Digital Violence and
International Challenges
While technology is a powerful tool for empowering internet users and advancing rights, it is increasingly being
used as a means to perpetrate violence against women, through harassment, discrimination, and cyberbullying.
This digital violence is an extension of structural discrimination against women, amplified by the characteristics
of the internet, creating new challenges in the field of digital rights12. To effectively address these issues, we need
comprehensive policies that narrow the digital gender divide by ensuring equal access to technology, enacting
laws that prosecute cyberviolence, raising awareness about the dangers of digital violence and its social impact,
enabling all gender identities to use technology safely and freely, while ensuring that cybercrime laws are not
used as a tool of suppression and silencing voices13
.
While the global nature of the internet poses significant law enforcement challenges, and perpetrators may
reside in different countries, making it difficult to apply national laws effectively. Laws specific to online
harassment are essential to overcoming these legal complexities and ensuring cross-border cooperation to
hold harassers accountable.
The Concept of Digital
Violence:
Its Inclusiveness and Limitations
While the term 'digital violence' encompasses various types of gender-based violence (GBV) facilitated by
technological tools and digital devices, such as mobile phones, internet Apps, email, or through social media
platforms; it often overlooks the gender-intersectional dimension and diverse identities, as well as the social
and cultural classes of digital societies 14
11 For three years, the researcher worked on the implementation of media self-regulation in Lebanon with
several local organizations and sectors. This experience can serve as an example for the future.
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