Digital Toolkit for Tackling Digital Violence Against Women and Girls
From 25 November to 10 December 2025, Nexus will be marking the 16 Days of Activism to End Gender-based Violence under the theme: “End digital violence against all women and girls.”
The content will be underpinned by the 7th principle of The Northern Ireland Executive’s Strategic Framework to End Violence against Women and Girls. This principle dictates that the strategy will address and respond to the growth and expansion of forms of online violence and its subsequent impact on women and girls.
Source: NIO, 2024
We will be sharing informative content that explores a number of types of digital violence as well a Digital Toolkit which will give insights and actions to help tackle and prevent the forms of digital violence explored.
#EndDigitalViolence
Misogyny & Toxic Masculinity
Misogyny
When someone hates or distrusts women and believes they are less important. When someone says or does things that show prejudice against women, we say they are being “misogynistic”.
Examples include
- Judging girl’s behaviour differently from boys
- Rating girls/women based on attractiveness
- Belief women are less capable, intelligent & competent than men
Toxic Masculinity
Negative aspects of exaggerated masculine traits, boys & men may feel pressure to conform to because of cultural or societal expectation which can lead them to act aggressively or violently towards others & themselves.
- Emotional suppression: Men are discouraged from expressing vulnerability or emotions other than anger.
- Aggression and dominance: Valuing power, control, and violence as signs of “manliness.”
- Sexual entitlement: Viewing women as objects or conquests.
- Homophobia and misogyny: Rejecting anything perceived as “feminine” or non-heteronormative.
What can you do?
Online spaces should be safe, inclusive, and respectful for everyone.
Misogynistic abuse isn’t just words on a screen. It impacts mental health, limits participation, and reinforces inequality. When women and gender-diverse people are targeted online, the outcome can have an extremely harmful impact.
To tackle this behaviour you can:
- Look for positive role models
- Don’t engage with trolls
- Support victims
Misogyny is more than a person, be aware of red flag behaviours around consent, gender roles, violence and toxic masculinity. Not everything you see online is correct or helpful and you have the freedom to make a different choice.
Tackling toxic masculinity online is about promoting healthier mindsets and reducing harmful behaviours. Here are some suggested approaches:
- Promote positive masculinity and have open conversations.
- Share content that highlights empathy, respect, and emotional intelligence as strengths.
- Encourage men to speak openly about mental health and vulnerability.
- Challenge harmful narratives.
- Call out sexist jokes, aggressive language, and “alpha male” stereotypes when you see them.
- Use facts and respectful dialogue to dismantle myths about dominance or entitlement.
Astroturfing
Disseminating damaging content that appears to happen organically but is actually coordinated by a person, organisation, political party or the like.
(IMS, 2023)
What can you do?
- Look for patterns: Identical messages posted across multiple accounts or platforms.
- Check profiles: Newly created accounts with minimal personal content are often suspicious.
- Analyse language: Overly scripted or promotional tone can indicate coordination.
- Use fact-checking tools or platform-integrated fact-checkers.
- Cross-reference claims with reputable news outlets or official sources.
- Advocate for platforms to label bots and disclose paid promotions.
- Support legislation or policies that require disclosure of sponsored content.
- Share verified, credible sources to counter disinformation.
- Encourage community members to speak up when they see suspicious campaigns.
Harmful Influencers and Fake News
Harmful influencers online are individuals who use their platforms to spread content or behaviours that negatively impact audiences—especially young or impressionable users. Their influence can be subtle or overt, and the dangers often stem from the normalisation of harmful attitudes or risky behaviours.
- Promoting unrealistic lifestyles: Encouraging extreme wealth, beauty standards, or body ideals that lead to insecurity.
- Spreading misinformation: Sharing false health, political, or social advice without credible sources.
- Encouraging harmful trends: Dangerous challenges, substance abuse, or reckless stunts.
- Toxic ideologies: Misogyny, hate speech, or extremist views disguised as “entertainment” or “self-improvement.”
- Manipulative tactics: Exploiting followers for money, attention, or personal gain.
Fake news refers to false or misleading information presented as legitimate news, often spread online to influence opinions, create confusion, or generate clicks. It can be intentional (disinformation) or accidental (misinformation).
- Sensational headlines: Designed to provoke strong emotions or urgency.
- Lack of credible sources: No references or reliance on anonymous claims.
- Manipulated content: Edited images, videos, or quotes taken out of context.
- Echo chambers: Shared within groups that reinforce the same beliefs.
What can you do?
- Open communication: Parents and guardians should start early, have ongoing age-appropriate conversations about online safety, and create an atmosphere of trust.
- Privacy settings & controls: Use parental controls, enforce privacy settings on apps, disable location sharing, and place devices in communal areas.
- Education & awareness: Schools should integrate online safety into curricula, teaching signs of grooming, boundaries, and risk awareness.
- Device use guidelines: Establish family contracts, limit device access (especially overnight or in bedrooms), and monitor accounts and online activity respectfully.
- Reporting mechanisms: Teach children how to report abuse to trusted adults, hotlines (e.g., Know2Protect), or authorities, and explain legal boundaries of sharing any image-based materials.
- Secure digital presence: Use strong, unique passwords, two-factor authentication, and device passcodes; always log out after use.
- Discretion with content: Think twice before sharing intimate content, even within trusting relationships.
- Privacy-aware online behaviour: Carefully control personal information shared on social media—be cautious with connections and direct messaging.
- Vigilance against harassment: Be alert to deepfakes, unsolicited sexual images, cyberstalking, and doxxing. Report abusive content to platforms and law enforcement.
Sexual Abuse
Sexual abuse online refers to any form of sexual exploitation, harassment, or coercion that occurs through digital platforms. It can include:
- Unwanted sexual messages or images: Persistent or explicit content sent without consent.
- Pressure or coercion: Someone pushing you to share intimate photos or engage in sexual conversations.
- Non-consensual sharing: Private images or videos posted or threatened to be posted without permission.
- Grooming behaviours: Adults trying to build trust with minors for sexual purposes.
- Threats or extortion: Demanding sexual content or money under threat of exposure (“sextortion”).
- Deepfake or manipulated content: Fake sexual images/videos created without consent.
What can you do?
- Report Immediately
- If minors are involved or threats are made, contact local authorities or cybercrime units.
- Use platform reporting tools for harassment or non-consensual content.
- Block and Secure Accounts
- Block the perpetrator.
- Change passwords and enable two-factor authentication.
- Document Evidence
- Take screenshots and save URLs before deleting anything.
- Keep records for legal or platform escalation.
- Seek Support
- Reach out to trusted friends, family, or organisations like StopNCII.org, Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, or local hotlines.
- Many countries have dedicated helplines for online abuse.
Domestic Abuse
Online domestic abuse—also known as tech-facilitated intimate partner violence (IPV)—occurs when an abuser uses digital tools to exert control, harassment, or surveillance. This includes:
- Cyberstalking & Harassment: Repeated unwanted messaging, doxxing, social media monitoring, impersonation, or spreading rumours.
- Image-Based Abuse: Non-consensual sharing of intimate images (“revenge porn”), sextortion, or deepfake pornography.
- Surveillance & Control: Using spyware, GPS trackers, hidden cameras, or manipulating smart devices to monitor whereabouts or communications.
These tactics often reinforce offline abuse, creating a pervasive sense of fear and control.
What can you do?
- Change Passwords: Use unique, strong passwords and enable two-factor authentication.
- Audit App & Social Settings: Limit profile visibility, location sharing, and app permissions—especially on social media.
- Evidence Collection: Document tech abuse—screenshots, logs, and device logs—while safe
- Preserve “Monitored” Devices: Maintain some suspect devices to help track and document the abuse.
- Multi-Channel Support: Use different contact methods so you’ll notice if one disappears suddenly.
- Survivor Training: Learn to recognise early signs of tech abuse—controlled digital communications, surveillance, image threats.
- Community Campaigns: Governments and NGOs should promote digital literacy, ethical online behavior, and awareness of technology-facilitated IPV.
- Support Tools: Encourage use of tools such as StopNCII.org to generate image hashes and request takedown of non-consensual material.
Online Stalking & Doxxing
Online stalking is a form of harassment where someone uses digital tools and platforms to monitor, track, or repeatedly contact another person without consent, often causing fear or distress. It’s considered a type of cyberstalking and can occur alongside offline stalking.
- Persistent unwanted messages via email, social media, or chat apps.
- Tracking online activity (e.g., monitoring posts, comments, or check-ins).
- Using spyware or hacking to access private accounts or devices.
- Gathering personal information through social engineering or doxxing.
- Impersonation or creating fake profiles to interact or damage reputation.
Doxxing (short for “dropping dox,” meaning documents) is the act of publicly revealing someone’s private or personally identifiable information online without their consent, often with malicious intent.
- Sharing home addresses, phone numbers, email addresses.
- Posting financial details, workplace info, or family contacts.
- Publishing photos or private social media accounts.
- Sometimes combined with harassment, threats, or identity theft.
What can you do?
Doxxing
- Limit personal info online: Avoid posting addresses, phone numbers, or location tags.
- Strengthen account security: Use strong passwords and two-factor authentication.
- Audit old content: Remove outdated posts that reveal personal details.
- Report and document: If doxxed, report to platforms and law enforcement; keep evidence.
- Consider privacy tools: Use WHOIS privacy for domains, and opt out of data broker sites.
Online Stalking
- Strengthen account security: Use strong passwords and two-factor authentication.
- Limit personal info online: Avoid oversharing location or private details.
- Block and report: Use platform tools to block stalkers and report abuse.
- Document evidence: Save messages, screenshots, and logs for legal action.
- Seek help: Contact law enforcement and organisations specialising in cyber safety.
Child Sexual Exploitation
Child Sexual Exploitation online refers to any act where a child is coerced, manipulated, or deceived into sexual activity or content through digital platforms. Common forms include:
- Grooming: Building trust to exploit children sexually.
- Sextortion: Threatening to share intimate content unless demands are met.
- CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material): Sharing or producing explicit content involving minors.
- Live-streamed abuse: Real-time exploitation via webcams or apps.
What can you do?
- Open Dialogue: Talk about online safety early and often.
- Monitor & Guide: Use parental controls, check privacy settings, and supervise device use.
- Educate on Grooming Signs: Sudden secrecy, new online “friends,” or requests for private chats.
- Limit Risky Apps: Disable location sharing and restrict access to platforms with weak moderation.
- Know Boundaries: Never share personal info or images online.
- Report & Block: Teach how to report suspicious behaviour to platforms and trusted adults.
- Critical Thinking: Encourage skepticism about strangers online.
Intimate Image Abuse & Sextortion
Intimate image abuse refers to the non-consensual creation, sharing, or distribution of private or sexual images or videos of a person. It’s sometimes called “image-based sexual abuse” or “non-consensual pornography,” but the term is broader because it includes:
- Revenge porn: Sharing intimate images after a breakup to humiliate or harm.
- Threats or coercion: Using images to blackmail or control someone (sextortion).
- Deepfakes: Digitally altered images or videos placing someone’s likeness in sexual content.
- Voyeurism: Secretly recording or photographing someone without consent.
- Unauthorised sharing: Forwarding private images beyond their intended recipient.
What can you do?
Intimate Image Abuse
- Think before sharing: Even in trusted relationships, consider risks.
- Use privacy settings: Limit who can access your content and accounts.
- Report abuse: Platforms often have tools to remove non-consensual content.
- Seek help: Organisations like Cyber Civil Rights Initiative and StopNCII.org provide removal and support services.
- Legal remedies: Many countries have laws against image-based abuse—consult local authorities or legal aid.
Sextortion
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- Never share intimate content online—even with trusted contacts.
- Use strong passwords & 2FA to secure accounts.
- Be cautious with strangers—avoid sending personal images or info.
- Report immediately: Contact law enforcement and report to platforms.
- Seek support: Organisations like www.thecyberhelpline.com can help.
