Nearly half of women journalists report self-censorship due to online violence – UN study

The following is a press statement from UN Women and City St. George’s, University of London.

NEW YORK, USA – Ahead of World Press Freedom Day on May 3, UN Women, The Nerve, and partners are releasing a new report highlighting the growing and increasingly sophisticated forms of online violence faced by women in public life — particularly women journalists and media professionals.

According to Tipping Point: Online Violence — Impacts, Manifestations and Redress in the AI Age, 12% of women human rights defenders, activists, journalists, media workers, and other public communicators report having experienced the nonconsensual sharing of personal images, including intimate or sexual content. Six percent say they have been victims of “deepfakes,” while nearly one in three have received unsolicited sexual advances through digital messaging.

The report also reveals that such abuse is often deliberate and coordinated, designed to silence women while undermining their professional credibility and personal reputations. This strategy is already having an impact: 41% of all women respondents said they self-censor on social media to avoid abuse, while 19% reported self-censoring in their professional work as a result of online violence.

For women journalists and media workers, the picture is even more concerning, with 45% of this group reporting self-censorship online in 2025 compared to 30% in 2020. This represents a 50% increase.

This violence is taking a serious toll on women’s health and well-being. The report reveals that nearly a quarter (24.7%) of women journalists and media workers 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 fueling 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,” said Kalliopi Mingerou, chief of the Ending Violence Against Women Section.

Other notable trends include increasing rates of legal action and reporting to law enforcement among journalists and media workers. In 2025, women journalists and media workers were twice as likely (22%) to report incidents of online violence to the police compared to 2020 (11%). Additionally, almost 14% of this group are now taking legal action against perpetrators, enablers or their employers compared to 8% in 2020 — an increase that reflects growing awareness and determination to seek accountability.

However, significant gaps in legal protection against online violence persist. As the World Bank highlighted last year, 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.

Tipping Point: Online Violence – Impacts, Manifestations and Redress in the AI Age is part of a broader series examining how online violence is constraining women’s participation in public life in the AI era. The study was commissioned by UN Women under the ACT to End Violence Against Women Programme, funded by the European Union. It was produced in partnership with 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’s authors are Dr. Julie Posetti, Kaylee Williams, Dr. Lea Hellmueller, Dr. Pauline Renaud, Nabeelah Shabbir and Dr. Nermine Aboulez.

Get the full report here. – Rappler.com