Confronting Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV): HER Internet Statement.

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As Mental Health Awareness Month comes to an end, HER Internet reiterates its unwavering stance against Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) and all forms of online harm targeting womxn and structurally silenced communities.

Across Uganda and globally, Tech Facilitated Gender Based Violence (TFGBV) is rising at alarming levels. According to Uganda’s national reports on Gender-Based Violence, more than half of Ugandan womxn have experienced physical violence, while many continue to face sexual and psychological violence both offline and online. Globally, recent findings from UN Women further show that online violence against womxn in public spaces is becoming more sophisticated and more dangerous, including the use of AI-generated sexual abuse, deepfakes, surveillance, and targeted harassment campaigns designed to silence womxn and push them out of digital spaces entirely. These incidents remind us that the digital spaces where so many of us connect, learn, and thrive can also become tools of harm and that demands our urgent response because they have real emotional, psychological, economic, and physical consequences. TFGBV impacts also contribute to anxiety, fear, trauma, depression, self-censorship, social isolation, and withdrawal from digital platforms. For structurally silenced communities in Uganda, particularly womxn human rights defenders, feminists, and young womxn navigating increasingly hostile digital environments, online violence is often compounded by state surveillance, stigma, discrimination, and weak accountability systems.

“We reflected on how political propaganda, religious extremism, misogyny and anti-gay rhetoric continue to fuel online hostility and normalize violence against our bodies and communities. These realities remind us that TFGBV is not simply a digital issue. It is deeply rooted in systemic inequalities and existing social injustices that are increasingly being replicated and amplified through technology.” Sandra Kwikiriza, Executive Director at HER Internet.

  • HER Internet rejects the normalization of online abuse and the culture of silence surrounding digital violence.
  • We reject the idea that harassment is the cost of visibility.
  • We reject digital spaces that profit from harmful content while failing to protect users most at risk.
  • We reject policies, systems, and narratives that continue to criminalize, endanger, and erase structurally slienced communities online.
  • We believe that everyone deserves safety, dignity, privacy, freedom of expression, and bodily autonomy online.

Addressing TFGBV requires urgent and collective action from governments, big tech companies, civil society organizations, media institutions, educators, and communities themselves. It requires survivor-centered responses, accessible reporting mechanisms, stronger digital security practices, platform accountability, digital rights protections, and mental health support for those affected by online harm.

Reach out to us for assistance in case you or anyone that you know experiences any form of violence on online platforms through email: info@herinternet.org. Survivors or victims of Non-Consensual Circulation of Intimate Images (NCII) can also reach out to www.stopncii.org which is a free tool designed to support victims through detection and removal of the images from being further shared online.

As HER Internet, we remain committed to building feminist digital futures rooted in care, justice, safety, and collective liberation, where structurally silenced communities can participate, organize, express themselves, and exist freely without fear.

Because digital violence is violence and silence cannot be the response.

Read or download the full statement via: https://www.herinternet.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/TFGBV-Statement.pdf-o.pdf

#EndTFGBV