Deepfakes, online violence driving women from public life: Study

A team of global researchers on Thursday said that deepfakes AIassisted rape and unwanted advances are pushing women out of public lifeThe report by UN Women City St Georgersquos University of London and data forensic company TheNerve found that online violence against women in public life is becoming increasingly technologically sophisticatedldquoAIassisted lsquovirtual rapersquo is now at the fingertips of perpetrators This phenomenon accelerates the harm from online violence inflicted on women in public life This violence serves to fuel the reversal of womenrsquos hardwon rights in a climate of rising authoritarianism democratic backsliding and networked misogynyrdquo said Julie Posetti Professor of Journalism and Chair of the Centre for Journalism and Democracy at City St GeorgersquosldquoThe rollback of womenrsquos rights is enabled and exacerbated by technologies which ndash by design ndashamplify misogynistic hate speech for profitrdquo added Posetti projectrsquos principal researcher and the reportrsquos lead authorThe report analysed the experiences of 641 women journalists and media workers activists and human rightsrsquo defenders from 119 countriesThe women were surveyed in late 2025 and the researchers concluded that 27 per cent of women respondents were targeted with unsolicited sexual advances via direct message receiving unwanted intimate images ldquocyberflashingrdquo sexual innuendos or nonconsensual sextingAbout 12 per cent of respondents had their personal images including those of an intimate nature shared without their consent and 6 per cent of respondents have been subjected to deepfakes or manipulated images and videosThese attacks were often deliberate and coordinated aiming to silence women in public life while undermining their professional credibility and personal reputations found the studyThe impacts include an alarming rate of mental health diagnoses and selfcensorship Nearly onequarter 24 per cent of respondents have experienced anxiety andor depression linked to online violence 13 per cent reported being diagnosed with PostTraumatic Stress Disorder PTSD and 41 per cent of respondents said they selfcensored on social media to avoid being abused and 19 per cent were selfcensoring at work as a resultThe study found that while 25 per cent of respondents had reported incidents of online violence to the police and 15 per cent had taken legal action justice still eludes themldquoThe chilling effect of online violence is pushing women out of public life Law enforcement is outsourcing the responsibility for protection to the survivors by telling women to remove themselves from social media to avoid speaking publicly about controversial issues to move into less visible roles at work or to take leave from their respective careersrdquo said Coauthor Lea Hellmueller Associate Professor of Journalism and Associate Dean for Research and Innovation at City St GeorgersquosThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever