More than 41% of women said they had self-censored on social media to avoid abuse, while 19% had pulled back from speaking out in a professional context.
Artificial intelligence-powered abuse is pushing women out of public life, according to a new report by UN Women.
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The major study found that female journalists, activists, and human rights defenders are facing rising online violence, which includes AI-generated deepfakes and what researchers are calling "virtual rape".
The study, Tipping Point: Online Violence Impacts, Manifestations and Redress in the AI Age, was published by UN Women in partnership with researchers at City St George's, University of London, and TheNerve, a digital forensics lab founded by Nobel laureate Maria Ressa.
More than 640 women in public-facing roles from 119 countries were surveyed in late 2025.
The survey found that 27% of women received unsolicited sexual advances or unwanted intimate images, and 12% had their personal images, including those of an intimate nature, shared without their consent. Another 6% of women were subject to deepfakes or manipulated imagery.
The attacks were “often deliberate and coordinated, aiming to silence women in public life while undermining their professional credibility and personal reputations,” the study found.
A main culprit in online abuse is deepfake tools, which use AI to superimpose a person's likeness onto fabricated images or videos, often of a sexual nature. They have become cheaper and faster and can produce in minutes nonconsensual images that can be used for harassment.
Alarmingly, more than 40% of women said they had self-censored on social media to avoid abuse, while 19% had pulled back from speaking out in a professional context.
This also resulted in a heavy psychological toll, with one in four women reporting anxiety or depression and 13% of respondents diagnosed with PTSD.
"AI-assisted 'virtual rape' is now at the fingertips of perpetrators. This phenomenon accelerates the harm from online violence inflicted on women in public life," said Julie Posetti, professor of journalism and chair of the Centre for Journalism and democracy at City St George's, and the report's lead author.
“This violence serves to fuel the reversal of women’s hard-won rights in a climate of rising authoritarianism, democratic backsliding and networked misogyny,” she added.
The report also highlighted widespread failures in institutional responses, with 25% of cases reported but only 15% of police taking legal action.
A further quarter of respondents who went to the police said they were made to feel victim-blamed and were asked questions such as “What did you do to provoke the violence?”. An equal proportion or respondents said officers made them feel responsible for protecting themselves from further harm.
Pauline Renaud, Lecturer in Journalism at City St George’s, and fellow co-author of the study, said:
“We need more effective education and training of law enforcement and judicial actors to support action in cases of technology-facilitated violence against women and girls,” said Pauline Renaud, Lecturer in Journalism at City St George’s, and fellow co-author of the study.
“This needs to be matched by political will to effectively regulate Big Tech companies that use their outsized financial and political power to undermine progress in this area,” she added.
