Tech companies must answer for online violence against women

# Summary

# What the data shows

The report links online abuse to real-world harms. One in seven women left platforms because of VAWG, 14% of those who reported online VAWG said they felt more at risk of physical violence, and 7% said the abuse made them feel suicidal. Marginalised and disabled women appear disproportionately affected.

# How platforms factor in

Asato argues platforms actively facilitate the spread of misogynistic material through design and algorithms that prioritise engagement and profit. She highlights how recommendation systems can repeatedly surface degrading or sexually violent content to vulnerable users, increasing exposure and harm. Non-consensual intimate images and deepfakes are singled out as particularly damaging: 66% of women in the poll expressed concern about AI enabling VAWG.

Asato reports taking legal action against xAI over non-consensual deepfake images created via its Grok tool. She notes the Labour government has introduced a statutory offence banning the creation of intimate deepfakes without consent, which shifts responsibility onto platforms to take proactive steps to prevent those images appearing on their services.

# Policy and enforcement proposals

Asato sets out a short list of reforms she wants to see implemented quickly:

• Make Ofcom's guidance on tackling online VAWG legally enforceable so companies face clear regulatory obligations. She asks for evidence tech firms have implemented the guidance.
• Introduce mandatory "safety by design" standards requiring platforms to build protections into product and algorithm design rather than react to harm after it occurs.
• Provide better, faster routes to justice for survivors: dedicated police and prosecutor training on online VAWG and improved civil redress mechanisms.
• Hold tech companies to account financially and legally when they fail to prevent or remove non-consensual intimate imagery.

# Practical consequences for women and girls

Asato emphasizes that online VAWG limits women's freedom of speech and participation in public life by pushing them out of online spaces. She frames the issue as both a continuation of offline abuse dynamics—particularly when perpetrators are former partners—and a technological problem created by design and monetisation choices.

# Bottom line

The Refuge/EVAW report provides numbers and testimony showing online VAWG is widespread and harmful. Asato argues that the combination of a statutory deepfake ban, enforceable Ofcom rules, safety-by-design standards, and better policing and civil remedies forms a concrete policy response. If platforms fail to act, she says government must use regulation and enforcement to close the accountability gap.