The extent and dire consequences of cyber violence against women and girls cannot be overlooked
Cyber violence against women and girls is a core dimension of gender-based violence in the digital age. It includes a wide range of abusive acts carried out through information and communication technologies, often targeting women and girls because of their gender and intersecting with factors such as race, age, disability, sexuality, profession or personal beliefs(1).
These forms of abuse, overwhelmingly perpetrated by men(2), can extend beyond the digital space and have consequences that go far beyond individual harm, limiting women’s visibility, voice and participation in public, political and professional life.
From recognition to implementation
In recent years, the EU has taken important steps to recognise cyber violence as a form of gender-based violence. In 2021, the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Grevio) clarified that violence against women in the digital sphere falls under the Istanbul Convention(3). This was a milestone: online abuse was no longer treated as ‘less serious’ than or separate from offline violence.
This recognition was translated into binding obligations in May 2024, when the EU adopted Directive (EU) 2024/1385, requiring EU Member States to criminalise cyber violence against women and to collect statistics on all its forms, including:
- non-consensual sharing of intimate or manipulated material,
- cyber stalking,
- cyber harassment,
- cyber incitement to hatred or violence.
Legal obligations require that data can be enforced in practice, monitored over time and used to ensure accountability across institutions.
When cyber violence involves making harmful material available online (such as on social media), the directive also requires Member States to remove or disable access to this material. This aims to protect victims’ rights and prevent ongoing harm(4).
What the data already tells us
New survey data provides the most comprehensive EU-level picture to date of women’s experiences of cyber violence. Prevalence data was collected through the EU survey on gender-based violence against women and other forms of inter-personal violence (EU-GBV survey), coordinated by Eurostat between 2020 and 2024. To complement this, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) coordinated data collection in eight Member States(5) where questions on three of the four forms of cyber violence defined in the directive were included.
The survey captured women’s experiences of cyber stalking, other acts of cyber violence and abuse, and online sexual harassment. It did not cover cyber incitement to hatred or violence, which is included in Directive (EU) 2024/1385.
Cyber stalking
Cyber stalking refers to repeated abusive online acts by the same person that cause fear, alarm or distress, such as unwanted messages or calls, remote monitoring or tracking, and offensive or humiliating public comments, including on social media.
Lifetime experience of cyber stalking ranged from 7.4 % of women in Romania to 18 % in Sweden (Figure 1).
The prevalence of cyber stalking is highest in the youngest age group. Among women aged 18–24, 23 % report having ever experienced this form of cyber violence, compared with 12 % in the 25–49 age group, 5 % in the 50–64 age group and 1 % in the 65–74 age group.
Reports of cyber stalking are higher among women who have experienced violence by an intimate partner than among those who have not. For example, 16 % of women with a history of physical intimate partner violence have also experienced cyber stalking by any perpetrator, compared with 7 % of women with no experience of physical intimate partner violence.
Similarly, 14 % of women who have experienced psychological intimate partner violence report cyber stalking, compared with 6 % among those who have not.
This result confirms that cyber violence offences against women are not isolated acts of violence, but part of an online–offline continuum of gender-based violence.
Other acts of cyber violence and abuse(6)
This category includes abusive online behaviours carried out by any perpetrator, such as cyber harassment and the sharing or threat of sharing intimate images or videos without consent.
Experience of other acts of cyber violence and abuse by any perpetrator ranged from 2.6 % of women in Romania to 12.9 % in Sweden.
Examples include:
Cyber harassment:
- in Ireland, 5.5 % of women reported being targeted with abusive sexist language online,
- in Luxembourg, 6.1 % of women had false information spread about them online,
Non-consensual sharing of intimate or manipulated material:
- in both Luxembourg and Sweden, 3 % of women reported non-consensual sharing of intimate images or videos,
Online sexual harassment:
- online sexual harassment covers unwanted sexual conduct or comments experienced online, both at work and outside working life,
- among women who have ever worked, experience of online sexual harassment at work ranged between 7.1 % in Germany and 22 % in Luxembourg(7),
- outside work, sexual harassment prevalence rises further – from 5.3 % in Cyprus to 28.1 % in Sweden(8).
Few women report
Despite the scale of cyber violence, reporting remains low. Among women who experienced cyber stalking involving a social media platform, only a small proportion reported the incident to the platform, ranging from 6.3 % in Czechia to 27.8 % in Ireland. This mirrors patterns observed in offline violence and highlights persistent barriers to reporting abuse in digital spaces.
Why comparable data matters – and why action cannot wait
The extended FRA–EIGE survey confirms that cyber violence is a widespread reality for women and girls in the EU, particularly among younger age groups, and that it often intersects with other forms of online and offline gender-based violence. Although this data was collected before the adoption of the Directive (EU) 2024/1385 and does not yet fully reflect the four forms of cyber violence now defined in EU law, it clearly demonstrates the scale and severity of the problem.
Low levels of reporting to social media platforms(9) further highlight the importance of robust, comparable data to support effective implementation of the directive, enable enforcement in practice and clarify the role of digital platforms. Strengthening gender-sensitive and intersectional data collection is therefore essential to improve protection and support women’s full participation in digital life.