As a public commentator, I face a digital “wild west” where AI-assisted abuse is used to shame women. A new UN Women report confirms this is a global crisis, forcing 41% of us to self-censor.
Technology is barrelling towards a wild west for women’s rights. How can women protect themselves online, when anonymity assists abuse to be enacted with impunity?
I am an opinionated woman, who earns a living through these columns by speaking out on the harms inflicted upon the voiceless. As a public commentator on misogyny, I experience abuse from all corners of the internet.
Trolls call me a ‘traitor’ when I speak out about my support of trans rights. People without profile pictures mock my appearance, as I have the fatal flaw of needing glasses. Frighteningly, some post information they have found through Google searching my name: the name of my novel, or the fact that I am Irish.
The comments can be relentless and they all have one thing in common: to harass to the point of silencing. This should not be part and parcel of being a woman with an opinion and a public profile – yet it is.
In April 2026, UN Women released the latest of their reports into the online world and violence against women and girls – and the findings should send a chill down the spine of women the world over.
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Not only are women being targeted online, but the technological advancements has given way to a horrendous wave of misogyny – that has women shrinking in their public roles. It’s time we framed these strides in technology for what they are: societal regressions towards hateful misogyny.
Enabled by the digital ‘progress’ free-for-all, society has tilted on its axis towards a world where the private is now accessible, without consent. So-called ‘nudification’ apps and sexual deep-fakes operate in the same manner – by digitally undressing women against their will. The objective is clear: to shame women, to humiliate them, and to exercise power.
Despite the Government taking action in December 2025 to ban ‘nudification’ apps, there is a world online that seeks to slip under the radar and do it anyway. Researching for this column, I found recent advice – readily available online – that rates ‘nudification’ apps, including on whether it can produce NSFW (Not Suitable for Work) images and ‘Spicy Mode’ chats to go alongside AI generated images.
This is deeply dehumanising, to reduce women to tools for sexual objectivation and removing consent – digital or otherwise. The UN Women report detailed that, “AI-assisted ‘virtual rape’ is now at the fingertips of perpetrators.”
‘The psychological effects of these apps have extreme ramifications for women in public life’
Viewing trolls posting as well as ‘virtual rape’ as an ‘online’ (or ‘not real world’) issue is a mistake to be avoided. The psychological effects of these apps have extreme ramifications for women in public life. Shockingly, one in four women who responded to the survey had experienced AI-assisted abuse.
In an attempt to protect themselves, 41% of respondents said they self-censor online to avoid being abused. Half of the women identifying as writers and other public communicators said they self-censor on social media in response to online violence, while over a quarter (26 per cent) said they self-censor at work.
Let that sink in: the harms of the digital world are causing women to modulate their actions in their places of work.
This is not just a UK issue, as the report details the global scale of the problem. One woman in India gives testimony that trolls online called her a ‘traitor’ and spread false allegations about her through messaging apps.
How do we protect against these attacks? A quarter had reported online violence to the police, yet the respondents said that they felt that responsibility for protection was outsourced to the survivor. Simply put: the onus is on the victim to make changes to their life. In other words: victim-blaming and shaming, into being less online or to think twice about visibility in the digital world.
Nearly a quarter (24 per cent) of those who responded to the survey said they were made to feel responsible for shielding themselves against further victimisation, by: removing themselves from social media; avoiding speaking publicly about controversial issues; moving into less visible roles at work; or taking leave from their respective careers.
The answer cannot be that women shy away from public roles. Big Tech must be held accountable for their role in giving abusers a platform to send dangerous and threatening messages.
