By Elizabeth Ikegima

Currently, online Gender Based Violence (GBV) is being dubbed as becoming endemic. Observers say this anomaly is generally targeted at the opposite and if left unchecked, it might grow into a monstrous situation that could be hard to manage. While it is said to be a result of the wide gender digital gap at both local and global levels, Freelance Campus Journalist, Elizabeth Ikegima sought answers to more factors that could be adduced to this cyberbullying from Ms. Mercy Moses, a Digital Rights and GBV Advocate.


With rising sophistication in digital technology comes its associated nag tagged ‘Gender Based Violence (GBV)’, a trend in which the opposite sex, mostly women and unsuspecting young girls, are often the target prey.

Experts describe GBV as violence targeted towards a person because of their gender through the use of digital technology.

Recent years’ reports show that online GBV is instigating serious problems in every society as perpetrators often hide behind technology to unleash their evil acts against their targets.

Global Overview 2022 statistics show that over two-thirds representing 67.1 percent of the world’s population now use a mobile phone, with unique users reaching 5.31 billion by the start of this same year.

According to the statistics, the total of world users has grown by 1.8 percent over the past year, with 95 million new mobile users since the previous year.

Explaining this trend further, Ms. Mercy Moses, Digital Rights, and GBV Advocate noted that online GBV emerges from misogyny, a term that means dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice, against women, physical spaces, and the cultural norms that generally guide human lives and relationships.

She said some of the violence is often from an intimate partner or by street harassment, rape, and others described in the regular cases of violence against women.

Moses said all of these are what also resulted in different forms of online forms of GBV seen all over the place.

She said there are also other causes such as the practices of ‘online communities, particularly, lack of regulations that address gender-specific harassment and violence.

On the other hand, Moses said scholars believe that rather than blaming it on technology creating violence online; what it simply provides was a new platform that users adapt to suit their desired action, some of which may include acts such as doxing, threatening, and stalking.

She adds further that online algorithms and behaviour can also bring about another factor that causes violent behaviour. Some of these provocative factors could be public comments on social media applications such as Twitter and Facebook which can lead to other users either agreeing with, disagreeing, or adding personally opinions as additional comments.

In cases of online harassment, she said additional users’ actions are caused when the original threat or internet troll comment is perceived as acceptable or when they become normalised and more common in the user’s feed.

Some other forms of online GBV are caused by the availability of online spaces for communities with misogynistic and violent ideas, Moses said; adding that systems that provide online formats such as Reddit or Tor can often become popular among groups with violent ideas or would like to remain anonymous.

Moses also highlighted some of the online GBV people go through, namely:
• Cyber-harassment also called cyberbullying
• Revenge porn
• Threats of rape
• Sexual assault
• Or even murder, which is the extreme.

Some survivors of online GBV also shared their stories with this reporter.

Speaking of her experience, Miss Tessy, 19, who said she had been traumatised, stated, “I was filmed and gang-raped under the influence of drugs after consenting to hangout during a Facebook conversation.

“I never knew my soft drink had been drugged. All I could remember was that I ended up in a room where I was raped. This was a result of me honouring a _Facebook_ friend’s request to hang out. After some weeks, they told me to join them on the next hangout which I refused. Then, they sent a video of them _fingering_ me and having sex with me the last time I attended the party. I was not aware that they filmed me. They told me that if I don’t attend they would leak my video. I didn’t hear from them not until I saw the video on one Whatsapp status. I was in denial until I started getting messages from people. I kept telling them that I was drugged but only a few believed me.”

Also sharing her thoughts on online GBV with the reporter was the programme coordinator, Education as a Vaccine (EVA), Madam Grace Gara, on the plights of affected victims. She noted that people that suffer the most are girls and young women who trivialize online violence. That is why they find it difficult to share their experiences.

She said, “I would say online GBV is worse because perpetrators are hiding behind technology. GBV is now even translated to the offline space and causing a lot of mental and psychological issues and trauma to survivors.”

A Campus Journalist with Cross River Watch, Sylvia Felix Akpan, explains what effects online GBV can pose on victims. She said, “Online abuse and violence may silence and sensor victims’ voices because they are vulnerable just as it may also threaten their offline safety and jobs due to the fear of being attacked physically. It may also limit victims’ rights to express themselves equally, freely, and without fear, because most of them are often silenced due to the fear of being annihilated by perpetrators.”

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