“I was very active, sharing my stories and covering women’s issues, especially during the 16 Days of Activism campaign,” says Kate, a Nigerian journalist. “However, I started receiving messages from a hidden profile who seemed to know me well. I received hurtful comments about my family and tried to troll me.

“Despite blocking the account, new accounts continue to harass me. Eventually, I lost access to my Facebook page entirely after it was hacked and filled with pornographic content, which confused my contacts. They began reaching out to me, wondering what was happening. I struggled to explain the situation, especially to people I wanted to interview for my work. It affected my journalism significantly. I lost a lot of articles and followers.”

The story of Kate is one of many women and girls who have been negatively affected using social media platforms. While the use of technology has come to stay, helping women and girls use these platforms safely have become a necessity.

Recognising this challenge, Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre, (WARDC) Africa in partnership with Federation of Female Lawyers (FIDA) Kenya, with support from United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women (UNTF), held a two-day roundtable in Nairobi, Kenya on checking, monitoring and responding to abuse on Technology-facilitated Violence Against Women and Girls (TFVAW/G). It also produced a training manual to help women leaders and advocates respond more effectively to digital and offline gender-based violence.

The event which gathered women leaders from Nigeria and Kenya on Strengthening solidarity and movement building in Africa, analysed lessons from the research report titled, The Digital Harm Effect: Confronting TFVAW/G in Nigeria and Kenya.

Founding Director, WARDC Africa, Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi said, “Quite a number of women and girls are in tech, in relation to those who have access to smartphones. With data in Nigeria, quoting about 140 million people having access to smartphones and 60 per cent are tech savvy young people, we have realised that technology has been used as a tool to shutdown women and violate their rights and dignity. In Kenya also, data shows that over 60 million men and women have access to smartphones as at 2025, hence the tech space is no longer a gender-neutral space.

“Hence, we are looking at the data gathered, talk about the patterns of abuse occurring on the internet and seeing how women’s movement can intergenerationally work together to protect our voices, and not allow our voices to be shut down on the internet.”

Deputy Executive Director, FIDA Kenya, Janet Anyango also noted that there has been a lot of tech-facilitated harm going around. “It is very rampant and no woman is immune as there is a lot of trolling. For us it’s a concern and its time we speak up against it and hold duty-bearers, owners accountable and work towards protecting women and girls from these online spaces.”

Kenya and Nigeria remain on the frontline of technology-facilitated TFVAW/G, despite legal strides in both countries. Presenting recommendations from the report The Digital Harm Effect, lead researchers Mercy Kamau of Kenya and Evelyn Ugbe of Nigeria outlined urgent steps to make digital spaces safer.

Kamau noted that while Kenya’s Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act (2018) provided a starting point, gaps persist, stressing the need to explicitly criminalise cyberstalking, trolling, image-based abuse, and digitally-enabled intimate partner violence.

She urged for survivor-centred reforms, stronger enforcement through specialised police and judicial units, and deeper collaboration with feminist organisations like FIDA Kenya. “We must normalise reporting and create safe, empowering spaces for survivors both online and offline,” she added.

Ugbe who is also the Executive Director, Centre for Redefining Alternative Civic Engagement for Africa (RACE Centre), painted a similar picture in Nigeria, where the Cybercrime Act (2015) remains ill-equipped to address the full spectrum of online harms. “The law must evolve to recognise online harassment and image-based sexual abuse, even when extortion is not involved. There should be a dedicated cybercrime register, anonymous reporting tools, and stronger community-based mechanisms supported by NGOs.”

Ugbe stressed the need for youth-focused interventions, inclusive programming for women with disabilities, and survivor-centred mental health resources. “A sustainable response requires intergenerational feminist collaboration, robust advocacy, and accountability from tech companies,” she said.

Co-moderator, Naija Feminists, Misturah Sanni stressed on the need for accountability from major tech companies such as Meta, X, and TikTok. Convener of Baddies in Development, Oluwatobiloba Emitomo emphasised the importance of public awareness, particularly grassroots education on online safety, digital rights, and reporting mechanisms.

On the political economy of digital violence, GBV advocate, Fakhrriyyah Hashim argued that tech platforms and companies must be held directly accountable for the harms they enable. She called for systemic change, pointing out that policy reforms must go beyond token efforts to address the structural incentives that fuel online abuse, while Feminist, Winfred Mueni called for synergy enforcing stronger obligations on platforms to prioritise African users’ safety, embedding TFGBV indicators in sexual offenses and violence-prevention laws, strengthening coalition-building across women-led groups, and creating culturally relevant moderation systems.

Also speaking, co-founder, Bring Back Our Girls Movement, Aisha Yesufu said women must refuse to be silenced or shamed out of public life, both online and offline. She recounted her own experiences of relentless cyberattacks, smear campaigns, and sexualised insults designed to discredit her activism and political engagement.

“People have tried to strip me of dignity by circulating rumours, sexual insults, and even threatening to leak intimate content, but that power only exists if you give it to them. Every woman has a right to occupy any space, physical or digital and no one should be allowed to take that away.”

Yesufu explained that over the years she had been an online fighter, taking on multiple issues at once, making them trend and refusing to back down. But today, she says, there are many new voices rising to continue the work, which shows progress despite attempts to silence outspoken women.
“It’s one thing for people to try to defeat you; it’s another thing for you to defeat yourself. Post your message, don’t read the comments, and don’t allow anybody to take your space away from you,” she added.

Sharing her story as a victim of TFVAW/G, Senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan said women politicians face relentless online harassment designed to silence them and push them out of public life. She recounted how, shortly after giving birth in 2022, she awoke to headlines falsely linking her to terrorist activities, triggering a wave of death threats, calls for her arrest, and coordinated online attacks.

“No matter how thick your skin, there are moments that test you. The intention is to scare you so much you abandon politics and public life, but it never gets safer. That is why people like myself and Aisha must keep speaking out.”

Akpoti described how the smear campaign dried up her breast milk within two days, strained her family life, and damaged business relationships as companies cut ties pending “clarification” of the false allegations. A 2023 report by Human Angle and the African Academy for Open Spaces identified her as the most cyber-bullied person on Africa’s Twitter space in 2022, noting the attacks generated over 240 million impressions.

She also revealed that attackers have impersonated her through cloned phone numbers, hacked calls, and even voice simulations to defraud high-level officials, and warned of the growing risk of deepfake pornography being used to destroy women’s reputations.

Calling for urgent reforms, Akpoti urged collaboration between governments, civil society and tech companies to establish clear reporting channels and rapid takedown mechanisms. “It would help a lot if, like Code for Africa did in my case, organisations and platforms could step in to delete false hashtags and wipe harmful data before it damages lives. Nobody has the right to take your voice or your space away from you,” she added.

On digital security, prevention and responses, digital rights expert, Ndede Ayal Victor said digital platforms are increasingly being weaponised to intimidate, silence, and harm women. “Online attacks do not remain online; they spill into women’s personal and professional lives, leaving real harm in their wake. Such harassment not only inflicts emotional and reputational damage but also deters women from public leadership and distorts democratic participation.”

He emphasised three pillars of response, strengthening prevention measures, building effective strategies during attacks, and pushing for policy reforms, while also calling on leaders and tech platforms to create safer, gender-sensitive online spaces.

Making a presentation on Technology, Innovation and Emerging Discussions around online threats, and addressing TFVAWG, gender justice expert, Beatrice Njeri said digital tools are increasingly being weaponised to sustain or amplify violence against women, often blurring the boundaries between online and offline harm.

“Technology-facilitated gender-based violence is not abstract, it manifests in real and devastating ways, from image-based abuse like revenge porn and deepfakes to stalking, hacking, harassment, and sextortion. These attacks undermine women’s safety, dignity, free expression, and even discourage participation in public life.”

Njeri described technology as a double-edged sword. Harmful innovations such as spyware, doxxing tools, and algorithmic amplification intensify harassment, but she highlighted emerging positive solutions, including encrypted messaging, AI-driven content moderation, feminist-designed safety apps, and digital literacy initiatives.

She therefore stressed the need for advocacy to reshape tech governance, stronger accountability from platforms and governments, and the creation of safer innovations. “We must reclaim digital spaces, innovate for safety, and push collectively for systemic change so that technology advances equality rather than oppression.”