AI has handed abusers a terrifying new weapon against women

Earlier this year, X made headlines amid a serious deepfake intimate image abuse scandal involving its AI chatbot, and more recently investigations have exposed online communities dedicated to encouraging and enabling the perpetration of abuse including sexual violence. These are just two examples of a much broader trend. Namely, a significant rise in tech-facilitated abuse.

As the UK's largest domestic abuse charity, Refuge is at the forefront of responding to this growing threat. In January we warned of the risks posed by AI and wearable technology, while more recently we revealed a 78% rise in referrals to our sector-leading Tech-Facilitated Abuse and Economic Empowerment Team. Now, a joint research report from Refuge and the End Violence Against Women coalition (EVAW) provides new evidence of the nature, scale and impact of online VAWG.

Based on nationally representative polling of 2,000 women aged 16 and over in the UK, 'Dangerous by Design' exposes the extent to which harassment, abuse and exposure to misogynistic content have become embedded in women’s daily online experiences. As many as one in three women surveyed reported experiencing some form of online VAWG, rising to 47% among women aged 16-24.

This striking finding comes almost one year after Ofcom introduced guidance for tech companies on how to tackle VAWG online. While our sector welcomed this development, our report shows why regulation must go further, demonstrating that voluntary guidance lacks the force needed to address the alarming levels of abuse and violence faced by women and girls online every day.

Our research also shines a light on the specific forms of online harm women are experiencing. One quarter of women surveyed reported experiencing online misogyny or sexual violence, while one in five said they had experienced harms suggestive of stalking, monitoring, harassment or coercive control, and almost as many reported experiencing image-based sexual abuse.

The findings also highlight that experiences of abuse are not distributed evenly, confirming that young women are disproportionately impacted by online VAWG. Those aged 16-24 reported higher levels of harm across every category measured, with 38% reporting experiences of misogyny and sexual violence online, and almost one in three reporting harms suggestive of stalking, monitoring, harassment or coercive control (30%), and image-based sexual abuse (31%).

The dangers of the online landscape are also linked to platform design. One in five (21%)16-24-year-olds who use social media said they are recommended content that is humiliating, degrading or sexually violent towards women most or every time they use it.

Taken together, these findings point to a system that continues to prioritise profit over safety, allowing abuse and misogyny to flourish online - with women and girls left to pay the price.

Online abuse cannot be tackled in isolation from domestic abuse, either. Of the women who reported experiencing online VAWG, one in five (20%) said it was perpetrated by a former partner, rising to 25% among 16-24 year-olds. Our findings demonstrate how VAWG can form part of post-separation abuse, with perpetrators using digital spaces to harass, abuse and exert control long after a relationship ends. This context is critical to understanding tech-facilitated abuse as part of wider pattern of coercive control.

As well as the particular vulnerability of young people, 'Dangerous by Design' also highlights how online VAWG is compounded by other forms of discrimination and inequality. For example, our research suggests that LGBTQIA+ women (57%) and Disabled women (34%) are disproportionately affected by online misogyny and sexual violence, illustrating the need for intersectional responses.

An online landscape in which abuse  and misogyny is routine has enormous consequences for all of us, from our relationships with each other to women's ability to participate freely and safely online. One in seven women reported stopping using platforms because of the VAWG they experienced, while 7% said it made them feel suicidal, rising to 15% among women aged 16–24.

No woman should have to choose between being online, and being safe. This is why we need the Government and Ofcom to go much further in holding tech companies legally responsible for combatting online VAWG, holding perpetrators to account, and keeping survivors safe.

A key part of this is grappling with the development and use of AI. In the course of our research, the safety of AI technologies emerged as another serious concern. Almost half (44%) of the women surveyed use an AI chat system on a regular basis, rising to 80% of women aged 16-24. 

Worryingly, one in six women in this age group say they have received dating, sex and relationships advice from an AI technology that they considered inappropriate, unhealthy or unsafe.

Reflecting these concerns, two thirds (66%) of women surveyed said they were concerned about the role of AI technologies in enabling VAWG, whilst the same again (66%) were not confident that the Government is doing enough to regulate AI in the context of online safety and VAWG.

In response to the findings, Refuge and EVAW are calling for urgent action. The Government has pledged to halve VAWG in a decade, and if it's going to achieve this then it must go much further when it comes to tackling online abuse. This includes making Ofcom’s guidance on VAWG legally enforceable, introducing mandatory Safety by Design standards for online services, and establishing robust AI regulation that prioritises the safety of women and girls.

Survivors must be given the access to justice they deserve. This requires enhanced mandatory tech abuse training for police and professionals across the criminal justice system, and the introduction of a new online safety commission or ombuds role to provide support and advocacy. All of this must be backed by ringfenced funding for the specialist services survivors rely on every single day. A safer online world for women and girls is not optional; it is essential.

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Gemma Sherrington is CEO of Refuge.

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