By SAMUEL MWANGI
Fourth Year Journalism and Mass Communication Degree Student, Chuka University
Technology is a necessary evil that continues to be a an integral part of our lives in the digital world we live in today. Technology, particularly the social media, has increasingly been a tool used by people to facilitate gender based violence. This kind of gender-based violence is called Technology-facilitated gender based violence or TFGBV. The United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA) is the United Nation's sexual and reproductive health agency, and it has defined TFGBV as an act of violence perpetrated by one or more individual that is committed, assisted aggravated and amplified in part or fully by the use of information and communication technologies or digital media against a person on the basis of their gender.
On 25th November 2024, the Association of Media Women in Kenya (AMWIK) did a report on TFGBV, under that year's theme " Towards Beijing +30: United to End Violence Against Women and Girls", in a 16 days of activisim campaign that was aimed at fighting against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and eliminating all forms of violence including the digital spaces. The report found that women especially, activists, professionals and journalist, face targeted harassment that undermines their safety and confidence while engaging in public discourses. This kind of harassment can lead to reputational damage which is further reinforced by false accusations and character damage leading to professional setbacks and emotional stress.
These professional online attacks target women to hinder progress in their professional disciplines, affecting those in leadership and in public roles. This leads to many women and marginalised groups to reduce their online activity to protect themselves from persistent harassment and prevents their participation in important online dialogues.
Women are hence, forced to self- censor themselves to sound more palatable and by doing so this leads to the loss of authenticity, genuine expressions and their real identity is affected. TFGBV was reported to mostly affect younger and older women who are more likely to experience distinct forms of abuse.
UNFPA further expounds on TFGBV to include; the blackmailing by threatening to publish sexual information, photos or videos which is referred to as sextortion; image-based abuse which is the sharing of intimate photos without consent; doxxing which involves publishing of private personal information; cyberbullying; online grooming for sexual assault; hacking; hate speech; online impersonation and using technology to locate survivor's of abuse in order to inflict further violence among others.
All the mentioned above acts of TFGBV are punishable by law in accordance with the Computer Misuse and Cyber Act of 2018 and 2025. The Act define cyber harassment and cyberstalking as one of the criminal activities with some hefty penalties reaching fines of KSh. 20 million or facing a term of up to 25 years in prison. The Act equally criminalizes hacking, unauthorised interception of data and communications likely to cause another person to commit suicide.
TFGBV has silently been normalised in Kenya and the online world and its further exacerbated by inadequate clear pathways to deal with this menace. Online abuse especially towards women and young girls is more rampant today with the increase in social media penetration in Kenya. With the use of Artificial intelligence (AI) tools on the rise, this has led to further exacerbation of TFGBV, increasing the risks of finding fabricated explicit images online. Without proper implementation of existing laws on AI use and further establishment of ethical guardrails on AI use, women will continue to be victims of TFGBV.
There is an urgent need for multi-stakeholder approaches involving Kenya Police; policymakers; the National Computer and Cybercrimes Coordination Committee (NC4), which is mandated to oversee national cybersecurity: journalists and media enterprises; the civil society; the government and citizens should hold hands to ensure the safety of girls and women in online spaces which act as an extension for perpetrators to use against victims to further exacerbate systematic abuse.
The police stations which are usually the first line of abuse against crimes such as TFGBV and GBV, should be adapted to accommodate victims and set clear ways in holding perpetrators accountable. This will be achieved by collaborating with tech experts and legal experts to have a collaborative response. There is also need to establish psychological and legal support systems that are aimed at creating safe spaces for victims to be vulnerable and seek help and to avoid re-victimizing already wounded people as UNESCO suggests in their support of AMWIK report.
Media literacy needs to be emphasized by media practitioners and broadcast stations to sensitive stakeholders stakeholders on TFGBV as a grave issue affecting not just women but everyone and the media should provide ways to combat it. For freedom of expression to remain both robust and responsible, this generation needs to be trained on media literacy and legal literacy.
Media literacy and civic education must operate symbiotically to have an informed citizenry and responsible social media users, who are careful not to push TFGBV and who are aware that they can be held accountable for their careless actions online.
Content creators and influences need to create more awareness on TFGBV and combat the rise of fabricated intimate partner violence skits and staged sexual harassment videos circulated on social media as humorous, transactional, forgivable or as culturally acceptable. These skits further portray TFGBV as acceptable and reinforce a script that embeds prejudice, abuse and violence.
Society needs to stop shaming victims of abuse when they share their experiences online or offline since by shaming them into silence, it further exacerbates the abuse.
Further research should be done on TFGBV in Kenya to help the civil society to pass specific laws addressing TFGBV and to help refine laws like The Sexual Offence Act 2006, The Counter-Trafficking in Persons Act 2010, The Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act 2018 &2025 and The Children Act 2022.
For freedom of expression to remain robust and responsible, Kenyans must use technology as an ally to create conducive spaces for girls and women by equally fighting TFGBV for women and girls to feel fully human at home and in online spaces. Victims of TFGBV and GBV alike can get help through platforms like UNFPA which tackles technology-facilitated gender based violence through a global programme called, Making All Spaces Safe. They provide survivors with the response services they need, when and where they need it, according to their website.
In Kenya, gender offices have been established in many police stations and its mandatory for every police station to have a gender desk or office. However, further improvements are required to fasten the legal processes, fighting shaming of victims and creating safe spaces for victims.
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