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Tipping Point: The chilling escalation of violence against women in the public sphere
December 8, 2025
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Seven in ten women human rights defenders, activists and journalists surveyed report online violence
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND — Online violence against women human rights defenders, activists and journalists has reached a tipping point, often fueling offline attacks, according to a new report published by UN Women in partnership with TheNerve. Without strong countermeasures, this risks driving women out of digital spaces, and undermining democracy and freedom of expression. The report Tipping Point: The chilling escalation of violence against women in the public sphere was produced by the EU-UN Women’s ACT to End Violence against Women programme in partnership with researchers from TheNerve, City St George’s University, and the International Center for Journalists, in collaboration with UNESCO.
Key Findings
- 70 per cent of surveyed women have experienced online violence in the course of their work.
- 41 per cent of respondents in these groups reported offline harm linked to online abuse.
- For women journalists, the trajectory from online violence to offline harm has escalated dramatically. According to a 2020 global survey published by UNESCO, 20 per cent of women journalists associated the offline attacks or abuse they experienced with online violence. In the new 2025 survey conducted by the same researchers, that statistic has more than doubled to 42 per cent. Nearly one in four surveyed women human rights defenders, activists and journalists have experienced AI-assisted online violence, such as deepfake imagery, manipulated content, and AI-generated abuse.
- Writers or public communicators who focus on human rights issues (e.g., social media content creators and influencers) faced the highest exposure to AI-assisted online violence at 30 per cent.
For interviews, contact the UN Women media team on media.team@unwomen.org.
Tipping Point: The chilling escalation of violence against women in the public sphere
New research produced for UN Women has revealed a dangerous trajectory, with over 40% of women journalists, human rights defenders and activists experiencing offline attacks.
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