Farhana Musarat Khan
After poverty and climate change, Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TF-GBV) is the biggest challenge the world is confronted with today. Though both poverty and climate change are existential threats, TF-GBV is a threat to the social fabric of society. It is not a new phenomenon, but an extension of the offline Gender-Based Violence (GBV), which mainly started occupying digital space during COVID-19. Now, it is a genie out of the bottle, causing irreversible harm to the human value chain,with thousands of cases being reported every year across the world. Pakistan is no exception to it.
According to the United Nations Population Fund, about 60% women and girls worldwide have faced some form of TF-GBV. Economist Intelligence Unit reported that 38% of women have personally experienced online harassment, while 85% of women, who spend their spare time online, have witnessed it. A recent UN report reveals that women are 27 times more likely than men to be targets of online hate activities. The figures are alarming. Global data confirms the widespread nature of this issue and demands immediate attention of states to control it.
Experts say TF-GBV directly threatens the safety, economy, and right to free expression.It encompasses gender-based harassment, abuse, or assault carried out through online or digital platforms, including social media channels through messaging, email facilities, as well as video and image sharing sites. This phenomenon also includes behaviors such as digitally enabled stalking or surveillance, issuing threats or degrading messages, sharing intimate images without consent, doxing, and other forms of sexualized cyber-harassment. It should not be simply considered an online activity, since its adverse impact can intensify offline violence in deadly circumstances. According to experts, it can practically limit women’s ability to engage in public life on the one hand, and on the other,affect their mental wellbeing and contribute to suicidal tendencies.
The UN Women global guidance also confirms that millions of women and girls are affected each year by online violence such as cyberstalking, sexualized deepfakes, privacy breaches, and coordinated hate campaigns. Similarly, the United Nations Children’s Fundreports that adolescent girls are particularly vulnerable, with a significant portion experiencing online harassment before the age of 18. Amnesty International hasdocumented that women, especially those belonging to marginalized groups, face abusive and threatening messages at disproportionately high rates.
In Pakistan, the situation also reflects global trends, aswomen and girls face severe and often escalating forms of digital violence. Digital rights bodies here term TF-GBV as a rapidly growing threat to society. The Digital Rights Foundation’s Cyber Harassment Helpline alone has recorded over 20,000 complaints in the last eight years, with the majority filed by women and young girls. The recent data of the organization displays a sharp rise in such cases. In 2024, the helpline documented 3,171 cases, of which 2,741 involved cyber harassment. Women between the ages of 18–30 remain the most affected group. The Punjab, the data continues to report the highest number of cases, followed by Sindh.
Online threats often escalate to physical violence, causing distress, fear, trauma, and social exclusion. This phenomenon appears to be worse in rural areas with limited social support. Digital violence reinforces gender inequalities and restricts access to education, employment, and leadership opportunities. Other national data forums suggest that the magnitude of the issue is far greater. Reports indicate that in the last five years, more than 1.8 million women across Pakistan were targeted through cyberstalking, blackmail, non-consensual image sharing, online threats, and other forms of digital abuse. Despite the high number of annual complaints, over 73,131 cases were reported to the Federal Investigating Agency (FIA), as mentioned in the agency’s Annual Administration Report 2024. The conviction rate remains as low as 1%, which reflects major barriers to justice and criminal negligence on the part of law enforcement agencies.
This issue must also be analyzed and addressed within Pakistan’s wider socio-cultural context. A society already dealing with deep gender inequalities and entrenched patriarchal norms makes women particularly vulnerable when these dynamics spill into digital spaces. As more women engage in online education, political participation, employment, entrepreneurship, and social-media activism, their exposure to digital harm increases. The rapid expansion of digital connectivity, therefore, demands urgent, structured, and gender-responsive action to ensure that online spaces are safe, inclusive, and accountable.
To conclude, digital violence should be treated as violence. From cyber-stalking and non-consensual image sharing to coordinated harassment and deepfakes, it must be recognized and prosecuted as forms of gender-based violence. Legal frameworks must be accompanied by operational plans that build capacity in police, prosecutors, and courts to investigate, preserve digital evidence, and adjudicate cases without re-victimizing survivors. There is a need to strengthen helplines and survivor services such as gender-responsive hotlines, trained digital forensics units, legal aid, safety planning, and trauma-informed counseling. Helplines must be widely publicized, accessible in local languages, and linked to referral pathways that include medical, legal, and shelter services.
Prevention is as important as prosecution. The government needs to invest in age-appropriate digital literacy (students, parents, teachers) and training for development field staff and public servants. A structured national mechanism must be devised to collect disaggregated data (sex, age, region, type of abuse, platform) and track outcomes (i.e. reports → investigations → convictions). Regular public dashboards and independent research will reveal trends, expose gaps, and inform policy choices.
Top-down policies must be complemented by bottom-up action, partnering with local women’s groups, school networks, religious institutions, and community-basedorganizations to tailor interventions to local norms, improve digital access for women and girls, and create safe online/offline spaces.
Redressal of digital violence is not only a technological challenge for the government, but it is also important for gender justice, basic rights, and women-led growth. The path is clear, and the goal is ahead;thus, the stakeholders need collective will and actions.
(Farhana Musarat Khan is a Gender and Women Empowerment Advocate associated with Sustainable Development Policy Institute).
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Very indepth analysis and i think Chitral is not immune to these crimes