of awareness, social stigmatisation, bureaucratic procedures, overall lack of trust in public
institutions in handling sensitive cases and lack of legal frameworks and precedence, etc.
Some forms of TFGBV have led to honour-related femicides, where women are killed by a
family member/s.20 This includes women who seek support from family members.21
SELF CENSORHIP AND ONLINE MODERATION
The characteristics of TFGBV present substantial challenges for those seeking to identify,
monitor, and respond to hate speech. Automated systems struggle to interpret context, intent,
and nuance, while human moderation alone would be overwhelmed by the scale and volume
of online content. As a result of the current climate, many users, including journalists22, selfcensor or even withdraw from online spaces. In Jordan, a survey found that 77.4 percent of
women who experience online violence “respond by self-censoring, anonymizing their profiles,
or withdrawing from platforms entirely to avoid further attacks.”23
Research shows that online moderators are key to combating gendered hate speech and
discrimination in online debates. At the same time, they struggle to identify and handle
expressions of everyday sexism. Hateful comments and threats are more easily
distinguishable, and with violent forms of discrimination being part of their working day, there is
a normalisation of everyday sexism. This kind of normalisation, that happens also for online
users, lays the foundation for aggravated violence. As one moderator in the study puts it:
”Sexism has become so ingrained in our comments that we no longer notice it.
We don’t spot it immediately when we have to read a lot of comments. Racist
expressions, on the other hand, seem more violent, and we also react to them
more quickly.”24
One of the defining characteristics of online hate speech is its adaptability. Language used to
convey hate evolves rapidly, often relying on coded expressions, humour, irony and sarcasm,
or culturally specific references that make detection difficult. In Arabic-speaking contexts, this
challenge is further compounded by the diversity of dialects, transliterations, and the mixing of
Arabic with other languages such as English or French. What may appear neutral at a surface
level can, within a specific cultural or political context, carry deeply offensive or threatening
connotations.
Understanding hate speech online and TFGBV therefore requires not only definitions but also
a contextual and human rights–based perspective. It demands attention to how power,
20 Democracy Reporting International (2024) Online Public Discourse in the MENA Region, Persistent
Tactics of Disinformation and an Increase in Online Gender-Based Violence, 65b21f4539b6e.pdf p.65
and Jordan Open Source Association (JOSA) and KVINFO, The Impact of Technology-Facilitated
Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) on Survivors in Jordan, Final-JOSA-KVINFO-TFGBV-Study-1.pdf
21 Renaissance Strategic Centre (2026) How TFGBV Impacts the Democratic Participation of Young
Women: Jordan as a Case Study, TFGBV-report.pdf
22 International Media Support (IMS), Online gendered disinformation and sexist hate speech, IMSOnline-gendered-disinformation_final.pdf
23 Renaissance Strategic Centre (2026) How TFGBV Impacts the Democratic Participation of Young
Women: Jordan as a Case Study, TFGBV-report.pdf, p.2
24 Analyse & Tal, KVINFO and TrygFonden (2025) Digital hverdagssexisme: Hvordan forebygger og
håndterer man den hårde tone i onlinedebatter, https://kvinfo.dk/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Digitalhverdagssexisme_20250430.pdf, the quote is translated from Danish using ChatGPT
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