violations and abuses against them, are a growing concern and a manifestation of systemic
gender-based discrimination, requiring effective responses compliant with human rights”. 6
• The recent report from the Special Rapporteur on Violence against women presented to the Human
Rights Council in June 2018 7, recalls that “terminology is still developing and not univocal”. The Special
Rapporteur uses the definition “ICT-facilitated violence against women” but also employs the terms
“online violence against women”, “cyberviolence” and “technology-facilitated violence”. Online violence
against women is defined in the report as “gender-based violence against women that is committed,
assisted or aggravated in part or fully by the use of ICT, such as mobile phones and smartphones, the
Internet, social media platforms or email, against a woman because she is a woman, or affects women
disproportionately. Not all forms of online violence against women and girls are defined however,
recognising that the rapid development of digital spaces and technologies, including artificial
intelligence, “will inevitably give rise to different and new manifestations of online violence against
women” 8.
• The UN Human Rights Council voted on July 4th 2018 a number of resolutions regarding the
“Promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the Internet”, of which several address
the specific issue of cyber violence and hate speech online against women 9. “(The Human Rights
Council) Expressing concern about the spread of disinformation and propaganda on the Internet, which
can be designed and implemented so as to mislead, to violate human rights and privacy and to incite
violence, hatred, discrimination or hostility (...) Concerned at the arbitrary or unlawful collection,
retention, processing and use or disclosure of personal data on the Internet, which could violate or abuse
human rights (...) Deeply concerned at all human rights violations and abuses committed against persons
for exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms on the Internet, and the impunity for these
violations and abuses (...) Calls upon States to ensure effective remedies for human rights violations,
including those relating to the Internet, in accordance with their international obligations; (...) Also
condemns unequivocally online attacks against women, including sexual and gender-based violence and
abuse of women, in particular where women journalists, media workers, public officials or others
engaging in public debate are targeted for their expression, and calls for gender-sensitive responses that
take into account the particular forms of online discrimination; Stresses the importance of combating
advocacy of hatred on the Internet, which constitutes incitement to discrimination or violence, including
by promoting tolerance, education and dialogue; (...) Urges States to adopt, implement and, where
necessary, reform laws, regulations, policies and other measures concerning personal data and privacy
protection online, in order to prevent, mitigate and remedy the arbitrary or unlawful collection, retention,
processing, use or disclosure of personal data on the Internet that could violate human rights…”

Definitions in Council of Europe Conventions

At European level there is no commonly agreed set of definitions encompassing all forms of cyber
violence and hate speech online against women. CoE conventions on violence against women and on
cybercrime implicitly include references to cyber violence against women or have been extended to do

6 UNGA (2014), “Promotion of the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote
and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms: Protecting women rights defenders”. (A/RES/68/181).
Available online: http://www.gender.cawater-info.net/publications/pdf/n1345031.pdf
7 Human Rights Council (2018), thirty-eighth session, 18 June–6 July 2018, “Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women,
its causes and consequences on online violence against women and girls from a human rights perspective”, available at
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/.../Session38/.../A_HRC_38_47_EN.docx
8 Ibid.
9 UN Human Rights Council (2018), Resolutions on the “Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and
cultural rights, including the right to development” available at http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/38/L.10/Rev.1

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so explicitly. The European Commission and the EU bodies as well as the Council of Europe apply
different definitions in their instruments and programmes. Many of the forms of cyber violence and hate
speech online against women remain under-defined.
• The Council of Europe Istanbul Convention, adopted in 2011, is the first European multilateral
legally binding agreement on curbing violence against women and intimate partner violence (IPV).
The convention contains several articles that can be applied to cyber violence and hate speech online
against women 10. Article 3 of the Convention defines violence against women as: “A violation of
human rights and a form of discrimination against women and shall mean all acts of gender-based
violence that result in, or are likely to result in, physical, sexual, psychological or economic harm or
suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether
occurring in public or in private life”.
Several forms of violence defined in the Convention can be extended to cyber-violence. Article 3.b
defines ‘intimate partner violence’ as “all acts of physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence
that occur within the family or intimate partner unit or between former or current spouses or partners,
whether or not the perpetrator shares or has shared the same residence with the victim”. Several other
forms of violence which extend into the cyber sphere are criminalized under the Convention:
“‘Psychological violence’: seriously impairing a person’s psychological integrity through coercion or
threats” (Article 33); ‘Stalking’: repeatedly engaging in threatening conduct directed at another person,
causing her or him to fear for her or his safety” (Article 34) and ‘Sexual harassment’: any form of
unwanted verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature with the purpose or effect of violating
the dignity of a person, in particular when creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or
offensive environment” (Article 40).

• The Council of Europe’s Additional Protocol to the Convention on Cyber-crime, the only legally
binding instrument in the field of cyber-crime, defines ‘hate speech online’ as “all the forms of
expression, which share, encourage, promote or justify race hatred, xenophobia, anti-Semitism or every
other form of hatred based on intolerance including aggressive nationalism, ethnocentrism,
discrimination and hostility of minorities, emigrants or persons of foreign origin” 11. Similarly, ‘sexist hate
speech’ is defined as “expressions which spread, incite, promote or justify hatred based on sex”. The COE
Cybercrime Convention Committee recently published a report stressing that “cyberviolence may
comprise new forms of violence that do not have an equivalent in the physical world (...) There may be no
physical-world crime that repeats or persists after its commission without any action by the criminal, yet
this is the case with many forms of cyberviolence” 12.

The Council of Europe’s Cybercrime Convention Committee has proposed a framework to categorise
forms of cyber violence.

10 Council of Europe (2011), Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and intimate partner
violence, available at: https://www.coe.int/en/web/istanbul-convention/text-of-the-convention
11 Council of Europe (2017), “CoE Factsheet Hate Speech”, available at http://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/FS_Hate_speech_ENG.pdf
12 Council of Europe (2018) CyberCrime Convention Committee, Working Group on cyberbullying and other forms of online violence,
especially against women and children (CBG), “Mapping study on cyberviolence (Draft)”, available at https://rm.coe.int/t-cy-2017-10-
cbg-study/16808b72da

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Figure 1: Council of Europe Cyberviolence framework. 13

Definitions used by the European Union institutions

Although the European Commission explicitly includes “cyberviolence and harassment using new
technologies” in its definition of gender-based violence 14, the phenomenon has not been captured in
any of the European Union’s legal texts. In the absence of commonly accepted definitions at EU level,
the EU institutions refer to definitions enshrined in the Council of Europe treaties, in UN resolutions or
to definitions used in certain Member States. As a result, the typology and definitions of online violence
against women differ between EU institutions and agencies.

‘Cyberbullying’, is one form of cyber violence which has been well-studied and defined in detail by the
EU institutions. It is understood as a form of cyber harassment most commonly affecting minors,
regardless of their gender. It consists of repeated aggressive online behaviour with the objective of
frightening and undermining someone’s self-esteem or reputation, which sometimes pushes
vulnerable individuals to depression and suicide. The European Parliament has defined cyberbullying
in a 2016 study as the “repeated verbal or psychological harassment carried out by an individual or group
against others” 15. According to the study, cyberbullying differs from face-to-face bullying in various
aspects such as the anonymity that the internet provides, the capacity to reach a wider audience, the
lack of sense of responsibility of perpetrators and the reluctance of victims to report incidents.

Driving forces behind defining the different forms of cyber violence against women are the European
Parliament, the Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and the European Institute for Gender Equality
(EIGE).

The FRA has produced a number of definitions of cyber violence against women, for the purpose of its
2014 survey on Violence against women in the EU 16.

13 Ibid.
14 European Commission (2018) What is gender-based violence? Available at: https://bit.ly/2mzqjPc
15 European Parliament (2016), Study for the Libe committee, “Cyberbullying among young people”, available at
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2016/571367/IPOL_STU(2016)571367_EN.pdf
16 European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), 2014, “Violence against women: an EU-wide survey”, available at
https://bit.ly/23atuf9

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• Cyber stalking is defined as: 1) emails, text messages (SMS) or instant messages that were offensive
or threatening; 2) offensive comments posted on the internet, 3) intimate photos or videos shared
on the internet or by mobile phone.
• Cyber harassment refers to women’s experiences of sexual harassment that involve 1) unwanted
offensive sexually explicit emails or SMS messages; 2) inappropriate offensive advances on social
networking websites such as Facebook, or in internet chat rooms.

EIGE defines cyber violence as gender-based violence which is perpetrated through electronic
communication and the internet 17.
• Non-consensual pornography “involves the online distribution of sexually graphic photographs or
videos without the consent of the individual in the images. Images can also be obtained by hacking into
the victim’s computer, social media accounts or phone, and can aim to inflict real damage on the target’s
‘real-world’ life”. Non-consensual pornography can be the extension of intimate partner violence to
online spaces.
• Cyber harassment is “harassment by means of email, text (or online) messages or the internet. It can
encompass: unwanted sexually explicit emails, text (or online) messages; inappropriate or offensive
advances on social networking websites or internet chat rooms; threats of physical and/or sexual violence
by email, text (or online) messages; hate speech, meaning language that denigrates, insults, threatens or
targets an individual based on her identity (gender) and other traits (such as sexual orientation or
disability)”.
• Stalking “involves repeated incidents, which may or may not individually be innocuous acts, but
combined they undermine the victim’s sense of safety and cause distress, fear or alarm. It can include
sending emails, text messages (SMS) or instant messages that are offensive or threatening; posting
offensive comments about the respondent on the internet; and sharing intimate photos or videos of the
respondent, on the internet or by mobile phone”.

Member States’ legal definitions

EU Member States have developed different definitions of the various forms of cyber violence and hate
speech, as part of their legislative efforts to curbing the phenomenon and prosecuting perpetrators. To
illustrate these efforts, a selection of definitions used by different Member States is presented below:

• In Spain, the Penal Code includes penalties related to ‘harassment’ and ‘stalking’ in the context of
intimate partner violence, which are punishable under article 172. Disseminating, revealing or giving
a third-party images or audio-visual recordings of a person obtained in a private setting, without their
authorisation, an example of “image based sexual abuse” (revenge porn) falls under article 197. 18
• In France, the Law for a Digital Republic (Loi pour une République Numérique) includes a provision
that targets image-based sexual abuse (revenge porn) which is defined as "sharing with the public
or a third party any recording or document relating to words or images of a sexual nature obtained
with the express or presumed consent of the person by recording, fixation, or transmission." 19
• In the Czech Republic, the criminal code recognises ‘revenge porn’ defined as “an offense, perpetrated
on the internet, without the knowledge of the victim, consisting of publishing erotic photographs together

17 EIGE, Gender equality glossary and thesaurus, available at http://eige.europa.eu/rdc/thesaurus

18 Criminal Code of the Kingdom of Spain (1995, as of 2013) (English version), available at
http://httplegislationline.org/documents/section/criminal-codes
19
LOI n° 2016-1321 du 7 octobre 2016 pour une République numérique, available at https://bit.ly/2p9KyUk

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with an erotic ad and contact details, thereby causing his/her dehonestation and harassment”. ‘Cyber
stalking’ is recognised as dangerous persecution, and defined as “the act of harassing, on the internet
environment through social networks, email or other means of communication (e.g. Skype, etc.). The
harassment can also occur by sending a large number of SMS messages”. ‘Dangerous threats’ and
‘cyber harassment’ are defined as “a social network user threatens to kill or severely injure another
social network user” 20.

1.2.2. Academic and civil society definitions

Having looked at the ways in which multilateral and EU institutions define cyber violence and hate
speech online against women, it may be useful to explore how the phenomenon is conceptualised in
academic circles and in civil society. A large number of definitions, either legal or coined by activists or
academics, and reused by media, compete and contribute to the fact that the phenomenon of cyber
violence and hate speech online against women is difficult to grasp and understand. Moreover, other
actors such as Internet intermediaries and other institutions also produce a lexicon that influences users
and policy makers.

Cyber crime studies have categorised cyber crime into: 1) traditional criminal activities that are
expanded or enhanced by the Internet; 2) traditional criminal activities that are generalised and
‘radicalised’ by the Internet and; 3) criminal activities that are created by the Internet 21. In the chapter
on Impact, we will see that this applies to cyber violence against women as well.

Indeed, many academics emphasise the need for reframing the terminology used by media to describe
the forms of cyber violence and hate speech online against women forms of victimisation. The term
‘revenge porn’ especially is being discussed as describing the perpetrator's experience rather than the
victim’s abuse. Therefore, the terminology describing this new form of victimisation is still evolving.

The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) is leading the Technology-facilitated gender-
based violence: What is it, and how do we measure it? project in partnership with the World Bank and has
developed a conceptual framework that allows to visualise the scope of cyber violence and hate speech
at a glance, see Figure 2 22.
• ‘Hate speech’ “lies in a complex nexus with freedom of expression, group rights, as well as concepts of
dignity, liberty, and equality (...) hate speech (is defined) as any offense motivated, in whole or in a part, by
the offender’s bias against an aspect of a group of people 23”.
• Online sexual harassment, refers to a large variety of harassing behaviours, “including cyberbullying,
cyberstalking, gender-based hate speech, image-based sexual exploitation (...), and rape threats”.
• The term cyber stalking is usually defined as an extension of offline forms of stalking using electronic
means 24. But the term is being discussed by academia as to be only applicable to a legal definition
requiring “repeated behaviours that cause fear”. Some scholars would rather use terms such as ‘‘less

20 Eva Fialová (2015), “Stop kybernásilí na ženách a mužích”, available at http://bit.ly/2gwxtVa

21 Gillespie, A (2015), “Sexual exploitation”, in T Buck (ed.), International child law. 3rd edn, Routledge, London, pp. 333-383
22 Hinson L, Mueller J, O’Brien-Milne L, Wandera N. (2018), “Technology-facilitated gender-based violence: What is it, and how do we
measure it?” Washington D.C., International Center for Research on Women.
23 Silva, L. and al. (2016), “Analyzing the Targets of Hate in Online Social Media”, available at https://arxiv.org/pdf/1603.07709.pdf
24 Ibid.

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severe methods of online pursuit’’ or ‘‘cyber-obsessional pursuit’’ that may or may not escalate
to cyberstalking 25.
• ‘Revenge porn’ is a form of technologically facilitated sexual violence, wherein a perpetrator
disseminates nude and/or sexually explicit photos and/or videos of an individual without their
consent. Henry and Powell (2018) conceptualise the perpetration as “image-based sexual
exploitation” whereas McGlynn, Rackly and Houghton (2017) name it “image-based sexual
abuse” 26. Henry and Powell argue that the phenomenon should be thought of as “image-based
sexual exploitation” because it “(a) captures the broad range of perpetrator motivations, rather than
simply assuming that all revenge porn is posted for “revenge” purposes; (b) encompasses images that may
not be considered pornographic, but are used for pornographic purposes; and (c) includes a broader range
of contexts in which the images were originally produced (e.g., “selfies”)” 27.

Figure 2: ICRW framework on technology-facilitated gender-based violence 28

Internet intermediaries also produce their own definitions. These are used for internal use in defining
company policies towards cyber violence and hate speech. In the below two examples:

• The social media company Facebook defines ‘hate speech’ as “anything that directly attacks people
based on what are known as their “protected characteristics” — race, ethnicity, national origin, religious
affiliation, sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender identity, or serious disability or disease 29.”
• In its section for rules and policies, the social media company Twitter defines “abusive behaviour “as
“an attempt to harass, intimidate, or silence someone else’s voice”, it further defines “non-consensual
nudity sharing” as “sharing explicit sexual images or videos of someone online without their consent” 30.

25 Ibid.
26 McGlynn C., and Rackley, E., and Houghton, R.A. (2017), “Beyond ‘Revenge Porn’: The Continuum of Image-Based Sexual Abuse”,
Available at https://ssrn.com/abstract=2929257
27 Henry N., Powell, A. (2018), “Technology-Facilitated Sexual Violence: A Literature Review of Empirical Research, Trauma, Violence, &
Abuse”, vol. 19, 2: pp. 195-208. First Published June 16, 2016.
28 Ibid.
29 Facebook News Room (2017), “Hard Questions: Who Should Decide What Is Hate Speech in an Online Global Community?”,
https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2017/06/hard-questions-hate-speech/
30 Twitter Help Center (2017), “About intimate media on Twitter”, available at https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/intimate-
media

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1.2.3. A glossary of cyber violence and hate speech online terms

The following glossary is proposed for use in reading the remainder of this document. It is a non-
exhaustive list of the many forms of cyber violence and hate speech online against women, an attempt
to paint a comprehensive picture of the phenomenon 31.

Violations of privacy

• Revenge porn or image-based sexual abuse/exploitation is the type of behaviour consisting of

accessing, using, disseminating private graphical or video content without consent or knowledge,
content sent by means of ‘sexting’ can also be shared without consent.
• Creepshots, upskirting or digital voyeurism consist of perpetrators taking non-consensual photos
or videos of women’s private areas and sharing them online.
• Doxing or doxxing refers to researching/manipulating and publishing private information about an
individual, without their consent as to expose, shame and sometimes access and target the person
in “real life” for harassment or other types of abuse.
• Impersonation is the process of stealing someone’s identity so as to threaten or intimidate, as well
as to discredit or damage a user’s reputation.
• Hacking or Cracking refers to the act of intercepting private communications and data, it can target
women especially in the form of webcam hacking.

Stalking

• Cyber stalking is the action of spying, fixating or compiling information about somebody online and
to communicate with them against their will. The tactic is often used and analysed as an extension of
intimate partner violence.

Harassment

• Cyber bullying consists of repeated behaviour using textual or graphical content with the aim of
frightening and undermining someone’s self-esteem or reputation.
• Threats of violence, including rape threats, death threats, etc. directed at the victim and or their
offspring and relatives, or incitement to physical violence.
• Unsolicited receiving of sexually explicit materials.
• Mobbing, refers to the act of choosing and targeting someone to bully or harass through a hostile
mob deployment, sometimes including hundreds or thousands of people.

Sexist hate speech

• Sexist hate speech is defined as expressions which spread, incite, promote or justify hatred based
on sex.

31 This section builds on the definitions presented earlier in the study and draws on definitions proposed in the following reports: Internet
Governance Forum (2015), “Online Abuse and Gender-Based Violence Against Women”, available at
https://www.intgovforum.org/multilingual/content/online-abuse-and-gender-based-violence-against-women, as well as the database
produced by the Women’s Media Center, “Online Abuse 101”, available at http://www.womensmediacenter.com/speech-project/online-
abuse-101

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• Posting and sharing violent content consist of portraying women as sexual objects or targets of
violence.
• Use of sexist and insulting comments, abusing women for expressing their own views and for
turning away sexual advances.
• Pushing women to commit suicide.

Direct violence
Some forms of cyber violence against women have a direct impact on their immediate physical safety:

• Trafficking of women using technological means such as recruitment, luring women into
prostitution and sharing stolen graphical content to advertise for prostitution.
• Sexualised extortion, also called sextortion and identity theft resulting in physical abuse.
• Online grooming consists of setting up an online abusive relationship with a child, in order to bring
the child into sexual abuse or child-trafficking situations. The term “grooming” is criticised by victims,
as it covers the child sexual abuse dimension of the act.
• In Real-World Attacks is defined as cyber violence having repercussions in “real life”.

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2. SOCIETAL CONTEXT AND ROOT CAUSES OF CYBER VIOLENCE AND

HATE SPEECH ONLINE AGAINST WOMEN

KEY FINDINGS

• Cyber violence and hate speech online against women are part of the continuum of violence
against women. Normalisation of violence against women in the media leads to victim-blaming
and the invisibilisation of victim’s perspective.
• Gender inequality in the tech sector reverberates on platforms and algorithms may reinforce
gender biases.
• Anonymity, crowd culture and the permanence of harmful data online leads to multiple re-
victimisations.

Following the examination of definitions and types of violence in the previous chapter, it is now possible
to look at the root causes of cyber violence and hate speech online against women. This chapter
analyses how societal gender stereotypes, gender imbalances in the tech industry and the specific
architecture of digital platforms create, drive and sustain the phenomenon.

2.1. Societal gender stereotypes reverberate in the online world

2.1.1. Gender inequality and the continuum of violence against women

As in real life, women, and particularly those women with intersecting identities and vulnerabilities,
experience on the internet a continuum of aggressions that ranges from unwanted sexual advances,
sexist and/or racist (ageist/ableist/homophobic, etc.) insults, to frequent, harmful, frightening,
sometimes life-threatening abuse 32. The concept of the continuum of violence, first coined by Liz Kelly
in 198733, allows to understand how cyber violence and hate speech online are not isolated phenomena,
but merely reflect a global range of perpetrations committed against women.

Cyber stalking, for instance, is now understood as an extension of intimate partner violence facilitated
by technology. A British survey on cyber stalking reveals the importance of producing and gathering
data about relationships between victim and perpetrator in cases of cyber violence against women:
more than half (54%) of the respondents had first met their abuser in real-life 34. The continuum of
violence between real-life and the online domain is further illustrated by the Women’s Aid Report on
online domestic abuse, revealing that 29% of online abuse by a partner or ex-partner involves the use
of spyware or GPS locators on the victim’s phones or computers35.
Recent research also argues that “revenge porn” or “image-based sexual abuse” has to be understood
“as just one form of a range of gendered, sexualised forms of abuse which have common characteristics, and
that “image-based sexual abuse is on a continuum with other forms of sexual violence 36”. The European

32 Lewis, Ruth., and Rowe, Michael., Wiper, Clare. (2016), “Online Abuse of Feminists as An Emerging form of Violence Against Women and
Girls”, The British Journal of Criminology, Volume 57, Issue 6, 1 November.
33 Kelly, L., Op.Cit.
34 Maple, C., Shart, E., Brown, A. (2011). “Cyber stalking in the United Kingdom: An Analysis of the ECHO Pilot Survey”. University of
Bedfordshire. Available at: http://uobrep.openrepository.com/uobrep/handle/10547/270578
35 Women’s Aid (2014), “Virtual world, real fear”, available at https://www.womensaid.org.uk/virtual-world-real-fear/
36 McGlynn, Clare., and Rackley, Erika., and Houghton, Ruth A. (2017), “Beyond ‘Revenge Porn’: The Continuum of Image-Based Sexual
Abuse”, available at https://ssrn.com/abstract=2929257

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Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) survey on violence against women in the EU 37 shows for
example that:
• 20% of young women (18-29) in the EU have experienced cyber sexual harassment;
• 77% of women who have experienced cyber harassment have also experienced at least one form of
sexual or/ and physical violence from an intimate partner;
• 70% of women who have experienced cyber stalking have also experienced at least one form of
physical or/and sexual violence from an intimate partner;
• 5% of women in the EU have experienced one or more forms of cyber stalking since the age of 15.

The figures illustrate the fact that cyber harassment and cyber stalking can be part of a process of
victimisation which actually starts in real-life. Cyber violence against women and harassment often
reflect offline victimisation carried or amplified through digital means, or it may be a precursor for abuse
that will be pursued in real-life.

2.1.2. Normalisation and invisibility of online cyber violence against women

Beyond the continuum of violence against women, there are other societal causes contributing to
women’s victimisation online. Cyber violence is often presented by the media as being: a) a gender-
neutral phenomenon; and b) a phenomenon of an individual matter resulting from of women’s
naïveté/responsibility. Women are generally advised to “not feed the troll 38”, to “change their privacy
settings” or to “go offline for a while”. This both reflects and contributes to cyber violence being
normalised while covering up the victims’ perspectives.

From research carried out in 2017 about the way British media frame cyber violence, it becomes clear
how the legitimisation and normalisation of violence in media reports framed public opinion, debate
and action, and implicitly victim blame(d) via “silencing strategies” 39. Advice given to victims of cyber
harassment to not “feed the troll” actually calls upon victims not to challenge or resist “abusive (i.e. sexist,
racist or misogynist) language and attitudes”. Moreover, the authors of the study argue that the way
media report on trolling is “silencing victims” by under-reporting and normalising “trolling events” such
as “rape threats, death threats, and body shaming, (...) and the advice given to victims on how they should
respond to online abuse”. The authors recall that rape culture 40 on the internet is prevalent and
“incorporates aspects of popular misogyny, and entails anti-female violent expression via the threats of rape
and death (or bodily harm) directed at women online. Expressions of aggressive male sexuality are eroticised
in the online sphere (...) and in the press”.
Indeed, until very recently and before the spread of the #MeToo movement, a majority of media reports
focused on cyber violence as “individual incidents”, shedding light on victims’ behaviour as a cause for

37 European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), 2014, “Violence against women: an EU-wide survey”, available at
http://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2014/violence-against-women-eu-wide-survey-main-results-report
38 A troll and the act of trolling have multiple definitions. It is commonly defined as “an act of intentionally provoking and/or antagonising
users in an online environment that creates an often desirable, sometimes predictable, outcome for the troll. (...) On the other hand, others have
included trolling as a form of cyberbullying” in, Griffiths, M.D. (2014), “Adolescent trolling in online environments: A brief overview”,
Education and Health, available at http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/25950/.
39 Lumsden, K., Morgan, H. (2017), “Media framing of trolling and online abuse: silencing strategies, symbolic violence, and victim blaming”,
Feminist Media Studies Vol.17, No.6, available at
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14680777.2017.1316755?journalCode=rfms20
40 Rape culture is defined as “the complex of beliefs that encourages male sexual aggression and supports violence against women. It is a society
where violence is seen as sexy and sexuality as violent. In a rape culture women perceive a continuum of threatened violence that ranges from
sexual remarks to sexual touching to rape itself.”, in Buchwald, E., Fletcher P.R., Roth, M. (2005), “Transforming a Rape Culture”, Milkweed
Editions, Minneapolis.

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violence rather than focusing on perpetrators and mechanisms of violence 41. The advice to women “not
to share intimate or private images” is in fact questionable. “It obscures the variety of methods that
harassers use to obtain images. (...) Research suggests privacy of images is not always in the victim’s control.
While many images of women and girls are obtained from public or semi-public social media accounts, many
others are obtained illegally through hacking accounts and internet-enabled devices, through “upskirting”
and “creep shots”, as well as through images originally shared privately with an intimate partner 42”. Women,
and often underage girls, are therefore being victim-blamed for patterns they are not responsible for,
and victims of.

Research undertaken by Amnesty International in eight countries (including some European countries)
shows that internet intermediaries’ policies can also push women to silence themselves for fear
of violence. “Due to Twitter’s failure to provide adequate remedy many of the women interviewed by
Amnesty International described changing their behaviour on the platform when they experienced violence
and abuse. The changes women make to their behaviour on Twitter ranges from self-censoring content they
post to avoid violence and abuse, fundamentally changing the way they use the platform, limiting their
interactions on Twitter, and sometimes, leaving the platform completely”. 43 The study reveals that of the
women who experienced online abuse or harassment, between 63% and 83% made some changes to
the way they used social media platforms.

Media framing of violence and unwelcoming social media user policies both contribute to creating a
culture of normalisation of cyber violence and hate speech online against women, which is silencing
women and hindering their participation in the online world. This reflects society's gender inequality
and continuum of violence against women and creates landscapes of insecurity where women’s human
rights are at direct threat.

2.2. Gender imbalance in the tech sector trickles down

Besides gender stereotypes in the broader society there are other more sector-specific root causes to
the growing unsafety of women online. To complement the perspective on the structure of cyber
spaces and how they function, it is important to examine how the tech sector’s gender imbalance
echoes in cyber spaces.

This study is written against a background of increased scrutiny of big “tech” corporations by the EU
institutions, the media and the broader public. Among several similar reports, the European
Commission’s 2018 Report on equality between women and men in the EU 44 concludes that progress
has to be made to reach gender equality and non-discrimination both in Human Resources and work
culture in the tech sector. In addition, recent research also shows that the apps and cyber spaces used
by hundreds of millions of people on a daily basis can carry with them the biases of tech sector
professionals.

41 Powell, A. (2016), “Be careful posting images online’ is just another form of modern-day victim-blaming”, The Conversation, available at
http://theconversation.com/be-careful-posting-images-online-is-just-another-form-of-modern-day-victim-blaming-64116
42 Ibid.
43 Amnesty International (2018), Toxic Twitter, a toxic place for women, available at
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/research/2018/03/online-violence-against-women-chapter-1/
44 European Commission (2018), “2018 Report on equality between women and men in the EU”, available at
http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/just/document.cfm?doc_id=50074

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These are transversal issues contributing the phenomenon of cyber violence and hate speech online
against women. In other terms, those who fabricate, police or manage the internet also influence how
users behave on online spaces 45.

2.2.1. Facts and figures

The earlier cited EC Report on equality between women and men in the EU highlights that gender
inequality and discrimination are rampant in the tech sector 46.

• In all EU Member States men dominate specific fields, such as engineering and technology.
• In 2014, the employment rate of women graduates in science, technology, engineering and
mathematics (STEM) at tertiary level was 76% in the EU. This is 10 percentage points lower than the
employment rate of men with the same qualifications.
• At tertiary level, only one third of women STEM graduates work in STEM occupations, compared to
one in two men.
• Women in STEM work longer hours than women in other occupations.
• Across the EU, only 20% of women aged 30 and over who hold ICT-related degrees decide to stay in
the technology industry. Research on women’s motives for leaving STEM jobs points to the effects of
workplace culture.

Together gender imbalance, gender inequality and gender segregation contribute to dictating
what content is produced, commercialised and disseminated and how users behave on the platforms
and tools and in socio-technoscapes in general 47.

A recent study commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and
Constitutional Affairs identifies several causes to gender segregation in the tech sector: lack of role
models, corporate, social and cultural norms, (institutional) barriers that prevent female
entrepreneurship, societal and individual barriers to financing, and gender stereotyping. This is also a
cause of the lack of female representation on corporate boards 48.

Moreover, a culture of sexual harassment exists in the tech sector. The non-profit organisation
“Women who Tech” polled 950 tech employees, founders, and investors of the California tech industry
on their experiences working in tech, including 750 women. The results show that violence against
women in the Silicon Valley is alarmingly prevalent 49:
• 53% of women as opposed to 16% of men have experienced harassment;
• 63% of harassment experienced by women was from a co-worker and 41% by their supervisor;
• 72% of the harassment was sexual harassment;

45 Rainie, Lee and Janna Anderson (2017), “Code-Dependent: Pros and Cons of the Algorithm Age. Pew Research Center, available at:
https://pewrsr.ch/2JKbSRx
46
European Commission (2018), “2018 Report on equality between women and men in the EU”, available at
http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/just/document.cfm?doc_id=50074
47 Swaminathan, R. (2014), “Politics of Technoscapes: Algorithms of Social Inclusion & Exclusion in a Global City”, Journal of International &
Global Studies. Vol. 6 Issue 1, p90-105, available at http://www.lindenwood.edu/files/resources/90-105.pdf
48 European Parliament (2018), “The underlying causes of the digital gender gap and possible solutions for enhanced digital inclusion of
women and girls”, available at
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2018/604940/IPOL_STU%282018%29604940_EN.pdf
49 Women who Tech (2017), “Tech and start-up culture survey”, available at https://www.womenwhotech.com/resources/tech-and-
startup-culture-survey

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• 13% of female respondents were propositioned for sex for a promotion vs 0% of male respondents.
Beyond this, author Emily Chang explains in her recent book 50 how venture capital firms, who are
essential in shaping the sector and the future of platforms, technologies and usages, are for a vast
majority entirely male dominated. In 2017, a number of women publicly revealed cases of sexual
harassment in the tech sector. As a result, several tech executives and venture capital executives were
accused of harassment and sexual misconduct. But investing relationships are forged in grey areas, in
informal situations, and so is sexual harassment, making it complicated to monitor. The State of the
Start Up 2017 survey 51 polled female founders on their perspective on sexual harassment in the
workplace:

• 78% of the female founders had been or knew someone who had been sexually harassed,
compared to 48% of male founders;
• 70% of the female founders said sexual harassment in the industry was still under-reported vs. 35%
of male founders.

Ethics of algorithms and gender biases

Having taken stock of the trends and figures regarding gender imbalance in the tech sector, it is
important to look at what its impact is on the structuring of the technologies and online spaces they
create. Citing from Emily Chang’s work: “Silicon Valley is changing our lives, and we are at risk of rewriting
all of this discrimination and gender disparity into the algorithms of the future. Artificial intelligence and
augmented reality and virtual reality — we are at the cusp of a whole wave of new technology that, if we
don’t change something, is going to be entirely built by men. But if robots are going to run the world, they
can’t be programmed by men alone. We need to have men and women making these decisions. 52”

In academic circles, the concept of “toxic technoculture” has been coined, i.e. toxic cultures that are
enabled by and propagated through sociotechnical networks such as Reddit, 4chan, Twitter and online
gaming. In her paper examining how policies and algorithmic structure of platforms such as Reddit
facilitate cyber violence and hate speech online against women, Adrienne Massanari explains that non-
human technological agents (algorithms, scripts, policies) can shape and are shaped by human activity
and that Reddit’s functionalities, governance structure, and policies around offensive content implicitly
encourage a pattern of what she calls “toxic technocultures”. In an iterative process between
programmers and programmes, certain features of masculinity are privileged and certain behavioural
landscapes are chosen and produced, mostly by men and they influence how male users behave and
interact with women online 53. The potential impact of this is demonstrated through an academic study
comparing acceptance rates of contributions from men and women in an open-source software
community. The researchers reveal that, overall, women’s contributions were accepted more often than
men’s contributions – except when a woman’s gender was identifiable, then they were rejected more
often 54.

50 Chang, E., (2018), Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys’ Club of Silicon Valley
51 First Round (2017), “State of the Start Up”, available at http://stateofstartups.firstround.com/2017/#introduction
52 Emily Chang, Op.Cit.
53 Massanari, A. (2015), “#Gamergate and The Fappening: How Reddit’s algorithm, governance, and culture support toxic technocultures”,
New Media & Society, available at
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283848479_Gamergate_and_The_Fappening_How_Reddit's_algorithm_governance_and_c
ulture_support_toxic_technocultures
54 Terrell J, Kofink A, Middleton J, Rainear C, Murphy-Hill E, Parnin C, Stallings J. (2017) Gender differences and bias in open source: pull
request acceptance of women versus men. Available at https://peerj.com/articles/cs-111/

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The programming of ICT solutions is also liable to gender biases. Algorithms determine what is
presented on a “Google search” and curate what users read on Facebook and which people dating sites
users can “meet”. “Smartphone apps are nothing but algorithms. Computer and video games are
algorithmic storytelling 55”. A recent research from the Pew Internet Research Center recalls for example
that Microsoft attempted to train bots to respond to young people on Twitter. Bots turned out
replicating patterns of hate speech by mimicking young people 56”. Indeed, a recent academic study on
artificial intelligence and machine learning concludes that machines can reproduce gender and racial
discrimination because they learn what people know implicitly 57.

The structure of the tech sector impacts the conceptualisation and commercialisation of platforms,
apps, new technologies and digital tools. Because it is gender imbalanced and crossed by power
relations, biases, hierarchy and (violent) discrimination, similar to real life society, these very issues are
translated into features and opportunities for power, hierarchy and violence, online. In addition, several
behavioural settings and technological functionalities increase the risks for women to be under threat
on the internet.

2.3. The architecture of cyber spaces and women’s victimisation

Acknowledging that the tech sector is characterised by gender imbalance, that there is increasing
evidence that the technologies and online platforms they are creating are gender biased and that
machines and artificial intelligence can reproduce these harmful stereotypes, it can be questioned how
this is affecting users and women in particular. Below four key aspects of present-day online spaces are
presented: privacy, anonymity, mob-mentality and permanence of data.

2.3.1. Privacy
Dunja Mijatović of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, wrote on July 3rd 2018, in
her comment “Safeguarding human rights in the era of artificial intelligence”: “The tension between
advantages of AI technology and risks for our human rights becomes most evident in the field of privacy.
Privacy is a fundamental human right, essential in order to live in dignity and security. But in the digital
environment, including when we use apps and social media platforms, large amounts of personal data
are collected - with or without our knowledge - and can be used to profile us, and produce predictions
of our behaviours. We provide data on our health, political ideas and family life without knowing who is
going to use this data, for what purposes and how.

Machines function on the basis of what humans tell them. If a system is fed with human biases (conscious
or unconscious) the result will inevitably be biased. The lack of diversity and inclusion in the design of AI
systems is therefore a key concern: instead of making our decisions more objective, they could reinforce
discrimination and prejudices by giving them an appearance of objectivity. There is increasing evidence that
women, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities and LGBTI persons particularly suffer from discrimination
by biased algorithms 58”.

55 Pew Research Center (2017) “Code-Dependent: Pros and Cons of the Algorithm Age”, available at
http://www.pewinternet.org/2017/02/08/code-dependent-pros-and-cons-of-the-algorithm-age/
56 Ibid.
57Caliskan, A., Bryson, JJ., Arvind Narayanan, A., (2017), “Semantics derived automatically from language corpora contain human-
like biases”, Science, Vol. 356, Issue 6334, pp. 183-186, available at http://science.sciencemag.org/content/356/6334/183
58 Council of Europe Cmmissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, Safeguarding human rights in the era of artificial intelligence”,
available at https://www.coe.int/en/web/commissioner/-/safeguarding-human-rights-in-the-era-of-artificial-intelligence

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The European Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) is currently conducting research on Artificial
Intelligence, Big Data, privacy and fundamental rights 59. In addition, the European Commission,
following a request from the European Parliament, is carrying out an analysis of algorithmic
transparency and accountability 60.

Researcher Nicole Shephard warns about the use of data for increased surveillance and control over
female bodies. “While the case of privacy risks on online dating platforms carries obvious implications for
sexual surveillance, the example of app-based car-for-hire company Uber shows that sexualised data
practices can also be found in seemingly mundane business, such as figuring out when/where to dispatch
drivers. Uber’s data scientists not only correlated rides to/from prostitution-prone areas with the habitual
paydays for benefits recipients, but rebranded the so-called “walk of shame” a “ride of glory” after discovering
increased demand of their service based on patterns they associated with one night stands. While Uber
published these insights in a (humorous) blog post that was later deleted, they illustrate the potential for
sexual, and in this case classed, surveillance in data collected for commercial purposes. 61”

Regulation (EU) 2016/679, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (‘GDPR’), regulates
the collection and processing by an individual, a company or an organisation of personal data from
individuals in the EU. GDPR is a major achievement for the protection of people's privacy and control
over their own data. It is, to this date, the most ambitious regulation and aims at holding big
internet corporations accountable for the privacy rights of users. As such, it offers potential in
curbing some aspects of online violence against women.

2.3.2. Anonymity
“People in cyberspace, including perpetrators, are nomadic. Their online ‘survival’ depends
on the constant transition from one state/identity to another62.”
The opportunity to be anonymous on the internet has had an immense impact on women’s lives across
continents. One of the key aspects in facilitating women’s access to all kinds of different spaces is the
fact that women can remain anonymous online and undertake activism, political work, movement
building or basically access all kinds of information that was unavailable before the rise of the World
Wide Web. On social media, women and people with different gender identities and sexual orientation
can experiment freely. Many human rights advocates push for a right to anonymity and encryption to
counter surveillance. According to women’s human rights advocates, anonymity and encryption enable
freedom of expression particularly when it comes to challenging gender stereotypes, attacks on human
rights and discrimination 63. For many activists, researchers and journalists working on women’s human
rights, a lack of anonymity can lead to exposure and violence, sometimes direct threats – not only of
themselves, but also of the vulnerable groups they work for.

Cyber violence and hate speech online can be amplified by anonymity. The absence of identification is
often perceived as an absence of rules and accountability. Anonymity reduces inhibitions. In her paper
analysing cyber violence from a jurisdictional and definitional perspective, Lynn Diane Roberts shows

59 Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) (2018), “Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and Fundamental Rights”, available at
http://fra.europa.eu/en/project/2018/artificial-intelligence-big-data-and-fundamental-rights
60 AlgoAware (2018), available at http://www.algoaware.eu
61 Shephard, N. (2016), “Big data and sexual surveillance”, APC, available at https://www.apc.org/en/pubs/big-data-and-sexual-surveillance
62 Kosovic, L. (2014), Virtual is real: Attempts to legally frame technology-related violence in a decentralized universe, GenderIT, available at
https://www.genderit.org/node/4215
63 Feminist principles of the internet, available at https://feministinternet.org/en/principle/anonymity

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that cyber stalking relies mainly on anonymity. “Anonymous email re-mailers and web-browsing services
can be used to strip identifying information from messages. Stalkers can hide their identity through the use
of anonymous and forged emails. (...) The ability to disguise ownership of messages and to destroy evidence
combined with the absence of capable guardianship of the Internet means there are limited deterrents to
cyber-stalking behaviours online. 64”

Anonymity has been the subject of social psychology and sociology. In 1969, Philip Zimbardo
demonstrated that when anonymised - when losing/giving up individuality or being merged in an
anonymised group - people were keener to have violent, disinhibited behaviour, accompanied by loss
of control and of personal constraint, which leads to what social psychology calls deindividuation 65.

Online, deindividuation translates into “cyber disinhibition that occurs mainly because of the anonymous
nature of the internet. Individuals may behave in ways that contradict normative behaviour when they do
not identify with a particular online community and are free to leave without desire to return (...) individuals
are able to freely make any statements, act in any online behaviour available, or even be whoever they want
to be – only to simply ― log off at the end of the day. This ability to disconnect might trump the need for
permission to behave in certain ways 66”. Deindividuation and cyber disinhibition are behaviours that lead
to hate speech online, cyber abuse and cyber violence, which target specifically women.

2.3.3. Mob mentality

Anonymity also facilitates the creation of crowds and groups of mutual interests, which are easily
formed on various cyber spaces. Before the internet era, factors such as geographical proximity and cost
of gathering at the same time at the same place were to be considered to create any group. This is not
the case anymore on the internet where a simple connection suffices. In Gendertrolling: How Misogyny
Went Viral (2015), Karla Mantilla lists a number of dimensions of what she calls “gender trolling” or cyber
sexual harassment 67:

• Gender trolling attacks are precipitated by women asserting their opinions online;
• They feature graphic sexualised and gender-based insults;
• They include rape and death threats — often credible ones — and frequently involve real-life
targeting, which adds to the credibility of the threats;
• They cross multiple social media or online platforms;
• They occur at unusually high levels of intensity and frequency (numerous threats or messages per
day or even per hour);
• They are perpetuated for an unusual duration (months or even years);
• They involve many attackers in a concerted and often coordinated campaign.
Danielle Keats Citron also describes how violent mobs threaten and target women with sexual violence,
especially women with intersecting vulnerabilities. She explains the role of crowds in destroying privacy

64 Roberts, L.D. (2008), “Jurisdictional and Definitional Concerns with Computer-mediated Interpersonal Crimes: An Analysis on Cyber
Stalking”, International Journal of Cyber Criminology, available at https://bit.ly/2tWcZrr
65 Zimbardo, P. G. (1969). The human choice: Individuation, reason, and order vs. deindividuation, impulse, and chaos. *In W. J. Arnold & D.
Levine (Eds.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation (pp. 237-307). Lincoln: university of Nebraska press.
66 Zimmerman, A.G. (2012) Online Aggression: The Influences of Anonymity and Social Modelling, University of North Florida, available at
https://digitalcommons.unf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1472&context=etd
67 Mantilla, K, (2015), Gendertrolling, How misogyny went viral, ABC-CLIO.

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and reputations online. “Several conditions accelerate dangerous group behaviour while other conditions
defuse the dangerousness of crowds. Unfortunately, Web 2.0 technologies provide all of the accelerants of
mob behaviour but very few of its inhibitors. Studies show that group leaders and authority figures play a
critical role in controlling a group’s destructive behaviour. But site operators, often viewed as wielding
authority, have little incentive to discourage hostility because they enjoy statutory immunity for others’
postings. 68”

The online attack on video games critic Anita Sarkeesian is a famous case of mob mentality targeting
women who are vocal or active in male dominated arenas 69. In a TedX conference, she recalls how she
was targeted by hundreds of perpetrators who attacked her on all her social media accounts with rape,
death, violence threats, all directed at her gender. Her Wikipedia article was vandalised with racist, sexist
and pornographic images. Attackers attempted to retrieve and disseminate her home address, phone
number and those of her relatives. Images of her were forged and inserted on videos staging her rape
by video games characters and then sent to her repeatedly. Mob mentality also takes shape in constant
re-sharing of stolen, hacked, non-consensual graphic content, such as in cases of “revenge porn” or
“image-based sexual abuse”. Sexual assaults filmed in “real life” and shared online, or broadcasted live
on platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat or Youtube, can also be watched and commented by
thousands and shared indefinitely. This permanence of sexually abusive content, often stolen or taken
by force has led several young women to commit suicide 70.

2.3.4. Permanence of data and re-victimisation

In 2014 the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that search engines were data
controllers and therefore ought to process individual requests to remove outdated or irrelevant content
from search results. Google has since removed more than 580,000 links from search results. Microsoft
has also created tools for victims requesting the removal of intimate content disseminated online
without their consent. Social media and content platforms such as Reddit and Facebook also put in
place processes that address “image-based sexual abuse” and its dissemination. Europe’s General Data
Protection Directive now enshrines the right to be forgotten in the general regulation.

Locating content is a challenge however, especially because offensive or criminal content can be
anywhere on the internet, sometimes on platforms that do not have any abuse policies in place. These
platforms can be hosted in countries with gaps in legislation regarding online abuse and cyber violence.
Myex.com, one of the most notorious platforms of “image-based sexual abuse” was shut down in 2018
by the US Federal Trade Commission. But countless cyber spaces still host this type of content.

The impact of the permanence of data on victims is significant, as “revenge porn” victim Emma Holten
states in a webinar with the European Women’s Lobby: “The goal of violators and the people propping up
the violation is to plant in the victim a constant sense of unease. Of not knowing when the next violation will
occur 71”. This feeling of constant “re-victimisation” induces a loss of agency and power over one’s own
narrative which makes image-based sexual abuse an effective tactic of abuse from the perpetrators’
perspective.

68
Citron, D.K. (2007), “Destructive Crowds: New Threats to Online Reputation and Privacy”, available at
http://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/fac_pubs/515/
69 Sarkeesian,A. 2012., Feminist Frequency, “TEDxWomen Talk about Online Harassment & Cyber Mobs”, December 5, 2012, Available at
https://bit.ly/2O6fH7a
70 Council of Europe, Gender equality unit (2016) Background note on sexist hate speech, available at https://bit.ly/2LDTcVt
71 European Women’s Lobby (2017), #HerNetHerRights online conference, available at https://www.womenlobby.org/Watch-
HerNetHerRights-online-conference-here?lang=en

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Many aspects, norms, cultural and technological settings allow for women to be victimised online.
Societal gender stereotypes echo on the internet, making cyber spaces a continuity of public spaces
and intimate partner sphere where “in real life” violence happens. The industry producing these tools
and platforms is not immune to its own gender inequality and there is a growing body of knowledge
pointing to the masculinity of the tech sector as a root cause for sexual harassment both offline and
online. The cyber forms of violence and hate speech against women are furthermore facilitated by
behavioural and technological factors once considered impossible to address effectively. The recent
European Regulation on Data Protection has a strong impact on European citizens’ empowerment vis-
à-vis their digital rights.

The following chapter will attempt to draw a picture of the phenomenon of cyber violence and hate
speech online by looking at the victims, the impact of cyber violence and hate speech online against
women and the perpetrators.

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3. IDENTIFICATION OF VICTIMS AND PERPETRATORS

KEY FINDINGS

• Women and especially young women with intersecting identities are the main targets of cyber
violence and hate speech online. Women asserting their views online and women in power are
also particularly at risk.
• Cyber violence and hate speech online against women have long-lasting psychological, physical
and economic impact for victims, their families and communities and cost society as a whole.
• Perpetrators are mostly young men on social media and half of them are known to their victims.

In this chapter we will have a closer look at the identities of the victims and perpetrators of cyber
violence and hate speech online against women. The objective will be to assess what makes women
targets of such violence and to review the impact that the online violence can have on the lives of
women. The chapter continues by describing on which digital platforms the violence takes place and
what the characteristics of perpetrators are. To conclude, several maps are presented to chart the
prevalence of the phenomenon in Europe.

3.1. The victims

Whether cyber violence and hate speech online involve “image-based sexual abuse”, “digital
voyeurism”, “upskirting”, “cyber sexual harassment”, “rape threats” or “cyber bullying”, victims can suffer
long term consequences. It affects their agency, privacy, trust and integrity and makes them go through
a devastating psychological cycle. Victims are targeted for a variety of reasons, often related to gender
and other identities. Victims may experience threats and abuse for their multiple and intersecting
identities. Sexism then encounters for example racism, targeting and threatening specifically women of
various ethnic and religious backgrounds. Finally, women endorsing a public persona can also be
targeted for being visible and vocal, whether as a politician, artist, journalist or activist.

3.1.1. Gender, age, sexual orientation and intersectional vulnerabilities

To this date, there is only one European-wide survey assessing the extent and prevalence of cyber
violence against women and providing insights on profiles of victims and perpetrators 72. In addition,
meta-studies such as Nicola Henry and Anastasia Powell’s “Technology-Facilitated Sexual Violence: A
Literature Review of Empirical Research” published in 2018, indicate that some forms of abuse, like
sexual violence in general, may be predominantly gender-, sexuality-, and age-based, with young
women being overrepresented as victims in some categories. According to their screening of the
most recent literature produced on the topic of cyber violence and hate speech online against women,
both women and men can be victims and perpetrators of (cyber violence) but “women and lesbian, gay,
bisexual, trans, intersex (LGBTI) persons are more likely to be targeted for specific forms of digital abuse. This
is perhaps not unsurprising, given what is already known about conventional forms of sexual harassment,
sexual violence, and discrimination. Online forms of sexual violence and harassment likewise stem from the
socially constructed beliefs and attitudes about gender and sexuality (including victim blaming and victim
shame and stigma) as well as perpetrator motivations for power and control73”.

72 European Agency for Fundamental Rights’ (FRA) European Survey on Violence Against Women (2014), Op. Cit.
73
Henry N., Powell, A. (2018), Op. Cit.

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Moreover, women do not have to be internet users to be victims of cyber violence or abuse. They
can be the object of depiction, (i.e. through the dissemination of rape videos on the internet), the
product sold (via websites dedicated to trafficking), etc.

Many studies that research victims focus on minors, though they are not producing gender
disaggregated data. The cross-country Project deSHAME, a collaboration between Childnet (UK), Kek
Vonal (Hungary), Save the Children (Denmark) and UCLan (UK) co-financed by the EU through the DG
Justice DAPHNE programme, focuses on online sexual harassment among minors and has developed
disaggregated indicators for data collection. It reaches a similar conclusion: online sexual harassment
intersects with discrimination and hate crimes, relating to a person’s actual or perceived gender,
gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religion, special educational need or disability 74.

3.1.2. Racist threats

A recent report by Amnesty International reveals the scale of online sexist and racist abuse experienced
by women 75. Black and Asian women being visible or challenging norms are for instance highly targeted
by racial violence online, although racist violence deploys on all women of colour. For instance, Diane
Abbott, a black Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom (UK) was repeatedly victimised
with a combination of sexist and racist abuse, including rape and death threats and through use of
racist hate speech including the use of animal metaphors to depict her. Amnesty International carried
out a survey on Twitter to understand the abuse women MPs face online, with a focus on the six weeks
prior to the 8 June 2017 UK General Elections. Diane Abbott received almost half (45.14%) of all abusive
tweets in the run up to the Election and, overall, black and Asian women MPs in Westminster received
35% more abusive tweets than white women MPs.

Seyi Akiwowo, a young British black female politician was targeted by racist hate speech after her short
speech at the European Youth Event in 2016. Hate speech deployed against her involved racist,
hateful and sexist comments and slurs. Her video was posted on a neo-Nazi site accompanied by calls
for mob attacks. Similarly, she “told Amnesty International that the abuse she experienced on Twitter and
other social media platforms included racial slurs like ‘n*gger’, ‘n*ggerress’, ‘negro’, references to lynching
and being hanged, as well as ‘monkey’, ‘ape’ and being told to ‘die of an STI 76’”.

In a worldwide survey of violence against female parliamentarians, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)
reveals how online violence targets black women in power: “A European parliamentarian of African origin
recounted how a billboard in her country, paid for by far-right groups, demanded that she be “whitened with bleach
and burned alive 77”.

3.1.3. Women’s visibility and representation online

Online spaces reflect the public sphere, where traditionally, women are unwelcome and under threat.
Women with visibility, who assert their views, take power, are being vocal, challenge norms or simply
defend their intersecting identities are targets for cyber violence and hate speech.

74 Project DeSHAME, available at https://www.childnet.com/our-projects/project-deshame/about-project-deshame

75 Amnesty International, Dhrodia, A. (2017), “Unsocial Media: The Real Toll of Online Abuse against Women”, available at
https://medium.com/amnesty-insights/unsocial-media-the-real-toll-of-online-abuse-against-women-37134ddab3f4
76 Amnesty International (2018), Op. Cit
77 Inter Parliamentary Union, “Sexism, harassment and violence against women parliamentarians”, Issues Brief, Oct. 2016, available at
http://archive.ipu.org/pdf/publications/issuesbrief-e.pdf

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Female politicians are overall targets for mob attacks and extremely violent cyber abuse. In the IPU
study cited above, a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) explains that she “receive(s) emails,
sometimes accompanied by pornographic images, and the message ‘get out of politics; get married instead.”
Another Parliamentarian explains that she once received in four days more than 500 rape threats on
Twitter. In the UK, ‘vile’ twitter attacks are broadly perceived as pushing women out of politics 78.

Female journalists are also at particular risk of being targeted by cyber violence and hate speech.
A OECD report79 describes the feelings experienced by female journalists experienced when receiving
threats: “journalists and editors were asked about the first time they experienced being harassed. Some
recalled clear death and rape threats; others described milder forms of harassment aimed at their
appearance, age or profession. But common to all these stories was that the description of the harassment
as a shock.”. A study from the British think thank Demos, conducted in 2014, shows that women
journalists are targeted by hateful comments 3 times more than their male counterparts 80.

Women academics also experience specific violence when their publications get widely shared on
social media and attract cyber abusers or groups with extreme political agendas 81.

Women blogging about politics or identify as feminist also face great risks of online abuse. A
study realised in five countries, including European countries, shows that 73.4% of the respondents,
women with a political blog, had had negative experiences during their blogging or social media use 82.
Most of these experiences involved abusive comments as well as stalking, rape threats, death threats
and even threats about offline encounters.

Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRD) can experience intimidation and harassment, targeting
their identities and their work. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights recently emphasised the
specific risks WHRD face when “online campaigns against (them) aim to damage their credibility as
advocates, to diminish or obliterate the power of their voices, and to restrict the already limited public space
in which women's activists can mobilise and make a difference 83.

3.2. The impact of cyber violence and hate speech online against women
Although more research is needed to fully understand the overall impact of cyber violence and hate
speech online against women, current knowledge points at the fact that these forms of violence do not
differ in impact from real life violence against women. As all forms of violence against women, cyber
violence and hate speech online have immediate and short-term effects, long term effects and
intergenerational effects. It impacts the women and their relatives, those they care for, their extended
community and societies more broadly. These types of violence affect women’s sense of safety, their

78
Ryall, G. (2017), BBC, Online trolling putting women off politics, says union, available at https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-39940086
79 OECD (2016), “Countering Online Abuse of Female Journalists”, available at https://www.osce.org/fom/220411
80 Demos, 2014, Misogyny on Twitter, available at https://www.demos.co.uk/project/misogyny-on-twitter/
81 Mead, R (2014) The New Yorker, The Troll Slayer, A Cambridge classicist takes on her sexist detractors, available at
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/01/troll-slayer
82 Eckert, S. (2018), “Fighting for recognition: Online abuse of women bloggers in Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the
United States”, Wayne State University, USA.
83 Human rights Council (2018), “Statement by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein”, 38th session of the
Human Rights Council, available at https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=23238&LangID=E

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physical and psychological health, their dignity and rights. Moreover, cyber violence does not have to
be experienced directly to leave an impact 84.

3.2.1. Impact on women’s health and their social development

Threats of violence and abuse online have a profound impact on women at all levels of individual
development. Victims experience a sense of fear and attack on their integrity.

Amnesty International found that of the women who experienced abuse or harassment online, 41% of
responding women felt that their physical safety was threatened. In the same survey, 1 in 5 of
women in the UK (20%) and over 1 in 4 (26%) in the USA said they felt their family’s safety was at risk
after experiencing abuse or harassment on social media platforms. 1 in 2 women experienced lower
self-esteem or loss of self-confidence as well as stress, anxiety or panic attacks 85 as a result of cyber
violence and hate speech online.

For psychiatrist Muriel Salmona, cited in a report from the High Council for Equality of the French
government, these forms of violence impact on women’s mental health and physical health that can
last long term and cause avoidance and control behaviours, accompanied by anxio-depressive
disorder, sleep disorder, and can damage social, emotional and sexual life 86. UNICEF furthermore
announced in 2014 that the risk of suicide attempt is 2.3 times higher for a victim of cyber
harassment 87 compared to non-victims.

In a study on Online Abuse published in 2014, the Pew Research Center recalls that 14% of those who
had experienced online harassment found their most recent incident extremely upsetting, while
35% found it very or somewhat upsetting 88.

The DeShame research 89 shows that the impact of online sexual harassment is unique to the individual
and intersectional, with gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, special educational need or disability
variables that influence the impact of such violence. Researchers agree that forms of cyber violence
affecting adolescents have a long-term effect and consequences on mental health, sense of safety and
increased risk of suicide. Previous research also points at the negative impact of cyber bullying on
young perpetrators.

3.2.2. The economic impact

Cyber violence and hate speech online against women also have an impact on the economic health of
women and their family, their communities and societies.

84 Pew Research Center (2017), “Online Harassment 2017”, available at http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-

content/uploads/sites/14/2017/07/10151519/PI_2017.07.11_Online-Harassment_FINAL.pdf
85
Amnesty International (2017), Amnesty reveals alarming impact of online abuse against women, available at
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/11/amnesty-reveals-alarming-impact-of-online-abuse-against-women/
86 Muriel Salmona cited in Haut Conseil à l’Egalité (2017), “En finir avec l’impunite� des violences faites aux femmes en ligne : une urgence
pour les victimes”, available at http://www.haut-conseil-
egalite.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/hce_rapport_violences_faites_aux_femmes_en_ligne_2018_02_07.pdf
87 UNICEF FRANCE (2014), Ecoutons ce que les enfants ont à nous dire, Consultation nationale, available at
https://www.unicef.fr/sites/default/files/userfiles/Consultation_2014.pdf
88 Pew Research center (2014), Op. Cit.
89 Project DeShame, Op. Cit.

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Cyber violence and hate speech online against women can have a long-term effect on women’s
reputations and can damage the livelihoods of women. According to the 2014 Pew Research Center
report on cyber abuse, about a third of the people (men and women) who experienced physical threats
and sustained harassment felt their reputation had been damaged. Overall, 15% of those who have
experienced online harassment said it impacted their reputation.

Furthermore, by pushing women out of cyber spaces, because of fear of victimisation or retaliation,
cyber violence punishes women relying on the internet for a living. In the cases involving intimate
partner violence, doxxing, image-based sexual abuse, the victim’s current or future employment status
can be compromised by privacy attacks and personal information released online 90.

Regarding cyber violence happening in the context of intimate partner viloence, researchers have
estimated the cost associated with responding to technology-based victimisation “to $1,200 compared
to $500 for survivors of non-technological abuse 91”. Cyber violence and hate speech online have a physical
and psychological impact that demands reparations, having a cost, both at individual and society
level. Some costly consequences of cyber violence against women include: chronic physical conditions
and loss of life expectancy, mental health conditions (e.g. depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress
disorder, attempted suicide) that demand long term treatments; sexual and sexual health issues,
sometimes hindering women’s reproductive health; substance abuse and associated crimes; social
isolation and solitude; lost wages; reduced participation in society; and individual and public
expenditure on medical protection, judicial and social services 92.

3.2.3. The societal impact

Cyber violence and hate speech online against women harms women in durable ways and hinder their
fundamental rights, freedoms and their dignity, thus impacting and costing society as a whole93. Cyber
violence can push women to restrict themselves from the internet, due to the pervasiveness of the forms
of violence they can experiment online. “An unsafe Internet arena will mean that women will frequent the
Internet less freely, with costly societal and economic implications for all 94”. Cyber violence overall impacts
women’s digital inclusion, which is recognised in the EU’s Digital Single Market Strategy, and hence
hinders women’s full participation in society, thus preventing women to be active digital citizens and use
digital tools to reach their full potential.

3.3. The perpetrators

Since the start of its global activism movement against rape, the #MeToo hashtag movement has shifted
the attention of the general public towards the perpetrators of assault. But as the spotlights have
traditionally been on the victims, for cultural and systemic reasons associated with power, very few
studies have analysed, in depth, the profile of perpetrators and their geographic distribution. In the
meantime, new forms of masculinity are emerging which are challenging women’s rights and

90 EIGE (2017), Op. Cit.

91 YWCA (2017),”Technology and gender-based violence”, available at https://www.ywca.org/wp-content/uploads/WWV-Technology-and-
GBV-Fact-Sheet.pdf
92 EndVawNow, available at http://www.endvawnow.org/en/articles/301-consequences-et-couts.html
93 EIGE (2014), Estimating the costs of gender-based violence in the European Union, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg,
available at: http://eige.europa.eu/rdc/eige-publications/estimating-costs-gender-based-violence-european-union-report
94 UN Broadband Commission for Digital Development (2015), Op.Cit.

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widespread feminism. This subchapter will present the characteristics of perpetrators of online violence
against women.

3.3.1. Types of online platforms where perpetrations occur

The Code of Conduct on Countering Hate Speech Online, which includes Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter,
YouTube, Instagram, Google+ and Snapchat has led to a decrease in abuses on these platforms when it
comes to hate speech online 95.
Most hate speech and cyber violence occur in a “continuity” of digital spaces - which may spill over
and continue in real life and vice versa. The “continuity” of digital spaces is characterised by direct and
indirect perpetration and abuse of a target, on several platforms simultaneously. The platforms can be
publicly accessible, such as comments sections of media, social media groups or specialised fora, and
they can be personal spaces, which include messaging apps, email, closed “friend” group chats and
social media feeds. These platforms can be linked and the violent attacks can be coordinated or
uncoordinated.
One example of this “continuity” of violent content between digital spaces is the recent victimisation of
French journalist Nadia Daam, targeted by a hateful mob after a radio editorial about a French Forum
similar in content to the well-known 4Chan 96. Her home address and her daughter’s name were
released, her apartment was vandalised and her tablets and computers stolen. She received hundreds
of hateful messages including rape and death threats, directed at her and her teenage daughter, she
was registered on paedophilic websites as a user, etc.
Nadia Daam pressed charges and two of her assaulters were convicted. Her case drew attention. The
French Secretary of State for Gender Equality drafted a bill to include “digital raids”, or harassment led
by a mob, in the law reinforcing the fight against sexual and gender-based violence 97. In this case, the
Forum was the primary space of perpetration, where the mob gathered and reinforced, organised and
strategised the attack. In a second step, perpetrations occurred on Nadia Daam’s private messages, on
Facebook, Twitter, in her emails, on her Whatsapp and texts. Thirdly, perpetrations occurred in her “real
life”, in her apartment and in the street, in her daughter’s high school, etc.
The 2014 report on online harassment from the Pew Research Center finds that online harassment is
much more prevalent in some online environments than in others 98. 66% of internet users said their
most recent incident occurred on a social networking site or app, 22% in the comments section of
a website, 16% through online gaming, 16% in a personal email account, 10% on discussion sites such
as Reddit, 6% on an online dating website or app. Women and young adults were more likely than
others to experience harassment on social media. Men, especially the younger, were more likely to
report online gaming as the most recent site of their harassment.

Two reports point at Twitter’s specific nature that leads to an overload of violent content aimed
directly at individual women. The Demos “Misogyny on Twitter” report published in 2014 reveals for
example that “of over 100,000 Tweets mentioning ‘rape’ between 26th December 2013 and 9th February

95 Code of Conduct on countering illegal hate speech online (2018), “Results of the
3rd monitoring exercise”, available at http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/just/item-detail.cfm?item_id=612086
96 Le Monde (2017), “Jeuxvideo.com, les moderateurs racontent les coulisses du forum 18-25”, available at
https://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2017/11/16/jeuxvideo-com-les-moderateurs-racontent-les-coulisses-du-forum-18-
25_5215777_4408996.html
97 Projet de loi renforçant la lutte contre les violences sexuelles et sexistes (2018), available at http://www.assemblee-
nationale.fr/15/projets/pl0778.asp
98 Pew Research Center (2014), Op. Cit.

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2014, more than 1 in 10 appeared to be threatening in nature.” 99 The Amnesty International report “Toxic
Twitter”, published in 2018, shows that despite the growing concern of the companies’ executives and
all the policies put in place, Twitter remains a threatening space for women, especially because of its
nature which allows direct and immediate contact between an infinite quantity of users100 and because
anonymity is a core feature. Furthermore, newspapers frequently report of women being attacked by
bots on Twitter. Security firm Imperva furthermore shows that bots are responsible for 52% of web
traffic and that every third website visitor is an attack bot101. Recently, Twitter multiplied its efforts in
deleting fake and suspicious accounts, suspending more than 1 million a day. Twitter announced to
have suspended 70 million accounts in May and June 2018 102.

3.3.2. Perpetrators’ characteristics

A comparative research on cyber violence against women undertaken by women’s rights organisations
in three Nordic countries (Iceland, Denmark and Norway), shows that victims are typically young women
between 15–35 years and perpetrators are typically men 103.

The 2014 Pew Report on online harassment reveals that 38% of harassed people said a stranger was
responsible for their most recent incident 104.

The Association of Progressive Communications (APC)’s research project “End violence: Women's rights
and safety online” found out that half of the perpetrators they described in their case studies were
known by the victims. In most of these cases, these perpetrators were either a current or former
partner or were the victim’s relatives, co-workers or friends. Furthermore, the organisation “Take Back
the Tech!” developed an initiative between 2012 and 2014 to crowdsource and map events of online
abuse. This revealed that 40% of documented cases were perpetrated by someone the victim knew and
two thirds of these cases were about intimate partner violence 105. In a large-scale German study on
cyberstalking, authors found that most of the victims were female and the majority of the perpetrators
were male and that cyberstalking happened mainly in the context of IPV 106.
A small proportion of research is focused on the profile of cyber perpetrators. The new forms of
masculinities produced on forums, communities and sub-culture groups, correlated with
ideologies of anti-feminism and hate, such as the “incels” 107, have recently been brought to attention,
following the Toronto mass-shooting perpetrated by a young man identifying as an “incel 108”. Adrienne

99 Demos (2014), Op. Cit.

100 Amnesty International (2018), Op. Cit.
101 Imperva (2016), “Bot Traffic Report 2016”, available at https://www.incapsula.com/blog/bot-traffic-report-2016.html
102 Washington Post (2018), “Twitter is sweeping out fake accounts like never before, putting user growth at risk”, available at
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/07/06/twitter-is-sweeping-out-fake-accounts-like-never-before-putting-user-
growth-risk/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.badc11c12e9b&wpisrc=al_technology__alert-economy--alert-tech&wpmk=1
103 Jo�hannsdo�ttir, A., Helenedatter Aarbakke, M., Theil Nielsen, R., Kvenre�ttindafe�lag I�slands; KUN; Kvinderådet (2017) Online Violence
Against Women in the Nordic Countries”, available at http://www.kun.no/uploads/7/2/2/3/72237499/2017_onlineviolence_web.pdf
104 Pew Research Center (2014), Op. Cit.
105 APC Women’s Rights Programme (2015) “Briefing paper on VAW”, available at
https://www.apc.org/sites/default/files/HRC%2029%20VAW%20a%20briefing%20paper_FINAL_June%202015.pdf
106 Dreßing, H., and al (2014), “Cyberstalking in a Large Sample of Social Network Users: Prevalence, Characteristics, and Impact Upon
Victims”, Cyberpsychology, behavior, and social networking, available at
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257597866_Cyberstalking_in_a_Large_Sample_of_Social_Network_Users_Prevalence_Chara
cteristics_and_Impact_Upon_Victims
107 Incel refers to “involuntary celibate” and mostly male people identify with the term.
108 Ging, D (2017), “Alphas, Betas, and Incels, Theorizing the Masculinities of the Manosphere”, available at
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1097184X17706401?journalCode=jmma

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Massanari has also shown that Reddit’s politics of algorithms prioritised the interests of young, white,
heterosexual men in aggregating certain content and showcasing it more visibly 109.

In her paper Due Diligence and Accountability for Online Violence Against Women, Zarizana Abdul Aziz,
director of the Due Diligence Project, makes a distinction between primary perpetrator and secondary
perpetrator. The primary perpetrator uploads the abusive content and the secondary(ies) -
transmitter- perpetrator(s), share(s) it. “Data and images that are tweeted and re-tweeted, downloaded
and forwarded, liked and shared may involve a great number of individuals and pose an overwhelming
challenge to regulators110.”

3.3.3. Mapping cyber violence and hate speech online against women in Europe
Mapping cyber violence and hate speech online in Europe is a complex matter. As will be demonstrated
in this subchapter and in the next chapter, every Member State has developed different statistical
indicators defined by their domestic laws, which makes the collection and comparison of data on EU
level hazardous. Furthermore, data is still rarely disaggregated by gender, nor does it always include the
relationship between perpetrator and victim. These relationship can be crucial to thoroughly map the
type of cyber violence and to profile the perpetrators.
EU-wide and multi-country surveys questioning experiencing of online violence are for the time being
the best accessible and most reliable sources for assessing the prevalence of the phenomenon across
Member States.

To date, only the FRA EU-wide survey on violence against women contains comprehensive data on
cyber violence and hate speech online against women that allows for comparative analysis between
countries. Cyber violence is not yet a separate category in Eurostat’s offences and crimes database. EIGE
proposes a tool which links Members States’ national administrative data sources on gender based
violence, with details about perpetrators and victims, witnesses, incidents and prosecution process and
outcomes. On both stalking and harassment at the European level, data is still unavailable. EIGE is
preparing a study on improving data collection on intimate partner violence and is assisting Member
States to produce regular, comparable statistics and to meet the monitoring requirements of
international legal instruments (in particular the Victims’ Rights Directive and the Istanbul Convention).
Facebook, which was contacted to inform this research does not produce - or disseminate - a
breakdown by country and type of abuse.

Below are the statistics produced by the FRA on cyber stalking and cyber harassment. In order to provide
a complete picture of the number and distribution of perpetrators, these statistics ought to be
completed with the number of police reports regarding cyber harassment, cyber stalking, sexist hate
speech, and the number of cases effectively prosecuted. It should also be taken into account that a large
number of cyber offences and crimes go unreported by the women experiencing them, for multiple
reasons. Finally, internet intermediaries should be compelled to produce and disseminate
disaggregated data on perpetrators, their geographical distribution, the type of offense or crime and
the entity flagging them.

Map 1 shows that in Denmark, Sweden, Slovakia and the Netherlands between 17 and 18% of
women since the age of 15 have experienced cyber harassment. Romania, Lithuania, Portugal are
the countries where, according to the FRA survey, women are least exposed to cyber harassment. A

109 Massanari, A. (2015), Op. Cit.

110
Abdul Aziz, Z (2017) “Due Diligence and Accountability for Online Violence against Women”, available at www.duediligenceproject.org

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similar distribution is perceived when asking about cyber harassment perceived in the year preceding
the survey interview.

Map 1: European map of sexual harassment and stalking/cyber harassment since the age of 15. Source:
Fundamental Rights Agency

Map 2 maps the experiencing of cyber stalking by women since the age of 15. Sweden, Denmark,
Belgium, Luxembourg, Finland and Slovakia are among the countries with the highest prevalence,
whilst women in Spain, Bulgaria and Romania have experienced relatively little cyber stalking compared
to other EU countries. Map 3 shows that Sweden, Slovakia, the UK and Denmark are the countries
where women experienced the largest amount of cyber stalking in the year before the interview with
the FRA, whereas in Lithuania, Estonia, Slovenia, women have experienced the lowest amount of cyber
stalking in the year before the interview.

Map 2: Experiencing cyber stalking since the age of 15. Source: FRA

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Map 3: Experiencing cyber stalking in the year before the interview with FRA. Source: FRA

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4. MEASURING THE PREVALENCE OF CYBER VIOLENCE AND HATE

SPEECH ONLINE AGAINST WOMEN IN THE EU

KEY FINDINGS

• Despite the obligations contained in the Victim’s Rights Directive and the Istanbul Convention,
comprehensive disaggregated comparable data is rarely available.
• Illegal hate speech online targeting gender identity is equivalent to 3.1% of reports to internet
platforms in the EU and 14% of women in the EU have experienced cyber stalking since the age
of 15.

After defining the different forms of cyber violence and hate speech online against women and
analysing its root causes, we have identified the victims and perpetrators in the previous chapter. It is
now time to have a closer look at the available data to assess the prevalence of the phenomenon in the
EU. In this chapter, the study will firstly present how data on cyber violence against women is currently
collected in the EU and at Member State level. Then, it will continue by discussing in more detail the
statistics that have been produced. The chapter will end with a short reflection on the data gaps.

4.1. Data collection at EU and Member State level

Despite the perceived prevalence of cyber violence and hate speech online against women in the
European Union, it remains a challenge to aggregate data at European level and to compare national
data. Data collection mechanisms which measure the prevalence of the phenomenon of cyber violence
and hate speech online are not yet coordinated and each Member State measures the prevalence of
cyber violence using different indicators and definitions. The need for better collection of data related
to violence against women has been recognised by the EU and the Council of Europe 111.

4.1.1. EU wide surveys and data collection mechanisms

The Victims Directive (2012/29/EU) of the European Union and the Convention on Prevention and
Combating Violence against Women and intimate partner Violence (Istanbul Convention) of the
Council of Europe both contain obligations to produce data regarding gender-based violence that can
apply to cyber violence and hate speech online.

“The Victims Directive of the European Union establishes minimum standards on the rights, support and
protection of victims of any crime. It is, to date, the most important EU Directive with regard to data collection
on gender-based violence. It includes in its preamble, an EU-wide definition of gender-based violence and
violence committed in close relationships. It reiterates in paragraph 64 the importance of systematic and
adequate statistical data collection. Article 28 of the Directive states that Member States shall communicate
available data to the European Commission, by 16th November 2017, and every three years thereafter, on
how victims (including victims of gender-based violence) have accessed the rights set out in the Directive.
This data should include at least the number and type of the reported crimes and, as far as such data are
known and available, the number, age and gender of the victims 112.”

111 EIGE (2017), Recommendations for Eurostat, available at

http://eige.europa.eu/sites/default/files/eu_recommendations_term_and_inds_study_2016.pdf
112 EIGE (2015), “An analysis of the Victim’s Rights Directive from a Gender Perspective”, available at http://eige.europa.eu/rdc/eige-
publications/analysis-victims-rights-directive-gender-perspective

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The Istanbul Convention includes obligations regarding data collection and research for Member States
and other parties that have ratified the Convention. Article 11 applies to the collection of disaggregated
relevant statistical data at regular intervals on cases of all forms of violence covered by the Convention:
psychological violence, stalking, physical violence, sexual violence and rape, forced marriage, female
genital mutilation, forced abortion, forced sterilisation and sexual harassment. Cyber harassment and
cyber stalking are therefore covered by the Istanbul Convention. “Data on victim and perpetrator shall
be disaggregated by sex, age, type of violence and relationship victim/perpetrator, geographical location, as
well as other factors deemed relevant by Parties such as disability. Reference should also be made to
conviction rates of perpetrators of all types of violence concerned and other important data, such as the
number of protection orders issued. Data should also be of high quality and go beyond the internal recording
needs of the agencies concerned in order to allow extensive analysis and conclusions to be drawn to improve
policy-making 113”.

Regarding data and statistics on the broader topic of gender-based violence (GBV), the EU has
developed a statistical and data approach based on three pillars: a) data from Member States’ statistical
systems and relevant services are gathered and collected on Eurostat; b) women’s experiences of GBV
is collected through surveys, such as the FRA survey; and c) research is conducted to interrogate citizens
perceptions and representations on the issue, which available on the EU Barometer. To date, only the
FRA survey covers some forms of cyber violence.

In 2017 EIGE produced a set of recommendations to Eurostat which identifies several steps to achieve
a better and more comprehensive collection of data on the phenomenon of gender-based violence.
However, cyber violence and hate speech online against women take several forms and these have not
yet been thoroughly defined by legislators at EU level and are not yet criminalised in many Member
States. Cyber violence and hate speech online against women are not part of the EIGE
recommendations. EIGE will publish a study on Youth, Digitalisation and Gender Equality, that will be
available in the latter half of 2018 and will address partly the phenomenon.

Another important source which may produce reliable data on the prevalence of cyber violence against
women are user requests received by internet intermediaries for their intervention against cyber
violence or hate speech experienced/observed. However, to date none of the larger tech companies
has released country-specific data.

4.1.2. National databases and data collection mechanisms

At Member State level, data collection is correlated to the criminalisation of offences and crimes relative
to cyber violence and hate speech online against women. When the data is available (publicly),
comparison and interpretation remain difficult and the reliability of any comparison between countries
arguable. The first challenge is the classification of an offense or crime when it is first reported to the
police or competent authority. Sub-categories are rarely sufficiently specific to be able to trace the
different forms of cyber violence against women. Definitions of such categories still differ among
countries, making any meaningful comparative analysis a perilous exercise. Secondly, when it comes to
reporting violence and pursuing perpetrators, there are major differences between countries,
depending on the culture and the relative advancement of women’s human rights.

113 Friestedt, J. (2014), Violence against Women Unit, Council of Europe, “Challenges of monitoring the implementation of the Council of
Europe’s Istanbul Convention”, available at http://eige.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/Friestedt-Johan-Council-of-Europe-
Challenges%20of%20monitoring%20the%20implementation%20of%20the%20Istanbul%20Convention-EIGE-Seminar-8-12-2014.pdf

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4.2. Interpreting existing data

4.2.1. Scope and numbers of victims

• Regarding the prevalence of sexist hate speech 114, the third round of monitoring of the
implementation of the Code of Conduct on countering illegal hate speech online shows that illegal
hate speech online targeting gender identity is equivalent to 3.1% of reports to internet
platforms in the EU 115. This number has to be nuanced by the fact that women inhabiting several
identities may be suffering from and report hate speech online targeting both their gender and their
sexual orientation or ethnic/religious/national/racial background, entries that are not gender
disaggregated in the collection and analysis of data. In addition, this number represents only the
percentage of reports to internet platforms and not the total prevalence of hate speech online
against women in Europe.
• According to the FRA Survey on Violence Against Women (2014), 11% of women in the European
Union have experienced cyber harassment since the age of 15. Between 18 and 29 years of age,
20% of women have experienced cyber harassment, versus 13% of 29 to 39 years of age and 11%
between 40 and 49 years of age. Between 50 and 59 years old 6% of EU women have experienced
cyber harassment and over 60 years old, they are 3% 116.
• According to the FRA Survey, 14% of women in the EU women have experienced stalking in the
form of offensive or threatening communications since the age of 15 (stalking by means of email,
text messages or the internet). Young women in particular. 4% of all 18 to 29 year-old women in
the EU have experienced cyberstalking in the 12 months preceding the interview, compared with
0.3 % of women who are 60 years old or older 117.
• According to the International Association of Internet Hotlines, which allows users to report online
Child Sexual Abuse (INHOPE), the Netherlands is the 2nd country worldwide after the United States
of America to host online Child Sexual Abuse material with 19% of the worldwide online child
sexual abuse material. France is fourth worldwide with 7%. In the EU-28, the Netherlands hosts
51% of the material, France 18%, Sweden 10%, Romania 6% and Bulgaria 5%. Online child sexual
abuse material is composed of 90% of girl depicting material and 10% of boy depicting material.
79% of it depicts children between 3 and 13 years old 118.

4.2.2. Specific results on Member State level

Below are presented results, types of surveys and national databases from France and the Netherlands.
These two mini-case studies show the landscape of data collection, eventual reporting platforms and
general availability of knowledge regarding the phenomenon. The comparison between the two
countries allows to identify good practices and gaps.

114 In terms of the total number of notifications sent in a period of 6 weeks by 33 civil society organisations and 2 national authorities to
internet platforms who signed the Code of Conduct
115 European Commission, Results of European Commission third round of monitoring of the Code of Conduct against online hate speech,
available at http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/just/item-detail.cfm?item_id=612086
116 European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) (2014), “Violence against women survey”, survey data explorer, available at
http://fra.europa.eu/en/publications-and-resources/data-and-maps/survey-data-explorer-violence-against-women-
survey?mdq1=dataset
117 Ibid.
118 INHOPE 2017, Facts, Figures & Trends, “The fight against online Child Sexual Abuse in perspective”, available at
http://www.inhope.org/tns/resources/statistics-and-infographics/statistics-and-infographics-2017.aspx

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France

• In France, a recent report from the High Council for Equality (Haut Conseil à l’Egalité) cites a survey
(Opinionway) that reveals that 8% of respondents or someone they know, aged of 18 or more,
have already experienced cyber misogyny, including 10% of women and 6% of men 119. The FRA
survey finds that 15% of French women have experienced cyber harassment since the age of 15.
• Regarding reporting illegal content, France possesses a platform called PHAROS managed by the
Police Nationale and the Gendarmerie Nationale, which registers and can gather proof on every
report made by internet users and also assists future investigations 120. Another independent
reporting platform called “Point de contact 121” allows users to report on offensive or criminal content.
None of these reporting platforms share statistical data publicly. Moreover, the feminist organisation
Feministe vs Cyber Harcèlement have listed all the means of self-protection online, cyber security and
reporting available in France 122.
• Regarding statistics, the French Ministry of the Interior possesses a website that lists recent figures.
Regarding cyber violence, no data is accessible on the website. Recent surveys have been undertaken
on various topics related to cyber violence but no survey has been done on cyber violence directly 123.

The Netherlands

• A recent report from feminist research centre Atria presents the FRA survey results and compares
them with the Dutch police results. In the FRA survey, one out of six women reported having
experienced cyber harassment since the age of 15. Among women aged 18 to 29, one in three
have experienced cyber harassment since the age of 15. Dutch women report having experienced
cyber harassment more than the EU average 17% against 11%. According to Atria, the FRA statistics
for the Netherlands are higher than the figures revealed by earlier Dutch studies. “In the Safety
Monitor, 3.6% of the Dutch women surveyed reported having experienced some form of cyberbullying in
the previous year (CBS Statline) (...) Incidentally, in the Dutch study lesbians and homosexual men
emerged as victims of cyberbullying significantly more often (6.4% and 6.2% respectively) than
heterosexual respondents124”.
• The Dutch Ministries of Economy and Justice have launched, with the support of the European Union,
the Meldknop.nl platform that allows users to report and press charges on any type of cyber crime125,
with a refined platform to seek help and report on cyber violence and hate speech. Helpwanted.nl,

119 Haut Conseil à l’Egalité (2017), “En finir avec l’impunite� des violences faites aux femmes en ligne : une urgence pour les victimes”,
available at http://www.haut-conseil-egalite.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/hce_rapport_violences_faites_aux_femmes_en_ligne_2018_02_07.pdf
120 PHAROS, available at
https://www.internet-signalement.gouv.fr/PortailWeb/planets/Accueil!input.action
121 The French Association of Internet Providers (AFPI) has set up the platform in 1998, (and a “Point of Contact” software for personal
computers). Point de contact verifies of the reported content is illegal under French law . If it is, illegal content is systematically reported
to the competent French authorities and notified to the content provider, if the content is located in France or transmitted to a partner
of the INHOPE international network, if the content is hosted abroad. Available at https://www.pointdecontact.net
122 Féministes vs Cyber Harcèlement, “Que faire en cas de cyber harcèlement?”, available at https://feministesvscyberh.tumblr.com/que-
faire-en-cas-de-cyber-harcelement
123 Ministère de l’Interieur, Statistiques, available at https://www.interieur.gouv.fr/Publications/Statistiques
124 Atria (2016), “Violence against women, European Union survey results in the Dutch context”, available at
https://www.atria.nl/epublications/IAV_B00111689.pdf
125 https://www.meldknop.nl

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an independent reporting platform focuses on online sexual abuse of children and adolescents and
allows the young victims to seek assistance 126. A cyber bullying platform called Pestweb 127 also exists.
• The Netherlands’ statistical system (CBS Statline) bi-yearly monitor survey presents data relative to
cyber violence with a high disaggregation. All data is disaggregated by age categories, sex, sexual
orientation, relationship victim/perpetrator, geography and whether or not the violence has been
filed at the police or at another public institution 128. Moreover, the data is accessible to the public.
2017 data reveals that cyber bullying affects 3.1% of the population, hate speech online 1%, online
stalking 0.8%, online blackmailing 0.3% and online violent threatening 0.6%. Women are affected up
to 6.5% by cyber violence in general and men 5.7%. The most vulnerable categories are women
between 15 and 25 years old of whom 14.6% to have been victimised online in 2017. Lesbian women
are affected up to 12.9%.

4.3. Gaps in current data and statistics

Data and statistics on cyber violence and hate speech online against women in the EU are therefore
extremely scarce and diluted. But the EU has already two instruments at hand which could be
strengthened: the Victim’s Rights Directive and the Convention of Istanbul. They can be used to request
that data from Member States’ statistical systems and relevant services are effectively collected, that
women’s experiences are surveyed, with the variety of their situations analysed, and that more research
is conducted to collect citizens’ representations and awareness-raising needs. Internet intermediaries
should also be requested to provide country-specific disaggregation as well as more disaggregation on
the forms of cyber violence and hate speech online against women. They have the ability to monitor
the number of removals and illicit content posted and therefore should allow users to access these data
with more transparency.

The next chapter will look more carefully at the history of the internet and how threats against women
became pervasive online. The evolution of laws and standards regarding the protection of human rights
online will also be analysed.

126 https://www.helpwanted.nl
127 https://www.pestweb.nl
128
Centraal Bureau Voor de Statistiek, Slachtofferschap delicten; persoonskenmerken.

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5. UNDERSTANDING THE EMERGENCE AND EVOLUTION OF CYBER

VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH ONLINE AGAINST WOMEN IN THE EU

KEY FINDINGS

• The extension of the broadband network, the proliferation of 3G and 4G networks across Europe
and the affordability of smartphones have made it easier for European consumers to own, access
and use new technologies and internet.
• With the increasing number of social media users, moderation policies had to evolve and
respond to the growing number of harmful content and behaviours.
• Social media companies react in case of bad press or legislative push, self-regulation has its limits.

This chapter will put the phenomenon of cyber violence and hate speech against women in perspective
by providing a succinct description of the general emergence of the offer and use of internet and
technologies. This will help to better understand the root causes and prevalence of cyber violence
against women as discussed in the above as well as the development of national and multilateral
regulation.

5.1. European pre-broadband and broadband age, technological and regulatory

background
The rise of the internet has brought about significant changes in how societies are organised and how
people relate to one another. Besides being a primary means of communication, it is also a place for
non-physical encounters. This has however not always been the case. When the first European
households obtained access to the internet on a PC through their regular phone lines, around 1993, use
of the connection was limited to certain multimedia libraries and a number of search engines crawling
the World Wide Web. This “pre-broadband age” is characterised by slow internet connections based on
technologies such as dial-ups, which did not allow high data rates and rapid access to internet services.

As the web continued to grow with more and more businesses moving their contents online, so did the
number of users. This was further accelerated at the turn of the millennium when broadband internet
connection was introduced, offering an “always-on” connection and higher speeds. With the improved
access, users demanded more interactive contents from websites, leading to the creation of the
precursors of the modern-day social media platforms: web-based chat boxes, instant messaging using
AOL and MSN Messenger, Friendster, and, in 2003, LinkedIn and MySpace. Around the same period, the
first mobile phones with internet connection became available. This has further spurred access to and
use of the internet, as is illustrated in Figure 3.

Below is an overview of the milestones in the development of internet use and regulation in Europe:
• 1992 Introduction of dial-up internet connections for households in Europe.
• 1995 Adoption of the Data Protection Directive (Directive 95/46/EC) on the protection of individuals
with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data.
• 1999 First Blackberry devices on the European market, allowing users to consult emails through a
mobile internet connection.
• 2000 Adoption of Directive 2000/31/EC on electronic commerce (E-commerce Directive). It “aims at
removing obstacles to cross-border provision of online services in the Internal Market. Articles 12 to 14 of

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the directive establish precisely defined limitations on the liability of intermediary service providers who
offer mere conduit, caching and hosting 129”.
• 2001 Adoption of the Budapest Convention on Cyber Crime, codifying the most important
guidelines and advice on cyber crime 130.
• 2002 Introduction of the first camera phones in Europe.
• 2002 Adoption of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive (2002/58/EC) known as
ePrivacy Directive (ePD). It regulates the confidentiality of information, treatment of traffic data,
spam and cookies.
• 2006 Mobile broadband access (3G, 4G) is becoming more common among Europeans. People can
access high speed internet from anyplace covered by 3G or by 4G since 2009.
• 2006 Facebook becomes accessible globally to anyone over 13 years old.
• 2008 Apple launches the App Store that provides access and use of third party applications.
• 2010 The European Commission adopts the Europe 2020 strategy for a smart, sustainable and
inclusive growth, encompassing several initiatives such as “A Digital Agenda for Europe”, “to speed
up the roll-out of high-speed internet and reap the benefits of a digital single market for households and
firms 131”.
• 2015 The Digital Single Market (DSM) is presented and contains targets for fast broadband
infrastructures.
• 2016 The European Commission issues measures for a further improved internet access which
“encourages investment in very high-capacity networks and accelerates the roll-out of 5G wireless
technology and free Wi-Fi access points in public spaces”.
• 2016 The EC also presents its focus on assessing online platforms’ roles, looking in including matters
of transparency, illegal content online as well as permanence and the right to be forgotten.
• 2016 The EC signs with Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube a “Code of conduct on countering
illegal hate speech online”.
• 2016 The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force. The Regulation aims at
protecting consumers with the processing and free movement of their personal data.
• 2017 The EC adopts “a draft Regulation on Privacy and Electronic Communications which aims at
updating the ePrivacy legislation in respect to the new EU Data protection rules” 132.
• 2018 The GDPR comes into effect.
• 2018 The Cambridge Analytica scandal reveals that Facebook has been harvesting and selling users
data without their consent for means of advertising and political influencing.

129 European Commission (2017), “Archive - E-commerce directive - What happened before and since its adoption”, available at
https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/archive-e-commerce-directive-what-happened-and-its-adoption
130 Council of Europe (2001), “Convention on Cybercrime”, available at https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-
/conventions/treaty/185
131 European Commission (2010), Communication from the Commission, Europe 2020 a strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive
growth”, available at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:52010DC2020
132 European Commission (2017), “Proposal for an ePrivacy Regulation”, available at https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-
market/en/news/proposal-regulation-privacy-and-electronic-communications

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5.2. Trends in access and use of internet and new technologies in the EU
In the European Union, the use of internet has increased steadily since 2011, following technological
developments. The extension of the broadband network, the proliferation of 3G and 4G networks across
Europe and the affordability of smartphones make it easier for European consumers to own, access and
use new technologies and internet.

Figure 3: Internet use by women in the EU-28. Source: Eurostat

Figure 3 presents Eurostat data covering the period 2011-2017 on the percentage of women using
internet in the EU-28. The increased use of social media by women goes hand in hand with the increase
in access to the internet. In the same period, the use of a mobile phone to access the internet grew four
times faster, making it nowadays a primary means of connecting to the internet. Moreover, a recent
report by EIGE reveals that women use communication technologies such as emails, social networks,
chats, etc. more often than men do and that when using social media “women and men behave
differently — women tend to disclose more than men. There are also gender differences regarding the type
of Facebook friends to whom women and men divulge information. Women tend to reveal more to their
face-to-face friends and exclusive Facebook friends than men; men have more intimate discussions with their
recently added Facebook friends than women.133”

Figure 4 shows that over the course of a 13-year period, differences in internet use between men and
women is narrowing. The percentage of women using the internet on a daily basis is steadily increasing.

Figure 4: Internet use in the EU-28 disaggregated by sex. Source: Eurostat

Both figures confirm that women in the EU overall increasingly access and use the internet, social
networks and new technologies. This has positively impacted their lives and the economy but takes its
toll in terms of danger and threats.

133
EIGE (2016), “Gender and Digital Agenda”, available at http://eige.europa.eu/rdc/eige-publications/gender-and-digital-agenda

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5.3. The emergence of new threats for women

5.3.1. On social media

The last ten years have witnessed the emergence of political movements facilitated by the internet and
new technologies. Recently, the #MeToo movement, sparked online on Twitter, and spread globally in
a very short period of time while changing the lives of millions of women.

Although social networks have allowed women to become vocal at an unprecedented scale and to
build transnational impactful movements, online misogyny and gender stereotypes are embedded in
the genesis of these platforms. Illustrative is the fact that Facebook kicked off as a website aimed at
comparing female students’ attractiveness 134.

Twitter rules and policies were inexistent from its foundation in 2006 to 2009 when the first set of twitter
policies were issued. The first impersonation suit against Twitter led to the implementation of the
“verified account feature”. In 2013 after mobbing abuse on writer Caroline Criado Perez, the button
“report abuse” was launched on Twitter and content policies were updated to include the notion of
“targeted abuse”. The Gamergate in 2014, an unprecedented coordinated mob attack directed at Zoë
Quinn and Anita Sarkeesian, respectively video game developer and video game critic, started to draw
the public’s attention to abuse happening on Twitter. In 2015, Twitter banned revenge porn and
prohibited "threatening or promoting terrorism," as well as "promot[ing] violence against others… on the
basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, age, or
disability 135”.

5.3.2. Technology-facilitated trafficking of women and girls

Human trafficking, including the trafficking of women for means of prostitution, forced labour or other
criminal activities are facilitated by globalisation. The internet and new technologies allow traffickers to
extend (part of) their activities online (recruitment, advertisement and sales of victims) and gain
audience and reach on transnational spaces.

“The whole trafficking chain is facilitated by digital technologies. A recent report supported by Europol
argues that organised criminal groups have 'cultivated a new cyber modus operandi'. The internet is used to
advertise false jobs to attract victims, and to buy tickets online, using counterfeit credit cards, to transport
them, but also to exploit and control them. Control techniques include using the internet to blackmail
victims, threatening to post compromising pictures of them online, obliging victims to have daily mail
exchanges or chat sessions to prove their presence, or using live cameras to monitor them remotely. Victims
are 'advertised' online, with some websites offering thousands of women for sexual services, giving clients
the possibility to rate their performance. The report qualifies these practices as 'cyber slavery'. 136”

A Eurostat report analysing trends in Human Trafficking up to 2013 shows that:

• 30,146 victims were registered in the 28 EU Member States over the three years 2010-2012.

134 The Harvard Crimson (2003), “Facemash Creator Survives Ad Board”, available at
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2003/11/19/facemash-creator-survives-ad-board-the/
135 Vice (2016), “The History of Twitter's Rules”, available at https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/z43xw3/the-history-of-twitters-
rules
136 European Parliament (2016), Briefing, “The gender dimension of human trafficking “, available at
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2016/577950/EPRS_BRI(2016)577950_EN.pdf

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• 80% of registered victims were female.

• Over 1,000 child victims were trafficked for sexual exploitation.
• 69% of registered victims were trafficked for sexual exploitation.
• 95% of registered victims of sexual exploitation were female 137.

In this regard, ten EU Agencies have recently committed to working together against trafficking in
human beings 138. On the same topic, the USA recently adopted the “Stop Enabling Online Sex
Trafficking Act” after years of lobbying from anti-trafficking organisations against websites such as
BackPage or targeted advertising featuring underage girls, on browsers such as Google 139.

137 Eurostat (2015), “Trafficking in Human Beings”, available at https://ec.europa.eu/anti-trafficking/publications/trafficking-human-beings-

eurostat-2015-edition_en
138 European Commission (2018), “Heads of ten EU Agencies commit to working together against trafficking in human beings”, available at
https://ec.europa.eu/anti-trafficking/eu-policy/heads-ten-eu-agencies-commit-working-together-against-trafficking-human-beings_en
139 US Congress (2018), “H.R.1865 - Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017”, available at
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1865

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6. OVERVIEW OF THE INTERNATIONAL AND EUROPEAN LEGAL

FRAMEWORK

KEY FINDINGS

• The UN has actively described and recognised the phenomenon of cyber violence against
women.
• The Council of Europe’s Conventions of Budapest, Istanbul and Lanzarote could potentially
synergise on the topic of cyber violence and hate speech online against women and girls.
• Although there is no specific instrument focusing on cyber violence and hate speech online
against women at EU level, the GDPR and e-Commerce Directive as well as the directives on
victim’s rights, trafficking and exploitation of children online cover some of these forms of
violence. Many European Parliament resolutions call for the recognition of cyber violence and
hate speech online against women.

This chapter will provide an analysis of how UN, CoE and EU bodies have addressed cyber violence and
hate speech online against women through legislation and policy. An overview is given of the most
relevant treaties, regulations, directives, strategies and resolutions. After having considered in the
previous chapter the definitions, root causes and prevalence of cyber violence against women, this
chapter is crucial in determining recommendations for actions within the EU remit.

6.1. UN resolutions, strategies and reports

• The UN General Assembly resolution on protecting women human rights defenders (2013)
recalls that “information-technology-related violations, abuses, discrimination and violence against
women, including women human rights defenders, such as online harassment, cyberstalking, violation of
privacy, censorship and the hacking of e-mail accounts, mobile phones and other electronic devices, with
a view to discrediting them and/or inciting other violations and abuses against them, are a growing
concern and can be a manifestation of systemic gender-based discrimination, requiring effective
responses compliant with human rights 140”.
• The UN Human Rights Council resolution on the promotion, protection and enjoyment of
human rights on the internet (2016), affirmed that the rights people have offline must also be
protected online 141.
• The UN General Assembly's resolution on the right to privacy in the digital age (2016) recalls that
violations and abuses of the right to privacy in the digital age may affect all individuals, including
with particular effects on women, as well as children and those who are vulnerable or marginalized142.
• The UN Agenda 2030 for sustainable development has among others the goal to “achieve gender
equality and empower all women and men” and includes targets such as “Enhance the use of
enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the

140 UNGA (2013), “Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 18 December 2013”, available at
http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/68/181
141 Human Rights Council Thirty-second session Agenda item 3 (2016),”Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council on 1 July 2016”,
available at http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/RES/32/13
142 UNGA (2016) “The right to privacy in the digital age”, available at
http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/C.3/71/L.39/Rev.1

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empowerment of women”, and “Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the
public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation”.
• The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee) adopted
in 2017 the new General Recommendation 35 which reaffirms the UN’s commitment to a world free
from violence for all women and girls and recognises the new forms of violence against women and
girls, redefined “through technology-mediated environments, such as contemporary forms of violence
occurring in the Internet and digital spaces”.
• In 2018, the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women will release a thematic report
focusing on online gender-based violence 143.
• The UN Human Rights Council on July 4th 2018 voted resolutions on the “Promotion, protection
and enjoyment of human rights on the Internet” 144, several of them concern cyber violence and hate
speech online against women and the relations between privacy violations, misuse and theft of data
and violence, including against women for their public persona.

6.2. Council of Europe treaties

• The Budapest Convention on Cybercrime and additional protocol145. The Convention on

Cybercrime, adopted in 2001, is the first international treaty focused on internet related crimes. Three
articles of the Budapest Convention can apply to cyber violence against women. Article 4 on “Data
interference in a critical system (which) may cause death or physical or psychological injury”, Article
5 on “System interference in a critical system (which) may cause death or physical or psychological
injury” and Article 9 and sub-provisions which cover child exploitation images on “producing child
pornography for electronic distribution and production of child pornography (which) may cause
death and necessarily entails physical and/or psychological violence.” Other sub-provisions of Article
9 cover the distribution of child exploitation images and the notion that distribution may itself inflict
psychological violence. Articles 2 to 7 and Article 11 can also, among others, facilitate connection to
cyber violence.
• The Istanbul Convention 146. In 2017, the EU signed the Istanbul Convention, the first European
multi-country treaty on combating violence against women and domestic violence. The Convention
sets out minimum standards for signatories regarding prevention, protection, prosecution, violence
against women, and domestic violence. Several articles of the Convention can be applied to the
specific topic of digital violence: Article 33 on psychological violence, Article 34 on stalking, and
Article 40 on sexual harassment. The GREVIO committee is in charge of: 1) monitoring the
implementation of the Convention by its signatories; 2) reporting on the state of violence against
women and domestic violence; and 3) identifying possibilities of legal harmonisation.
• The Lanzarote Convention 147. The Council of Europe Convention on Protection of Children against
Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse requires criminalisation of all forms of abuse against children.

143 Human Rights Council, Thirty-eighth session, 18 June–6 July 2018, Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its
causes and consequences on online violence against women and girls from a human rights perspective, Op. Cit.
144
Human Rights Council (2016), “The promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the Internet”, available at
http://digitallibrary.un.org/record/845728
145
Cybercrime Convention Committee (2018), Op.Cit.
146
Directorate General for Internal Policies, Policy Department C: Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs Women's Rights & Gender
Equality (2016), “The issue of violence against women in the European Union”, available at
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2016/556931/IPOL_STU(2016)556931_EN.pdf
147
Ibid.

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The provisions of the Lanzarote Convention also apply to sexual violence in an online environment.
The Lanzarote Committee is currently doing the second round of monitoring and is in the process of
examining parties’ strategies regarding the “Protection of children against sexual exploitation and
sexual abuse facilitated by information and communication technologies (ICTs)”.

A recent report from the Cyber Crime Committee points at possible synergies between the treaties
when it comes to prevention of, protection from and prosecution of cyber violence against women and
girls 148. “A country implementing the Budapest Convention should thus consider also implementation of
articles 33, 34 and 40 Istanbul Convention in order to combat psychological violence, stalking and sexual
harassment in an online context. Conversely, the Istanbul Convention does not include specific provisions to
secure electronic evidence in domestic and international investigations related to online violence against
women. Countries implementing the Istanbul Convention should thus consider implementing the
procedural powers of articles 16 to 21 Budapest Convention and becoming Parties to the Budapest
Convention to facilitate international cooperation on electronic evidence (articles 23 to 35 Budapest
Convention) in relation to online violence against women 149.”

6.3. The European Union legal framework

At the EU level, several regulations, directives, EP resolutions and EC policies are directly or indirectly
applicable to various forms of cyber violence and hate speech online against women. Moreover, recent
regulations address the topic of consent which is “key in differentiating lawful from unlawful and harmful
behaviour. Consent in relation to online violence is also often complicated by the exact act to which the
consent, if any, relates. Because of this, defining consent is crucial in online violence and must be addressed
in any mechanism dealing with online violence. Consent is particularly important in gauging whether there
has been violation of privacy with regards to dissemination of private data. Consent that is specific to an
individual, like sharing of intimate photos, cannot be expanded to consent for the data to be shared and
disseminated. Focusing on consent also recognizes that women have the right to sexual expression. 150”.

6.3.1. Regulations and directives

At European level, several other pieces of legislation, soft law and agreements applying to the digital
world could serve as basis for combating some forms of cyber violence and hate speech online. Below
are presented the GDPR, the proposal for an E-Privacy Regulation, the E-Commerce Directive, the
proposed revision for the Audiovisual Media Services Directive and the Code of Conduct to combat
Online Hate Speech.

• General Data Protection Regulation151. The recently implemented Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with
regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (General Data
Protection Regulation, ‘GDPR’), regulates the collection and processing by an individual, a company
or an organisation of personal data from individuals in the EU. Personal data is any information that

148 Cyber Crime Committee, Op. Cit.

149 Ibid.
150 Zarizana Abdul Aziz, Op. Cit.
151 European Parliament and the Council (2016), “Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016
on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and
repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation)”, available at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2016.119.01.0001.01.ENG&toc=OJ:L:2016:119:TOC

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can be linked to an identifiable individual. Different pieces of collected information, which together
can lead to the identification of a particular person, also constitute personal data 152.
The regulation improves consumers’ rights towards the control, the erasure, the rectification, the
restriction or objection to personal data processing and facilitates consumers’ access to and
transfer of their personal data, including image data such as non-consensual intimate images 153.
The regulation also obliges companies and entities that process data to request explicit consent
from the user. Consent must be a “freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of the
data subject’s wishes”. In addition, companies are to take privacy into account when designing,
implementing and operating any technology which processes personal data.
Beyond the expanded set of consumers’ rights introduced and enforced through the GDPR with
regard to interaction with online service providers, the regulation also served as a catalyst for users’
awareness on privacy and protection from profiling, micro-targeted ads and surveillance by
companies or groups for the sake of profit or political influencing.
Cyber violence against women in the form of “revenge porn” or image-based sexual abuse would fall
under the GDPR provision on “processing of personal data” and would consequently trigger
application of the Regulation. The individual responsible for uploading image-based sexual abuse
material as well as the publisher of such material could be considered joint data controllers, and
hence fall under the obligations and sanctions imposed by the GDPR 154.

• The Directive on e-commerce 155. The Directive on e-commerce came into effect on 8 June 2000 and
sets harmonised rules for the electronic commerce, including on liability of service providers. It
contains liability exemptions for certain online service providers which play a neutral and passive role
in relation to the transmitted and/or hosted content. Service providers are to remove or disable
access to illegal content hosted on their platforms as soon as it comes to their knowledge through
notice made to them. The text also allows Member States to require the removal of illegal content by
service providers. It thus provides a legal basis for notice and takedown of illegal online content, i.e.
”systems that require intermediaries to act expeditiously to remove content which it is deemed to be
unlawful once they have been given notice of the content to ensure that their sites do not serve as vehicles
for violating material.” In the European Commission Recommendation of 1 March 2018 on measures
to effectively tackle illegal content online, the EC details how and who should act on illegal content
online and clarifies the role of internet service providers 156.

Several directives and rules are thus indirectly applicable to cyber violence and hate speech online
against women. Although these pieces of legislation do not directly address the specific threats women
experience online, they can serve as bases for protection from, prevention against and prosecution of
cyber violence against women. In order to go beyond the provisions available in the directives cited

152 European Commission, Reform of EU data protection rules, available at

https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/reform_en
153 Whether the making and uploading the images is consensual or not does not have impact on whether or not it constitutes processing
personal data. It may, however, have impact on the assessment of legality of such actions, Electronic communication (July 16th, 2018)
with Dr Nadezhda Purtova, Associate Professor, Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology and Society (TILT)
154 Electronic communication (July 16th, 2018) with Dr Nadezhda Purtova, Associate Professor, Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology and
Society (TILT)
155 European Parliament and the Council (2000), “Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on
certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market ('Directive on electronic
commerce')”, available at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1531824483883&uri=CELEX:32000L0031
156 European Commssion (2018), “Commission Recommendation on measures to effectively tackle illegal content online”, available at
https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/commission-recommendation-measures-effectively-tackle-illegal-content-online

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below, there is increased demand for a general directive on violence against women, with definitions
of the different types of violence, including definitions of the types of cyber violence 157.

The transnational cross-border nature of cyber violence against women adds on to the need for an EU
instrument that would protect women and girls from these types of violence.

• The Victims' Rights Directive 158. The Victims’ Rights Directive contains provisions that protect
victims of crime in the EU and provides a minimum level of rights, protection, support, access to
justice and restoration. The directive aims to ensure: that victims are treated with respect, that law
enforcement and the justice sector is trained to support victims, that victims receive clear information
on their rights and their case, that victim support is available in every Member State, that victims can
participate in proceedings if they wish to and are helped to attend the trial, that victims are protected
both while the police investigates the crime and during court proceedings. It also ensures that
vulnerable victims are identified — e.g. children, victims of rape or intimate partner violence, or those
with disabilities — and properly protected. The EIGE report analysing the Victims’ Rights Directive
from a gender perspective points at gaps in the provisions covering issues of support and protection
for (victims of gender-based violence). According to EIGE, these provisions “do not account for the
specific nature of gender-based violence at all, being too general, or do not provide reference to
instruments such as codes of conduct, in the absence of which, the application of legal solutions can
prove limited 159”.
• Directive on combating the sexual exploitation of children online and child pornography 160.
This directive addresses online violence against children, such as grooming. It requires Member
States to take measures to remove web pages containing or disseminating child pornography and
allows them to block access to such websites.
• Directive on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its
victims 161. This directive lists provisions on prevention of human trafficking, protection of victims
and law enforcement with regard to perpetrators of human trafficking and is landmark legislation for
taking into account the gender dimension of trafficking. A study commissioned by the European
Commission on the gender aspect of trafficking shows that: “there is some evidence of the increasing
use of the internet by traffickers both as a method of recruitment and as a marketing tool for the sale
and/or exploitation of women. Traffickers may access women through social media sites or place online
advertisements for work, sometimes explicitly as recruitment into prostitution markets, but deceptive as
to the conditions of work, or the ads may deceive as to the nature of the work. This use of technology is
highly gendered. Young women are targeted and required to disclose personal information and

157 Directorate General for Internal Policies, Policy Department C: Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs Women's Rights & Gender
Equality (2016), Op. Cit.
158 European Parliament and the Council (2012), “Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012
establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, and replacing Council Framework Decision
2001/220/JHA”, available at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32012L0029
159
EIGE (2014), “Analysis of EU directives from a gendered perspective”, available at http://eige.europa.eu/rdc/eige-publications/analysis-
victims-rights-directive-gender-perspective
160
European Parliament and the Council (2011), “Directive 2011/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011
on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography, and replacing Council Framework Decision
2004/68/JHA”, available at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32011L0093
161
European Parliament and the Council (2011), “Directive 2011/36/eu of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 april 2011 on
preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims, and replacing Council Framework Decision
2002/629/jha”, available at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:101:0001:0011:EN:PDF

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photographic images which are then also used by other traffickers or procurers 162. The study thus
advocates for increased gender mainstreaming in the implementation of the Directive.

In her answer to MEP Viorica Dăncilă on February 20th 2018, 163 Commissioner for Justice,
Consumers and Gender Equality Věra Jourová recalls that the European Commission undertakes efforts
to assess, streamline and tackle cyber violence against women and girls through research, law
enforcement cooperation and working with internet platforms. Commissioner Jourová recalls that the
EU’s accession to the Istanbul Convention will help streamline national approaches to combat VAWG,
including cyber violence, and that the EC is developing a policy on platforms and data economy that
will further clarify the issue of liability of intermediaries.

6.3.2. Resolutions of the European Parliament

The European Parliament has recognised and addressed cyber violence and hate speech online against
women through several resolutions, and has called for legal and policy actions to counter the
phenomenon.

• On 26 April 2018, the FEMM committee of the European Parliament adopted a draft report
proposing measures to combat mobbing and sexual harassment, including online. The report
calls on the European Commission to define “public space” in a broader manner, so as to include
virtual public spaces (i.e. social networks, websites) and it calls on Member States to act on internet
service providers to combat online impunity and address abuse and mobbing 164.
• In its resolution of 17 April 2018 on empowering women and girls through the digital sector 165,
the EP recalls that digital modes of communication contribute to the increase in hate speech and
threats against women and that the various forms of cyber violence against women are still not
legally recognised. The EP therefore calls for increased coordination among EU and Member States
so as to combat cross-border technology facilitated crimes, e.g. trafficking in human beings, cyber
harassment and cyber stalking, and it calls for Member States to include new forms of cyber violence
in their criminal codes.
• In the European Parliament resolution of 17 April 2018 on gender equality in the media sector
in the EU 166, it is recalled that women encounter increased levels of harassment on social media. The
EP highlights that there is a lack of data and research on cyber violence against women and girls at
EU level, although psychological and sexual harassment are human rights violations. In consequence,
the EP demands that media and national and international regulators put in place rules to tackle
these issues, including sanctions by media organisations. It calls for Member States to ensure that the
media, online and social media and advertising are free from any incitement to violence or hatred
directed against any person or group of persons. In addition, the EP calls for collection of gender-

162 European Commission, (2016), “Study on the gender dimension of trafficking in human beings”, available at https://ec.europa.eu/anti-
trafficking/sites/antitrafficking/files/study_on_the_gender_dimension_of_trafficking_in_human_beings._final_report.pdf
163 European Parliament (2018), Parliamentary questions 20 February 2018, “Answer given by Ms Jourová on behalf of the Commission”,
available http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getAllAnswers.do?reference=E-2017-007255&language=EN
164
Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, Rapporteur Pina Picierno (2018), Draft Report on measures to prevent and combat
mobbing and sexual harassment at workplace, in public spaces, and political life in the EU (2018/2055(INI)), available at
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+COMPARL+PE-
620.941+01+DOC+PDF+V0//EN&language=EN
165 European Parliament (2018), “European Parliament resolution of 17 April 2018 on empowering women and girls through the digital
sector”, available at http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P8-TA-2018-
0102+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN
166 European Parliament (2018), “European Parliament resolution of 17 April 2018 on gender equality in the media sector in the EU”,
available at http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P8-TA-2018-0101+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN

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disaggregated data and research, in cooperation with EIGE, in order to address cyber violence, online
sexual harassment, threats, sexist remarks and hate speech against women and girls, including those
who are LGBTI.
• In the European Parliament resolution of 26 October 2017 on combating sexual harassment
and abuse in the EU 167, the EP recalls that key action is needed against emerging forms of violence,
e.g. in cyberspace, and it highlights that cyber harassment of women especially on social media fuels
other forms of violence against women and girls. It calls on the European Commission to submit a
proposal for a directive against all forms of violence against women and girls as well as a
comprehensive EU strategy against all forms of gender-based violence, including sexual harassment
and sexual abuse against women and girls.
• In its resolution of 3 October 2017 on the fight against cybercrime 168, the European Parliament
highlights the need for common harmonised legal definitions of cyber crime, including sexual abuse
and exploitation of children online, cyber harassment and cyber attacks. The EP also stresses the need
for Member States to improve comprehensive data collection on these topics and to make sure that
victims of cyber crime benefit from the rights enshrined in Directive 2012/29/EU.
• In European Parliament resolution of 12 September 2017 on the proposal for a Council decision
on the conclusion, by the European Union, of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing
and combating violence against women and domestic violence 169, the EP stresses that measures
should be taken to address the emerging phenomenon of gender-based violence online, including
bullying, harassment and intimidation, particularly targeting young women and girls and LGBTI
people. The resolution also states that gender stereotypes and sexism, including sexist hate speech,
occurring worldwide, offline and online and in public and private life, are one of the root causes of all
forms of violence against women.
• European Parliament resolution of 14 March 2017 on equality between women and men in the
European Union in 2014-2015 170, recalls that digital communications increase the risk for women
to experience hate speech and threats and that perpetrators are very rarely being reported,
investigated, prosecuted and sentenced, although women are particularly vulnerable to sexual,
physical and online violence, cyber bullying and stalking. The EP makes a link between stereotypes
and online harassment, such as the use of degrading images online and the distribution on social
media of private pictures and videos without the consent of the person(s) involved. Consequently,
the EP urges the European Commission and the Member States to put in place measures to combat
cyber violence against women and to work conjointly towards a comprehensive European strategy
and the creation of a framework recognising the new forms of online violence as a criminal offence.
Moreover, the EP calls for increased gender mainstreaming in the EU Cybersecurity Strategy and the
European Cybercrime Centre (Europol).

167 European Parliament (2017), “European Parliament resolution of 26 October 2017 on combating sexual harassment and abuse in the
EU”, available at http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+TA+P8-TA-2017-
0417+0+DOC+PDF+V0//EN
168
European Parliament (2017), “European Parliament resolution of 3 October 2017 on the fight against cybercrime”, available at
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P8-TA-2017-0366
169 European Parliament (2017), “European Parliament resolution of 12 September 2017 on the proposal for a Council decision on the
conclusion, by the European Union, of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and
domestic violence”, available at http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P8-TA-2017-
0329+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN
170 European Parliament (2017), “European Parliament resolution of 14 March 2017 on equality between women and men in the European
Union in 2014-2015”, available at http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&reference=P8-TA-2017-
0073&language=EN

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• The European Parliament resolution of 26 February 2014 on sexual exploitation and

prostitution and its impact on gender equality171 stresses that recruitment of victims of sexual
trafficking increasingly happens on the internet, and it highlights that mass media production and
pornography, especially online, create gender stereotypes, which may have the effect of encouraging
the human personality of women to be disregarded and of presenting them as a commodity.

In addition, the proposal for an e-privacy regulation and the proposed revision of the Audiovisual Media
Services Directive also contain aspects that could have an influence on women’s safety online and via
the use of new technologies.
• Proposal for E-Privacy regulation 172. The new e-privacy Regulation would potentially protect users
on all the electronic devices and services they would use (e.g. calls, internet access, instant
messaging applications, e-mail, internet phone calls and personal messaging provided through
social media.). The Regulation would protect privacy and confidentiality and request effective
consent from end-users regarding the processing of data. The proposal’s text emphasises the fact
that the content of people’s communications as well as the metadata derived from electronic
communications and the data collected through the “internet of things” can have the potential to
harm and infringe on individual rights by revealing personal preferences, feelings, experiences,
opinions, location, habits, etc. Moreover, the proposal points at new ways of intercepting personal
data as well as how terminal equipment of users (e.g. their phone, tablets, personal computers,
etc.) can contain or process data that have the potential to harm, by revealing among others
contact details, location, private pictures, content of messages, GPS routes, contact lists, etc., and can
be the subject of spyware, hidden trackers, etc. without any consent or knowledge of the user.
With regard to cyber violence protection, this new regulation could potentially influence the safety
of women’s data online and via the use of new technologies, including in cases of domestic violence
(surveillance) and in case of computer and phone intrusions, lead to sextortion, blackmail and image-
based sexual abuse.

• The proposed revision of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive 173 . This directive applies to TV,
video-on-demand services and video-sharing platforms, including social media essentially devoted
to video-sharing. The directive aims at protecting minors from content “which may impair their
physical, mental or moral development” and all users from content “containing incitement to violence
or hatred directed against a group of persons or a member of such a group defined by reference to sex,
race, colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin”. It also contains provisions for reporting and
flagging of illegal and hateful content.

Finally, the Code of Conduct on countering online hate speech is an important agreement with a strong
effect on women’s safety online.

171 European Parliament (2014), “European Parliament resolution of 26 February 2014 on sexual exploitation and prostitution and its impact
on gender equality”, available at http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P7-TA-2014-
0162+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN
172 European Commission, “Proposal for a regulation of the European parliament and of the council concerning the respect for private life
and the protection of personal data in electronic communications and repealing Directive 2002/58/EC (Regulation on Privacy and
Electronic Communications)”, available at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52017PC0010
173 European Commission (2016), “Proposal for a Directive Of The European Parliament And Of The Council amending Directive 2010/13/EU
on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member States concerning the
provision of audiovisual media services in view of changing market realities”, available at https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/procedure/EN/2016_151

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• The Code of Conduct on countering online hate speech 174 . The signatories of the Code of Conduct
have committed to reviewing reports of hate speech on their platforms and to responding to
unlawful content within 24 hours. The parties define unlawful hate speech on the basis of the 2008
Council of Europe Framework Decision on combating certain forms and expressions of racism
and xenophobia by means of criminal law. The definition covers public incitement to violence or
hatred directed at a group of persons or a member of such a group, defined by reference to race,
colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin. The Code of Conduct’s third round of monitoring
(2018) shows progress in the response to hate speech notices: 70% of the flagged content is removed,
of which 81% in less than 24 hours 175.

6.3.3. European Commission strategies and policies

• Tackling violence against women and protecting and supporting victims is one of the 5 priorities in
the European Commission’s Strategic Engagement for Gender Equality 2016-2019 under DG
Justice.
• In 2013 the EU launched the Cybersecurity Strategy of the European Union which aims at
engaging stakeholders and consumers towards better awareness of risks and threats on cyber spaces.
• The European Commission’s Digital Single Market Strategy, launched in 2015, has trust and security
at its core. Among its 16 initiatives, number 11, 12 and 13 respectively aim at tackling illegal content
on the internet, protecting privacy and promoting cyber security.
• Within the framework of the Digital Single Market, the European Strategy to deliver a Better
Internet for our Children focuses among other goals on creating a safer environment for children
and combating child sexual abuse material online and child sexual exploitation.
• The fight against cybercrime is one of the three pillars of the European Agenda on Security
adopted in April 2015.
• In 2016 the EC also presented its ambitions in assessing the role of online platforms in matters of
transparency, illegal content online as well as permanence and the right to be forgotten. The
European Commission’s objectives are to increase cybersecurity capabilities and cooperation, to
make the EU a strong player in cyber security, and to mainstream cyber security in EU policies 176.
• Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner in charge of Digital Economy and Society has outlined actions as part
of her strategy for increasing women’s participation in the digital sector. The actions will focus
on: a) challenging stereotypes; b) promoting digital skills and education; and c) advocating for more
women entrepreneurs.
• Regarding trafficking of women and girls, new policy priorities and a set of actions are addressing
the gender dimension of the phenomenon 177.

174 European Commission (2016), “Code of Conduct on countering online hate speech, available at
http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/just/item-detail.cfm?item_id=54300
175 Code of Conduct on countering illegal hate speech online (2018), Op. Cit.
176 European Commission (2017), “EU cybersecurity initiatives working towards a more secure online environment”, available at
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/image/document/2017-
3/factsheet_cybersecurity_update_january_2017_41543.pdf
177 European Commission (2017), “Trafficking in human beings new priority actions”, available at https://ec.europa.eu/home-
affairs/sites/homeaffairs/files/e-library/documents/policies/organized-crime-and-human-trafficking/trafficking-in-human-
beings/docs/20171204_trafficking_in_human_beings_new_priority_actions_en.pdf

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7. INITIATIVES AND GOOD PRACTICES IN PREVENTION OF AND

PROTECTION AGAINST CYBER VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH ONLINE
AGAINST WOMEN

KEY FINDINGS

• At EU level, the NON.NO.NEIN campaign and the Better Internet for Kids strategy focus on
violence against women and child protection online respectively. The EU funds several large-
scale projects on hate speech and child protection.
• The Council of Europe’s No Hate Speech campaign has been key to developing campaigns at
national level on hate speech online.
• The INSAFE-INHOPE directory lists every support service and helpline/hotline available in
Member States with regard to violence against children and young people via new technologies.

This chapter presents a number of EU and Member State funded projects for the prevention of and
protection against cyber violence and hate speech online against women. It is important to note that
the lists presented below are not exhaustive but rather a selection of good practices. There are a great
number of successful initiatives on this particular topic driven by (local) civil society, but these were not
part of the scope of this study.

7.1. EU programmes, guidelines and actions

7.1.1. Gender equality and cyber violence

• The first steps towards a global alliance to fight violence against women and girls were taken in
December 2017, in an initiative by the European Commission, the Organisation for Economic Co-
operation and Development (OECD), the Council of Europe and UN Women. A joint statement was
released 178 announcing that the parties would enhance their collaboration, regularly agree on further
steps and call on world leaders from the public and private sectors to join the intensified global effort
and work together towards establishing, by the end of 2018, a global alliance to end violence against
women and girls.
• The NON.NO.NEIN campaign – Say NO! Stop violence against women 179 was launched in 2017 in
order to raise awareness and to fund projects addressing violence against women. 15 million euros
in funding were made available for Member States, local governments, relevant professionals and
civil society organisations across Europe to intensify their actions and campaigns to combat violence
against women. Cyber violence against women is one of the targets of the campaign.
• Within the framework of the Mutual Learning Programme in gender equality the European
Commission organised an exchange of good practices among Member States' governmental
representatives in Denmark in 2017 180 on the subject of violence against women with a focus on

178 European Commission (2017), “Joint communiqué from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the
Council of Europe, the European Commission, and UN Women on Global Action to Combat Violence against Women”, available at
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_STATEMENT-17-5243_en.htm
179
Non.No.Nein campaign, available at https://ec.europa.eu/justice/saynostopvaw/
180 https://ec.europa.eu/info/policies/justice-and-fundamental-rights/gender-equality/who-we-work-gender-equality/mutual-learning-
programme-gender-equality_en

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digital abuse. Good practices included for instance Denmark's inter-ministerial programme to tackle
the alarming increase of digital sexual abuse. The Annual Colloquium on Fundamental Rights held
in Brussels in November 2017 focused on “Women's Rights in Turbulent Times 181”. Participants
highlighted that sexist hate speech and misogyny offline and online are a growing concern and that
the intersection of identities increases the risk for women to be victimised online.
• SELMA (Social and Emotional Learning for Mutual Awareness 182) is a two-year project co-funded
by the European Commission’s Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (2014-2020). The project
aims at tackling the issue of online hate speech by promoting mutual awareness, tolerance, and
respect.
• Monitoring and Detecting OnLine Hate Speech (MANDOLA) 183 works towards improving our
understanding of the prevalence and spread of online hate speech and towards empowering
ordinary citizens to monitor and report hate speech.
• Research Report Remove: Countering Cyber Hate Phenomena 184 led by the Dutch organisation
INACH collects data on Hate Speech in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain
on a monthly basis.
• Monitoring and reporting online hate speech in Europe (e-more) 185 aims at contributing to the
development, testing and transfer of a knowledge model on online hate speech and offline hate
crime, based on a circular and advanced joint monitoring-reporting system, to allow comparative
analysis at national/EU level, and to support the harmonised combat against hate-motivated offences
at EU and national level.

7.1.2. Child protection and cyber violence

• Better Internet for Kids 186. The Better Internet for Kids (BIK) service platform is part of the European
Commission's Better Internet for Kids strategy. The Safer Internet Centres, present in 30 European
countries, provide children, parents and teachers with information and serve as hotlines to receive
reports on online illegal content. The Centres also organise youth panels that are consulted on online
safety issues and in order to design information material.
• INSAFE, the European network of Awareness Centres promoting safer and better usage of internet,
co-funded by the Safer Internet Programme, and INHOPE the international association of internet
hotlines work together through a network of Safer Internet Centres (SICs) across Europe – they
include an awareness centre, helpline, hotline and youth panel. A directory lists every support service
and helpline/hotline available in Member States with regard to violence against children and young
people via new technologies 187.

181 European Commission (2017), Annual Colloquium on Fundamental Rights 2017

"Women's Rights in Turbulent Times", available at http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/just/item-detail.cfm?item_id=115277
182 http://www.hackinghate.eu
183 http://mandola-project.eu
184 http://www.inach.net/project-research-report-remove-countering-cyber-hate-phenomena/
185 https://www.emoreproject.eu/about-project/
186 https://www.betterinternetforkids.eu
187 https://www.betterinternetforkids.eu/web/portal/policy/insafe-inhope

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• Safer Internet Forum 188 (SIF) is an annual conference gathering policy makers, researchers, law
enforcement bodies, youth, parents and carers, teachers, NGOs, industry representatives, experts and
other actors to discuss the latest trends, risks and solutions related to child online safety.
• Safer Internet Day189 is a landmark event in the online safety calendar. Safer Internet Day is
celebrated in 130 countries worldwide. From cyber bullying to social networking, each year Safer
Internet Day aims to raise awareness of emerging online issues and choses a topic reflecting current
concerns.
• #SaferInternet4EU campaign 190. On Safer Internet Day (SID), 6 February 2018, European
Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Mariya Gabriel, launched the #SaferInternet4EU
campaign a set of EU-wide initiatives focused on tackling the most frequent and emerging internet
risks.
• Better Internet for Kids for youth 191. Under the Better Internet for Kids (BIK) umbrella, the Better
Internet for Kids Youth (BIK Youth) aims at raising awareness about the importance of involving
young participants in safer/better internet discussions. Each year, a European Youth Panel (YEP) is
organised prior and during the Safer Internet Forum (SIF), encouraging young panelists and
ambassadors to speak on safer internet issues.

7.1.3. Council of Europe actions

• The “No Hate Speech Movement 192” campaign has been run by the Council of Europe since 2012
and mobilises young people to counter hate speech and promote human rights online. It has been
rolled out at national and local levels through national campaigns in 45 countries.
• 18 November has been declared “European Day on the Protection of Children against Sexual
Exploitation and Sexual Abuse” by the Council of Europe. The 2017 edition theme was the
“Protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse facilitated by information
and communication technologies (ICTs) 193” and presented thematic material on sextortion,
sexting, grooming or “revenge porn”.

7.2. Initiatives at Member State level

7.2.1. Civil Society initiatives

Civil society is very active in the field of protection and self defence against cyber violence and hate
speech. Below are listed some interesting projects and groups working on the topic in Europe.

• SafetyNed 194 is a Dutch platform led by four women’s shelters following the American SafetyNet
programme from NNEDV. SafetyNed’s objective is to equip both women victims of domestic violence
and those caring for them with (self-)protection tools on digital platforms and with new technologies.

188 https://www.betterinternetforkids.eu/web/portal/policy/safer-internet-forum
189 https://www.saferinternetday.org
190 European Commission “Safer Internet for EU”, available at https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/saferinternet4eu-
campaign
191 https://www.betterinternetforkids.eu/web/youth
192 https://www.coe.int/en/web/no-hate-campaign
193 https://www.coe.int/en/web/children/2017-edition
194 http://safetyned.org/

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• The Zen Manual and MyShadow projects are two projects led by the German organisation Tactical
Technology Collective 195. The Zen Manual is a guidebook on the topic of digital safety. It equips users
with knowledge and tools on how to stay safe and control their data online. MyShadow helps users
control their data traces.
• Fix the Glitch is a UK based organisation founded by Seyi Akiwowo, a young black female British
politician 196. The organisation facilitates workshops and recommendations on countering online
abuse on politically active women.

7.2.2. Awareness raising campaigns

• No Hate Speech Movement 197, operates in multiple countries. The No Hate Speech Movement
campaigns at national level are all accessible on the European website of the movement, including
non-EU states’ campaigns.
• Stop Cybersexisme, France 198. Led by the Centre Hubertine Auclert, the 2016-2017 campaign has
since developed into a website focused on prevention, tutorials, self-defence, research and legal
advice about cyber violence against women.
• #GegenHassImNetz 199, Austria. The campaign #GegenHassImNetz was launched in 2016 in order to
respond to the growing amount of hate speech online in Austria. In September 2017 the Ministry
responsible for Women’s Affairs launched a new campaign focused specifically on cyber violence
against women.
• KlickSafe.de 200, Germany. Klicksafe is an awareness campaign, co-funded by the EU, which promotes
safe usage of the internet and new media.
• PantallasAmigas201, Spain. PantallasAmigas is an initiative for the safe and healthy use of the
Internet and other ICTs in childhood and adolescence, and for responsible digital citizenship.

195 https://tacticaltech.org
196 https://seyiakiwowo.com/glitchuk/
197 https://www.coe.int/en/web/no-hate-campaign
198 https://www.stop-cybersexisme.com/
199
https://beratungsstelle.counteract.or.at/en/gegenhassimnetz-against-online-hate/
200
https://www.klicksafe.de
201
http://www.pantallasamigas.net

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8. CONCLUDING REMARKS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ON POSSIBILITIES

AND REMITS FOR ACTION AT EU LEVEL AND NATIONAL LEVEL

KEY FINDINGS

• In order to fully recognise and tackle the phenomenon of cyber violence and hate speech online
against women, a range of steps needs to be taken.
• Increased data collection and large-scale research is necessary to grasp the scope of the
phenomenon in the EU.
• A general directive on violence against women could be adopted and could address cyber
violence and hate speech online against women.
• Member States have the responsibility to combat impunity online and should put emphasis on
cooperation with other states when it comes to investigating and prosecuting perpetrators of
cyber violence against women.

8.1. Concluding remarks

In Europe, according to the latest FRA survey on Violence against women, 1 in 10 women have
experienced some kind of cyber violence since the age of 15. Although the United Nations, the Council
of Europe and the EU institutions recognise cyber violence and hate speech online against women,
there are to this day no commonly accepted definitions of the various forms of violence targeting
women online that could serve as a basis for legislation.

Cyber violence and hate speech online against women constitute gender-based violence and are part
of a continuum of violence against women starting offline and reverberating online and vice versa.
These types of violence are often gender blind and normalised in their media coverage and in the way
they are dealt with by internet intermediaries. The structure of the ICT sector, its gender imbalance and
gender inequality also reverberates in the online world. Other root causes pertain to behavioural
aspects and specific technological features. The way women are victimised on the internet should be
further analysed and untangled, so as to be able to act at every stage of the victimisation process.

Perpetrators are mostly young men on social media, half of them are known to their victims, and
intimate partner violence often leads to cyber violence. Young women with multiple identities and
women endorsing a public persona online are more at risk of cyber violence and hate speech online,
they have to bear the cost of long-lasting psychological, physical and economic harm. Their families,
communities and society as a whole are impacted as a result.

The extension of the broadband network, the proliferation of 3G and 4G networks across Europe and
the affordability of smartphones has made it easier for European consumers to own, access and use new
technologies and the internet. As more and more people access social media, social networks on a daily
basis, media moderation policies are required to evolve and start responding to the growing amount
of harmful content and behaviour targeting women online.

Today, illegal hate speech online targeting gender identity is equivalent to 3.1% of reports to internet
platforms in the EU, according to the EC Code of Conduct on Countering Hate Speech Online. 14% of
women in the EU women have experienced cyber stalking since the age of 15. Despite obligations

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present in the Victim’s Rights Directive and the Istanbul Convention, comprehensive disaggregated
comparable data is rarely available at EU level.

The UN has actively described and recognised the phenomenon of cyber violence against women. The
Council of Europe’s Conventions of Budapest, Istanbul and Lanzarote could potentially synergise on the
topic of cyber violence and hate speech online against women and girls. Although there is no specific
instrument focusing on cyber violence and hate speech online against women at EU level, the GDPR
and the e-Commerce Directive as well as directives on victims’ rights, trafficking and exploitation of
children online cover some of these forms of violence. Many European Parliament resolutions call for
the recognition of cyber violence and hate speech online against women. At EU level, several policies,
strategies and actions also focus on the phenomenon.

However, more action could be taken, at EU and Member State level to increase awareness on the
phenomenon, to more effectively protect women online and prosecute the offences and crimes they
experience.

8.2. Recommendations on recognition, definitions, data collection and research

• The European Commission could support the fight against cyber violence and hate speech online
against women in several regards. A first step towards the recognition of the phenomenon could be
to develop harmonised legal definitions of cyber violence against women. These would be
definitions carrying an intersectional perspective so as to convey the experience of as many victims
as possible. It could also define and extend the concept of “violence against women in a public space”
to include virtual public spaces.
• At EU and Member State level more data is needed to be able to fully grasp the scope of the
phenomenon. Both the Istanbul Convention and the Victims’ Rights Directive require Member States
to report statistical data and to produce gender-disaggregated data. Increased efforts of data
collection and the production of accessible, transparent and clear statistics at EU and national level
would greatly contribute to revealing the full extent of cyber violence and hate speech online against
women. These bodies of data should include the profiles of perpetrators, their relationship with the
victim, the means of perpetrations, the number of reported cases, the number of prosecuted cases
and the number of condemnations, disaggregated by the sex/identified gender and age of the
victim.
• In order to paint a complete picture of the phenomenon, future European-wide surveys on violence
against women in Europe should focus on a greater number of different forms of cyber violence and
include open-ended questions, so that respondents could disclose various types of experience. These
surveys could include questions on self-censorship and digital exclusion due to cyber violence and
hate speech online against women. A large-scale research programme focused on cyber violence
against women, similar in scope to the EU Kids online research programme, could be initiated.
Research is for example necessary on the overall economic cost of digital exclusion of women due to
cyber violence and hate speech online against women. Additional research would also be needed
into sexual harassment in the tech sector, including between funding entities such as venture capital
companies and female founders and employees, so as to understand why the number of women who
access positions in which they could contribute in shaping the future of tech platforms is not
increasing more.
• In order to fully recognise the phenomenon of cyber violence and hate speech online against women,
the European Commission should also take steps to mainstream gender throughout the EU cyber

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security strategy. ENISA could for example include types of cyber violence against women in its
framework of threats and further mainstream gender into its analyses. Similarly, Europol could
include the most pervasive forms of cyber violence against women in its cyber crime reports. Overall,
the European Commission could propose a comprehensive EU strategy against all forms of gender-
based violence, including cyber violence against women.
• Beyond the EC Code of Conduct for social media platforms, the internet corporations should be
required to publish on a bi-yearly basis the number of reported illegal and harmful content, the type
and number of items of content reported and removed, together with a country breakdown and their
proof of due diligence in responding to these types of violence. Overall, greater transparency and
accountability should be required from social media and websites hosting the largest amounts of
cyber violence and hate speech online against women.

8.3. Legislation and policies against cyber violence against women at EU level

• Legal instruments at EU level exist but are limited in scope and do not ensure criminalisation of the
most pervasive forms of cyber violence against women. A first important step would be for the EU
and all Member States to ratify the Istanbul Convention. Furthermore, possible synergies between
the Council of Europe Conventions of Budapest, Istanbul and Lanzarote and their respective
committees could be explored when it comes to prevention of, protection from and prosecution of
cyber violence against women and girls.
• The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) includes the possibility to develop
legislation on violence against women in the framework of to judicial cooperation. Article 83 TFEU
makes judicial cooperation in criminal matters possible as well as establishing minimum rules
regarding the definition of criminal offense and sanctions in the areas of serious crime with a cross-
border dimension and in computer crime. Trafficking in human beings and sexual exploitation of
women and children as well as computer crimes are designated as serious crimes with a cross-border
dimension. Some forms of cyber violence could therefore fall under that article due to the cross-
border/transnational nature of cyber violence. In this regard, there is an opportunity to develop a
general directive on violence against women, containing definitions of the different types of violence,
including definitions of the types of cyber violence. A revision of the Victim’s Rights Directive should
be considered to account for the specific nature of gender-based violence and to include reference
to legal solutions to be put in place. Finally, gender should be mainstreamed in the Anti-Trafficking
Directive.

8.4. Further instruments at Member States level

• The Member States' role is key in combating violence against women as the EU has only a limited
competence is this field, as far as criminal law is concerned. Member States should therefore invest
in technical expertise and develop sufficient infrastructural and financial capacity to conduct and
follow-up complex cross-border investigations of cybercrimes directed at women. They should
cooperate with other Member States and third-party states and involve internet intermediaries in the
identification of perpetrators and in clarifying jurisdictional matters. Member States should
collaborate more effectively when it comes to securing, gathering and disclosing evidence of
cybercrimes directed at women.
• In the first place, Member States should ensure that their laws are appropriate for the digital age and
that they reflect how technologies are being used for abuse, crimes and exploitation of women.
Secondly, Member States having no substantive or procedural laws against cybercrime and

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specifically against various forms of cyber violence and hate speech online against women, could
develop and implement legal frameworks that respond to the threats women experience online and
via new technologies. Member States could also ensure they have an appropriate legal framework in
place under which to hold secondary perpetrators of violence accountable.
• Substantial training on the protection of victims, on the different forms and on the impacts of cyber
violence against women should be provided to all law enforcement personnel, especially to first
responders in the police and the justice sectors, for them to be able to rapidly respond to complaints
and prosecute perpetrators.
• Duly trained support hotlines and services should be established to support and protect all victims
of cyber violence. These services should apply an intersectional perspective so as not to re-victimise
victims. Women’s organisations supporting victims of cyber violence and developing awareness
raising on these topics should be sustainably funded. A harmonised and regularly updated directory
and list of support services, helplines, reporting mechanisms and platforms should be made available
for every Member State, on a coordinated platform, taking stock of the existing directories on
platforms such as Better Internet for Kids or the No Hate Speech Movement. Also, more publicly
accessible data hailing from support and social services dealing with cases of cyber violence against
women could complement each Member State’s picture of the phenomenon.
• With regard to the attitude of Member States towards internet intermediaries, the Member States
should put pressure on the intermediaries to combat online impunity and address the various forms
of cyber violence targeting women. For instance, it could be considered to establish an independent
national safeguarding entity to monitor and coordinate the phenomenon of cyber violence and hate
speech online against women in each Member State. Social media and websites witnessing new
forms of cyber violence or increased amounts of hate speech could be encouraged to report to this
entity and allow external independent investigation on the causes of such violence, so as to
immediately update their moderation policies and suppress opportunities and features allowing for
abuse. Such an entity could make sure that internet intermediaries collaborate fully with civil society
to respond to cyber violence in accordance with local contexts.
• In order to combat harmful stereotypes that fuel cyber violence and hate speech online against
women, Member States should ensure that the traditional media, online and social media and
advertising are free from sexist hate speech and patriarchal stereotypes. News media should be
encouraged to moderate online debates in a transparent manner and provide users with clear
guidelines for online debates, complaints and reports on hate speech. For this, Member States could
build on awareness raising campaigns such as the No Hate Speech Movement and the Better Internet
for Kids in order to publicly discuss the scope and impact of cyber violence and hate speech online
against women at national level and foster new initiatives from Civil Society.

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 This study, commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy
Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the
request of the FEMM Committee, looks into the phenomenon of cyber
violence and hate speech online against women in the European
Union. After reviewing existing definitions of the different forms of
cyber violence, the study assesses the root causes and impact of online
violence on women. It continues by analysing and mapping the
prevalence, victims and perpetrators. The document ends with an
outline of the existing legal framework and recommendations for
action within the EU remit.

DISCLAIMER
This document is addressed to the Members and staff of the European Parliament to assist them in their
parliamentary work. The content of the document is the sole responsibility of its author(s) and should
not be taken to represent an official position of the European Parliament.

Print ISBN 978-92-846-3669-3 | doi : 10.2861/741446 | QA-02-18-994-EN-C

PDF ISBN 978-92-846-3671-6 | doi: 10.2861/738618 | QA-02-18-994-EN-N