Coordinated online harassment to silence women in media
12% of women journalists, media workers, human rights defenders and other public communicators have experienced non-consensual sharing of personal images, including intimate or sexual content. 6% say they have been victims of “deepfakes,” while nearly one in three have received unsolicited sexual advances through digital messaging, according to a study commissioned by UN Women and funded by the European Union.
The study was produced in partnership with researchers from The Nerve’s Information Integrity Initiative and City St. George’s, University of London, in collaboration with the International Center for Journalists and UNESCO.
The report says such abuse is often deliberate and coordinated, designed to silence women in public life while undermining their professional credibility and personal reputations.
41% of all women in the study say they self-censor on social media to avoid abuse. 19 per% report self-censoring in their professional work as a result of online violence.
For women journalists and media workers, the picture is even worse with 45% of this group reporting self-censorship on social media in 2025 which is a 50% increase since 2020.
Close to 22% of women journalists and media workers report self-censorship in their work.
The report stresses that there is a rise in legal action and law enforcement among women journalists and media workers. In 2025, they were twice as likely (22%) to report incidents of online violence to the police compared to 2020 (11%).
Close to 14% are now taking legal action against perpetrators, enablers, or their employers, up from 8% in 2020.
“This violence is taking a serious toll on women’s health and well-being”, UN Women says. 24.7% of women journalists and media workers surveyed have been diagnosed with anxiety or depression connected to the online violence they’ve experienced, and almost 13% reported being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
“AI is making abuse easier and more damaging, and this is fuelling the erosion of hard-won rights in a context marked by democratic backsliding and networked misogyny. Our responsibility is to ensure that systems, laws, and platforms respond with the urgency this crisis demands,” says Kalliopi Mingerou, UN Women’s Chief of the Ending Violence against Women Section.
UN Women says that significant gaps in legal protection against online violence persist. According to the World Bank, fewer than 40% of countries have laws in place to protect women from cyber harassment or cyberstalking.
“As a result, 44% of the world’s women and girls—approximately 1.8 billion people—remain without access to legal protection”, UN women says.
Moonshot News is an independent European news website for all IT, Media and Advertising professionals, powered by women and with a focus on driving the narrative for diversity, inclusion and gender equality in the industry.
Our mission is to provide top and unbiased information for all professionals and to make sure that women get their fair share of voice in the news and in the spotlight!
We produce original content, news articles, a curated calendar of industry events and a database of women IT, Media and Advertising associations.
