Agwuegbo: Tech-facilitated Violence Targets Girls Disproportionately

Founder, TechHerNG, Chioma Agwuegbo, who was in Nigeria during the Technology-facilitated Gender-Base Violence Policy Roundtable held in Abuja, spoke on the need for a coordinated action to address gender-based violence in Nigeria and beyond. Emma Okonji presents the excerpts:

You co-hosted a policy roundtable summit on Technology-facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TfGBV) in Abuja recently. Why the choice of Nigeria to host such a campaign and what were the outcomes?

Nigeria was a very deliberate choice; we live and work in Nigeria, and charity begins at home. However, Nigeria is also highly strategic: it is Africa’s most populous country, one of its fastest-growing digital markets, and a place where women and girls are increasingly online for education, work, expression, and community. Unfortunately, it is also a place where online harm is growing faster than our legal, social, and institutional responses.

At TechHer, we work daily with survivors through KURAM, our reporting and response platform for technology-facilitated violence. We also monitor and document, through policy briefs and research reports, trends and developments in harms orchestrated by technology users. The data we see shows patterns that require urgent policy attention. Hosting the summit in Abuja, close to lawmakers, regulators, law enforcement, and national institutions, allowed us to move the conversation from awareness to coordinated action.

The outcomes were very practical, even surpassing our expectations. The engagement between civil society, regulators, government, the private sector and the tech ecosystem gives us a lot of hope. We also launched our documentary showcasing the effects of tech-facilitated gender-based violence through the eyes of responders. We also advanced conversations on platform accountability and survivors’ access to justice. 

Why the focus on technology-facilitated violence against females? Are males not also victims of online abuse?

Men and boys absolutely experience online abuse, and that should not be minimised. However, technology-facilitated violence is deeply gendered in its frequency, severity, and consequences. Women and girls are disproportionately targeted because of who they are, what they say, how they look, or simply for occupying space online. The violence is intersectional and unyielding.

What do the numbers say? What does the data show? The evidence and the data we have gathered at TechHer tell us that women and girls face layered harms such as sexual threats, non-consensual sharing of intimate images, cyberstalking, impersonation, and economic sabotage. These attacks are often tied to offline risks, including physical violence, reputational harm, and forced withdrawal from education, work, or public life. As a matter of fact, we now have non-consensual synthetic image sharing, which means women and girls are at greater risk without even having to be present.

Focusing on women and girls for us, therefore, is strategically addressing the structural inequalities that allowed offline violence to slip through the cracks, which technology has now amplified. As we say to men when we engage them, ending gender-based violence online ultimately makes digital spaces safer for everyone, men and boys included.

Nigeria has recorded several cases of gender-based violence. What could be the reason for this and how best can it be controlled?

There are multiple factors. Social norms that normalise violence, weak enforcement of existing laws, limited survivor-centered reporting mechanisms, and poor digital literacy all contribute. Notice the similarity to structures and norms that allow violence against women offline? These harms are compounded by platform incentives that reward sensational or harmful content, and a lack of nuanced, contextual resolution to reports.

Control must be multi-layered, starting with laws and consistent enforcement, and extending to collaboration with platform owners to ensure accountability mechanisms are in place. Not laws that are ambiguous and can be weaponised by politicians or the wealthy; no. Citizen-centric legislation that is worded in ways that acknowledge harms against different vulnerable groups and provide protection and remediation. 

Control also includes accessible reporting channels, legal support, and psychosocial care. This is why TechHer’s Volunteer Lawyer Network exists: to connect survivors with pro bono legal assistance nationwide. 

Most important within this cycle is prevention, which can be achieved via evolving education, digital safety training, and community accountability. 

What are the direct consequences of gender-based violence on teenagers and youths?

The consequences are profound and long-lasting. For teenagers and young people, gender-based violence can lead to anxiety, depression, isolation, loss of confidence, and in extreme cases, self-harm or suicide. It affects school attendance, academic performance, and future opportunities.

Through our school tours, we have engaged with young women who have withdrawn from class, abandoned online spaces, or deleted their digital footprints entirely because of harassment, dogpiling, cyberbullying or blackmail. We have spoken with teenagers who have considered self-harm because of sextortion. Politicians, public-facing women and those deemed to be vocal and feminist are constantly harassed, abused and put down online. The internet and digital spaces are highly violent to women and girls, and this occurs without consequences. 

There are also social ramifications. Victims are blamed, silenced, or shamed, while perpetrators increase their followers or even earnings. The algorithm is flawed and complicit in the perpetuation of violence against women.

Violence against women and girls online has direct and severe consequences for political participation. Many women have withdrawn from political engagement, civic debate, and even electoral processes because of the harassment, threats, and coordinated attacks they experience online. For some, the cost of participation becomes too high.

This is especially concerning in Nigeria, where women’s political participation is already markedly low. Nigeria ranks at the bottom in global standings for women’s representation and involvement in politics, not only in Africa but worldwide. Violence exacerbated by technology worsens this disparity by shrinking civic space and silencing women’s voices.

Gendered disinformation plays a vital role in this scenario. False stories, sexualised rumours, manipulated images, and coordinated smear campaigns are often used to discredit women in public roles, weaken their credibility, and depict them as morally unfit for leadership. These attacks are patriarchal and exert control and exclusion.

When women are pushed out of digital and political spaces through fear and intimidation, democracy itself is weakened. Addressing technology-facilitated gender-based violence is both a democratic and economic imperative.

What should be the roles of parents, guardians, and teachers in addressing gender-based violence in Nigeria?

The role of parents, guardians, and teachers in addressing online violence cannot be overstated. They shape the models that young people follow in their use of technology, digital tools, and social media. What adults normalise, ignore, or challenge online sends powerful signals to children.

They also play a critical role in creating safe and trusting spaces where young people can talk openly about their concerns, fears, and questions, and where curiosity about what they encounter online is encouraged rather than punished. These conversations are often the difference between early intervention and prolonged harm.

When online violence occurs, or when it is beginning to take shape, parents, guardians, and teachers are the first line of defence. They are often the first to notice changes in behaviour and the first point of support for young people facing grooming, sextortion, coercion, or other forms of online abuse. Their ability to recognise warning signs and question harmful interactions is essential to protecting young people.

This is why it is crucial that parents, guardians, and teachers are adequately and even proactively educated about digital tools and the opportunities and risks that exist on the internet. Protection is impossible without knowledge. You cannot protect yourself or anyone from a thing you do not understand.

We encourage adults to understand the digital spaces young people occupy. Through our school tour and community events, we emphasise early digital literacy, consent, and online boundaries. Teachers and parents should know the red flags and where to refer cases, whether to the police, counsellors, or platforms like KURAM.

How can governments at all levels help in addressing gender-based violence in Nigeria?

Governments can play a critical role in addressing gender-based violence in Nigeria, both online and offline, and that role must begin with education. This education must acknowledge the intersectional nature of harm experienced by women and girls, including how overlapping identities such as disability, sexuality, age, and socioeconomic status increase vulnerability. It must also confront the reality that conflicting provisions within our laws can perpetuate or enable harm against women, girls, queer persons, and persons with disabilities.

At TechHer, we often say that technology is like a knife. It can be used to peel an orange or to harm another person. Understanding this double-sided nature of technology is essential to developing thoughtful legislation and enforcing it in ways that protect women and girls, and indeed men and boys, as they use the internet.

Governments must also move beyond statements of intent to meaningful implementation. In many cases, implementation should start with trust-building. Rather than investing heavily in advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence for government processes without corresponding public engagement, governments should prioritise conversations with communities, ensuring people are informed, involved, and invested before introducing technology as a solution.

Collaboration with civil society and trust-and-safety practitioners is equally important. At TechHer, KURAM provides real-time insights into technology-facilitated gender-based violence, including where survivors are located, the barriers they face in accessing justice, and where response systems are breaking down. Our Emergency Response Fund provides data on the types of violence that are specific to different regions in Nigeria. These insights should actively inform policy design, enforcement strategies, and institutional reform. Governments must be willing to engage platforms like ours for this purpose.

Finally, governments should take on their role as intermediaries between citizens and technology companies. This includes pushing for stronger content moderation, improved reporting tools, better understanding of local languages and contexts, and more transparent accountability from platforms.

Ultimately, any effective response must place survivors at the centre. Without survivor-centred approaches, even the most well-intentioned policies will fail to deliver justice or safety.

During your recent summit in Abuja, stakeholders emphasised on shared and collective effort. How would these help?

Shared and collective action to halt technology-facilitated gender-based violence is essential. As I often say, the same structures that enable offline violence also exacerbate violence online. Violence does not exist in silos.

When a survivor reports offline violence, there is meant to be a clear cycle of response, beginning with the police, moving through the justice system, and extending to psychosocial and community support. Where there are gaps in that cycle, justice is delayed or denied, and perpetrators face little deterrence.

The same principle applies to online violence. An effective response requires coordination among multiple actors. This includes institutions such as NIMC and the NCC, as needed, the Nigeria Police Force, the courts, regulators and lawmakers, technology companies, and civil society organisations. Each has a distinct role to play.

No single institution or sector can eliminate violence against women and girls on its own. Civil society brings trust and community insight. Government brings authority and scale. The tech industry controls the platforms where harm occurs. This is why TechHer convened the Policy Roundtable; it’s about time everyone started talking with each other, not to or at each other. 

It is only through deliberate collaboration, shared responsibility, and accountability across these systems that we can begin to close the gaps that allow abuse to persist, both online and offline.

When these groups work together, responses are faster, policies are more innovative, and we can truly get on the path to eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls. 

Is Nigeria a peculiar nation for technology-facilitated gender-based violence? What is obtainable in other nations of the world?

Nigeria is not unique when it comes to technology-facilitated gender-based violence. It is a global problem. From Europe to Latin America, Asia, and across Africa, women and girls are experiencing abuse online. What differs significantly is not the existence of the problem, but the quality and strength of the response.

In many countries and regions, there are clearer and stronger platform accountability laws. Governments are more willing to hold technology companies accountable, ensuring that harmful content is addressed quickly and that citizens are protected. Some countries also have specialised, well-resourced cybercrime units capable of investigating online abuse swiftly and effectively.

In addition, several jurisdictions have survivor compensation mechanisms in place. These include access to psychosocial support, financial compensation, and clear consequences for perpetrators, such as fines or prosecution. Many of these countries have also defined a clear direction for how technology should operate in society. Examples include Australia’s decision to restrict social media access for children under 16 or the European Union’s firm stance on forcing platforms to remove harmful content within strict timelines.

Some countries have gone even further by investing heavily in digital literacy and early education, achieving high levels of digital integration through strong infrastructure and curriculum design.

The challenge in many African countries, including Nigeria, is not simply the absence of laws. It is weak and uneven enforcement, often influenced by proximity to power or resources, as well as limited funding and technical capacity for investigation and prosecution.

This is precisely why TechHer convened the Policy Roundtable, and will do it again and again. It was to surface these gaps, bring evidence to the table, and begin the work of strengthening responses so they are more coordinated, more effective, and more preventative, rather than reactive.

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What is your NGO and other NGOs doing differently to nip gender-based violence in the bud across the globe?

TechHer works across the full spectrum, from prevention to response to policy. TechHer’s work across gender-based violence, both online and offline, is intentionally holistic. Everything we do is grounded in research and guided by the experiences of our communities and survivors themselves. When we say our work is survivor-centered, we mean it in practice, not just in principle.

We place a strong emphasis on education, awareness, and access to information because prevention and early intervention matter. At the same time, we have built concrete response mechanisms for survivors when violence occurs. For offline violence, we run the GBV Emergency Response Fund, which provides emergency financial support within 24 hours of approval to survivors of gender-based violence across Nigeria, whether directly or through partner organisations. This fund exists to bridge critical gaps, ensuring survivors can access the urgent resources they need to escape harm and begin recovery.

For online violence, we operate KURAM, meaning “Keep Me Safe,” a survivor-led and survivor-centered response mechanism for technology-facilitated gender-based violence. KURAM is powered by our Volunteer Lawyer Network, with over 150 lawyers across more than 20 states, ensuring survivors can access legal support, remediation, and pathways to justice when harm occurs. It is also why we created a prosecutorial manual to capacitate the justice system on the intricacies and evolution of online violence.

Beyond direct response, we work closely with global and regional actors. We are trusted partners with platforms such as Meta and with organisations including the Aylo and StopNCII, enabling us to address harm both offline and online. We also convene Safe Space Africa, which brings together stakeholders across the continent to hold difficult conversations and co-create solutions rooted in African realities, rather than importing one-size-fits-all approaches.

The length and breadth of our work go beyond response alone. It is about coordination, accountability, and building ecosystems that make violence more complicated to commit and easier to stop.