In light of growing challenges for women's rights, a new United Nations (U.N.) report finds that women are facing gender-based violence (GBV) online, such as in the forms of cyber stalking, cyber harassment, GBV-based hate speech, cyber bullying, and non-consensual intimate image abuse. Violence and hate speech have become so prominent within online platforms that the term "manosphere" was developed to explain the phenomena of a specific group of men generating misogynistic content to influence public opinions blaming women for all problems within society. This phenomenon is worsened by social media companies like Meta that eliminate speech regulation mechanisms. In response to these dangerous developments, there must be action taken by governments to ensure the protection of women's rights through increase efforts to educate individuals on digital literacy, to make algorithms transparent, and to include men in combatting online violence against women.
Compiled from: Nicole Trian, "Women's and girl's rights at risk from uptick in online abuse, says new UN report," France 24, March 8, 2025.