"Ahead of World Press Freedom Day on 3 May, UN Women, The Nerve, and partners are releasing a new report highlighting the growing and increasingly sophisticated forms of online violence faced by women in public life—particularly women journalists and media professionals.
According to 'Tipping point: Online violence impacts, manifestations and redress in the AI age,' 12 per cent of women human rights defenders, activists, journalists, media workers, and other public communicators report having experienced the non-consensual sharing of personal images, including intimate or sexual content. Six per cent say they have been victims of 'deepfakes,' while nearly one in three have received unsolicited sexual advances through digital messaging.
The report reveals that such abuse is often deliberate and coordinated, designed to silence women in public life while undermining their professional credibility and personal reputations. This strategy is already having an impact: 41 per cent of all women respondents said they self-censor on social media to avoid abuse, while 19 per cent reported self-censoring in their professional work as a result of online violence. For women journalists and media workers, the picture is even more concerning, with 45 per cent of this group reporting self-censorship on social media in 2025 (representing a 50 per cent increase since 2020), and almost 22 per cent reporting self-censorship in their work."
