By Wallace Mawire
A new study, conducted by pan-African organisation, Paradigm Initiative (PIN), warns of an alarming surge in the prevalence of Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based violence, with 67 percent of respondents being victims of at least one or multiple forms of digital violence.
Released on International Human Rights Day, the research exposes deep systemic failures, weak accountability, and unsafe online spaces driving a rapidly escalating epidemic across Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
PIN recognises that this gap limits both the understanding of TFGBV and the development of effective solutions. In response, this study adopts a survivor-centred approach that reframes how TFGBV is researched, discussed, and addressed. By prioritising survivors’ perspectives, the research uncovers the emotional, social, and systemic dimensions of digital violence that formal reports and statistics often obscure. It also interrogates how survivors navigate reporting systems, access justice, and play an informed role in digital spaces that are frequently hostile or unsafe.
A key finding of the study is that young people are disproportionately affected, with those aged 18–34 constituting the vast majority of survivors. Most incidents of TFGBV occurred on Facebook, WhatsApp, and X (formerly Twitter), underscoring how mainstream social media platforms continue to function as structurally unsafe spaces for many users—particularly women, activists, and advocates.
“Victims’ experiences range from sexual harassment, threats, and misogynistic attacks to severe violations such as stalking, non-consensual image sharing, hacking, sextortion, and identity-based harassment,” the report notes. “Personal testimonies reveal profound emotional, psychological, and reputational harm.”
The study also highlights that formal systems such as the police, employers, and public institutions, remain underutilised, largely due to fear, mistrust, or an expectation of inaction. While the findings expose wide-ranging gaps across platforms, institutions, and legal frameworks, they also highlight survivors’ resilience and their continued efforts to seek safer digital environments.
In light of these findings, PIN calls for urgent action to make online spaces safer for everyone, in line with this year’s Human Rights Day theme, “Human Rights, our everyday essentials.” Addressing these systemic gaps is critical to advancing democratic engagement, promoting media pluralism, fostering digital inclusion, and achieving gender equality across Africa.
Paradigm Initiative (PIN) connects under-served young Africans with digital opportunities and ensures digital rights for all. The organization has worked in communities across Nigeria since 2007 and across Africa since 2017, building experience, community trust, and an organisational culture that positions them as a leading non-governmental organisation in ICT for Development and digital rights on the continent.
They promote a rights-respecting continent through their team in subregional offices in Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Their nterventions are spread across more than 27 African countries. Paradigm Initiative pushes for an Internet that is open, accessible, and affordable to all.
Their programmes include a Life Skills, ICTs, Financial Literacy, and Entrepreneurship (LIFE) Training Programme, a digital readiness workshop for youth, and a Life at Schools Club Programme. PIN has also built online platforms such as Ayeta and Ripoti that educate and serve as safe spaces for reporting digital rights violations.
