Violence against women has never been static. It adapts to the technologies, social norms, and communication networks of its time. Today, as life increasingly unfolds online, a new terrain of harm has emerged: technology-facilitated violence. This form of abuse is not confined to screens; it spills into homes, workplaces, relationships, and public life. It reshapes how women move through the world, how they speak, and how safe they feel both online and offline.
Tech-facilitated gender-based violence refers to any harm carried out through, enabled by, or amplified via digital technologies. It includes harassment, stalking, threats, impersonation, surveillance, non-consensual sharing of intimate images, online blackmail, deepfakes, and coordinated attacks designed to silence, shame, or intimidate women.
Globally, research suggests that between 16 and 58 per cent of women and girls have experienced some form of technology-enabled abuse. In Kenya, the reality is stark. A study by UNFPA found that almost 90 per cent of young adults in Kenyan universities had witnessed tech-facilitated gender-based violence, and 39 per cent reported experiencing it directly. The scale of this harm challenges the persistent myth that online abuse is less serious because it lacks physical proximity, but what happens on a screen rarely stays there.
Technology magnifies existing inequalities. Misogyny that once circulated in private conversations now finds a megaphone in comment sections and algorithmic feeds. Women who dare to express opinions publicly are frequently subjected to insults, sexual threats, and character assassination. Deepfake technology has created a chilling frontier where fabricated explicit content is used to coerce or humiliate women who never consented to being represented that way. Dating apps, marketed as spaces for connection, sometimes become arenas of deception, exploitation, or predatory behaviour. A device intended for communication becomes a tool of surveillance when abusers track messages, calls, or locations.
The psychological toll is immense. Many women describe a constant sense of vigilance monitoring messages, muting online presence, or pre-emptively censoring themselves to avoid hostility. Others withdraw completely from social platforms, sacrificing career opportunities, activism, community, and visibility simply to feel safer. The fear extends into offline life: women reconsider evening travel, distrust digital interactions, and question their own judgment because harm has already shown it can reach them through a screen.
Yet society still struggles to treat tech-enabled violence as “real violence.” Public discourse often downplays victims’ experiences, framing abuse as “online drama,” “banter,” or an unavoidable consequence of visibility. This dismissal mirrors long-standing patterns: violence is only taken seriously when it becomes physical, even though emotional, psychological, and sexual harm can be inflicted without a single touch.
This must change. Technology-facilitated abuse is not trivial, accidental, or harmless; it is violence, and it demands recognition, accountability, and protection. We need media, lawmakers, platforms, communities, and individuals to stop minimising the harm women experience online and to treat digital spaces as real spaces where real lives are affected.
Speak up when you witness online abuse, challenge harmful narratives, support survivors, and demand safer digital environments. Join the movement. Raise your voice. Amplify the call. #EnoughOfThisKE #EndFemicideKE #16Days
