Council of Europe points to increased digital violence against women

A attention is drawn by the Council of Europe Expert Group on combating violence against women and domestic violence (GREVIO) in its last report, covering the period from January to December 2025.

“These are not isolated cases. These are recurring patterns that arise in different legal systems, social contexts and regions of Europe,” says the president of GREVIO, Maria-Andriani Kostopolou, in a statement.

GREVIO is the independent body responsible for monitoring the implementation of the so-called Istanbul Convention, the Council of Europe Treaty to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence.

According to the report, “digital violence against women and girls has increased rapidly in recent years and has become more complex, including online harassment, non-consensual sharing of intimate images, harassment through mobile phones and tracking devices and sexual extortion,” says the Spanish news agency EFE.

Digital manifestations of violence, including harassment and sexist hate speech, affect women in public positions, such as journalists, politics, activists and artists, in a disproportionate way.

GREVIO points out that platform algorithms can amplify misogynistic content that, although they do not explicitly violate the law, contribute to the creation of hostile environments, adding that the dynamics of social networks, such as “likes”, shared content and coordinated attacks, can also reinforce harmful behaviors.

The analysis also warns of the early onset of sexual violence and harmful sexual behavior, both online and offline, a trend that the group of experts associates, among other factors, to the early consumption of violent pornography.

In this sense, it advocates a prevention strategy that includes a comprehensive and age-appropriate sexual education, as well as measures to combat access to pornography, also encouraging the involvement of schools, families, governments and technology companies.

Prevention should also include measures to combat gender stereotypes and sexist hate speech, improve digital literacy and promote respectful and non-violent behaviour between men and boys, considers GREVIO.

The group highlights in the report that European countries have advanced in combating violence against women in general, mainly through legislative changes and the development of specialised services, pointing out initiatives to combat sexual violence in several of them.

However, it considers that these measures are not yet sufficient, given the increasing scale of the phenomenon, and that prevention remains one of the weakest links in public policies.

The authors of the report advocate prevention measures with adequate funding based on evidence in schools, workplaces, communities and digital environments, as well as combating gender stereotypes, promoting healthy relationships and involving men and boys in prevention.

It also stresses that “women’s rights organisations continue to face unstable and short-term funding,” the EFE said.