4. Findings
4.6 Impacts of GBVO
GBVO produces significant psychological, social, and professional impacts. Survivors described fear and emotional
distress, while others hesitated to participate on social
media or express their opinions on political or social issues
due to their concerns about being attacked. GBVO not
only harms individuals, but shrinks civic and media space,
reducing diversity of perspectives. Additionally, differences were observed between men and women survivors.
4.6.1 From individual harm to collective and
societal consequences
The impacts of GBVO extend well beyond immediate
emotional distress, and the data evidence allows these
impacts to be described more explicitly across psychological, social, and professional/civic dimensions.
Psychologically, survivors repeatedly linked online targeting to fear, anxiety, and longer-term distress that shapes
everyday wellbeing. Women IDIs described direct harm to
mental and emotional health:
On an emotional level, I am deeply and
negatively affected. Yes, it definitely
affected my mental health.
Survivor IDIs — Women
Media KIIs similarly emphasized that sustained online
attacks can produce serious psychological deterioration,
including isolation and depression, and in severe cases
escalating to medication use or suicidal behavior. This
helps explain why many survivors describe fear as both
experienced and anticipated, a condition that persists
even when no new incident occurs.
Socially, the data shows that fear translates into protective
behavioral changes and self-restriction that narrow
women’s participation and reshape relationships. Women
survivors described limiting interaction and visibility
through measures such as refusing suspicious contact,
tightening boundaries between personal and professional
communication, and avoiding engagement that could
trigger escalation. This anticipatory self-censorship is
central to GBVO’s silencing effect: women reduce topics,
visibility, and participation not only after attacks, but to
prevent them. By contrast, the data also captures variation
by gender in how far harm travels beyond the digital
space: One male survivor described withdrawing from
platforms due to safety concerns while still feeling
physically safe offline:
I’ve started distancing myself from social
media … but I still feel confident in real life.
Survivor IDI — Man
Indicating that for some men the felt impact may remain
more contained within the online environment, whereas
women more often described threats as socially consequential due to reputational and community dynamics.
Professionally and civically, the data points to withdrawal
as both a personal coping strategy and a collective cost.
Media KIIs described that one of the most consequential
outcomes is women stepping back from public-facing
work and civic participation after attacks, with some
women avoiding public roles altogether due to fear of
defamation and reputational damage. When these individual withdrawals accumulate, the effect is structural:
public debate becomes less diverse and less representative, reinforcing existing power imbalances and weakening
accountability. The true cost of GBVO is therefore not only
borne by survivors, but also by society, through the erosion
of inclusive participation that undermines media freedom,
democratic dialogue, and social cohesion.
4.7 Legal, institutional, and
community responses
Trust in legal and institutional mechanisms is low. Survivors expressed fear of reporting, legal experts highlighted
the ineffectiveness of existing mechanisms due to legal
and institutional gaps, the reprioritization of cybercrimes,
and a lack of qualified human resources within the relevant
departments. As a result, both women and men do not
report such incidents, leading to their underreporting and,
consequently, their continued low prioritization.
Low reporting is not simply the result of lack of awareness.
The data evidence suggests it is often a risk-managed
survival strategy, and women’s responses sit on a spectrum rather than a single outcome. Some women do
withdraw fully from public-facing engagement, temporarily or for longer periods, especially after reputational
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