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| Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash |
By Ramatu Ada Ochekliye
Every year, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women forces us to pause and take stock of how far we have come and how much work still lies ahead. This year’s theme, “UNiTE to End Digital Violence Against All Women and Girls,” feels especially urgent. The online world has become an extension of our lives, and with all its promise has come new kinds of harm. For many women and girls in Nigeria, that harm is constant, unrelenting, and deeply personal.
The Reality We Are Living With
When people hear “digital violence,” they sometimes imagine something abstract. But nothing about it is abstract. Women and girls are facing harassment, cyberbullying, stalking, impersonation, hate speech, image-based abuse, and the frightening rise of AI-enabled threats like deepfake nudes. In Nigeria, the women who bear the brunt are the ones who dare to be visible: journalists, activists, political candidates, content creators, celebrities, and women with disabilities. Young girls on TikTok and Instagram are groomed, harassed, and blackmailed by adults who hide behind screens.
Globally, the picture is no better. In 2015, UN Women and UN Broadband Commission for Digital Development reported that women are twenty-seven times more likely to be harassed online than men. These statistics has to be worse today because of the rise in population and the number of people online. When you factor in the use of AI and deepfakes, the statistics may be even more dire. Women of colour, LGBTQ+ women, and women in public life receive the highest volume of hostility. And just like in Nigeria, countries such as India, Brazil, and the United Kingdom are seeing coordinated misogynistic attacks designed to silence women who dare to lead.
Technology has merely given these old forms of violence new weapons. Harm spreads faster. Anonymous accounts multiply effortlessly. Algorithm-driven platforms amplify abuse to millions. And deepfake technology now allows perpetrators to violate a woman’s body without ever being in the same room with her.
Where the System Fails Survivors
Nigeria is not without laws. The Cybercrimes Act of 2015, the Violence Against Persons Prohibitions (VAPP) Act, and the Child Rights Act provide some protection. However, they do not speak clearly about digital gender-based violence, and implementation remains inconsistent across states. Reporting mechanisms are confusing. Law enforcement agencies lack the capacity to handle digital evidence. Survivors often give up because justice feels out of reach.
But there are global models that show us what is possible.
Australia’s eSafety Commissioner has emerged as the gold standard. It is an institution with teeth, one that can order tech platforms to take down harmful content within hours. It offers survivor support, investigation, national awareness campaigns, and a unified, centralised approach to online safety.
The European Union’s Digital Services Act forces big tech platforms to detect, remove, and prevent the re-uploading of harmful content. It demands transparency about algorithms, moderation, and risks, including those rooted in misogyny.
Even closer to home, Kenya’s Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act provides clear definitions and penalties for cyber harassment, stalking, and image-based abuse, strengthening prosecution outcomes.
Nigeria has models to learn from. What we need is the political will to build a system that prioritizes safety over silence.
Tech Platforms Must Do Better
Tech companies cannot continue to treat digital safety as an optional service. If they want Nigerian users, then protecting those users must be a responsibility, not a favor.
Platforms must improve content moderation in our languages: Pidgin. They must hire local teams who understand cultural nuance. They must make reporting easier and remove harmful content quickly, especially deepfakes and intimate images shared without consent.
Right now, everyday survivors do not get the same attention as influencers or verified accounts. Reports sit ignored while abuse continues to circulate. AI moderation tools miss context, slang, and threats that are obvious to Nigerians. Some platforms have even rolled back essential safety policies.
The digital world cannot be safe when companies continue to prioritise profit over protection.
Why Survivors Struggle to Get Help
Even with some support options in Nigeria – from Mirabel Centre to feminist organisations offering digital safety guidance – major gaps remain. We lack:
A national digital safety helpline
Standard guidelines for handling digital evidence
Affordable legal aid for digital violence cases
Adequate training for police and judiciary
Mental health support for digital trauma
Survivors are also weighed down by fear of backlash, shame, or stigma. Many still believe that “online abuse is not real abuse.” Many do not trust the system at all. For women who rely on their abusers financially, reporting is not even an option.
Countries like Canada, South Africa, and the United Kingdom are showing how national coordination changes outcomes. Nigeria must do the same.
The Way Forward: What We Must Demand
If Nigeria is serious about ending digital violence, then we must:
Update the Cybercrimes Act to explicitly cover digital gender-based violence, deepfakes, and image-based abuse.
Fully implement the VAPP Act in all states.
Establish a National Digital Safety Commissioner, modelled after Australia’s survivor-centred approach.
Strengthen law enforcement capacity in digital forensics.
Adopt stronger, EU-style obligations for tech platforms.
Tech companies must:
Build safety tools tailored to the Nigerian context.
Improve moderation accuracy in our languages.
Review harmful content reports more quickly.
Produce transparency reports specific to Africa.
Communities must also step up. Digital bystanders can challenge abuse instead of amplifying it. Boys and men must be engaged as allies in promoting positive online behaviour. Girls must be trained early on digital literacy, privacy, and self-protection.
Long term, digital safety belongs in school curricula. It belongs in national awareness campaigns. It belongs in partnerships that bring government, civil society, academia, media, and tech companies to the same table.
Why Storytelling Still Matters Most
At Shades of Us, our work always returns to one thing: storytelling. Storytelling remains one of our most powerful tools for shifting harmful norms, amplifying women’s voices, and making invisible experiences visible.
Stories humanise. They build empathy. They remind us that statistics are people. They expose the lived realities of abuse that many would prefer to ignore. They give survivors agency and ensure that their experiences guide policy, advocacy, and reform.
And they help communities see that digital violence is not “virtual.” It is real harm, with real consequences, happening to real people.
We remain committed to using storytelling to advance gender equality and an end to digital gender-based violence. We will continue to partner with media, civil society, and tech platforms to create responsible, ethical stories that honour survivors and challenge the systems that fail them.
Because if we are going to UNiTE to end digital violence, then we must first be willing to understand it, name it, and refuse to look away.
And that begins with our stories.
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