Online violence against women has hit a dangerous new peak, fuelled by AI tools that are accelerating a “chilling escalation” of abuse that is spilling into the offline world, according to a new UN report.

Produced as part of UN Women’s ACT to End Violence against Women programme, the Tipping Point report found that 70% of women working in human rights, activism or journalism have experienced online violence, with AI-assisted threats now alarmingly prevalent.

A quarter (24%) of the 640 women the UN surveyed across 119 countries reported threats amplified by genAI, from deepfakes to manipulated content, with social media creators, influencers, and writers among the hardest hit (30%).

With AI “supercharging” tech-facilitiated violence, the report argues that tech firms and regulators must do more to identify, report and repel AI-assisted abuse against women in the public sphere.

But tackling the tech is just one aspect of the problem. Social media subcultures are also to blame for the explosion in online violence, with data from the Movember Foundation showing that nearly two-thirds of young men now regularly engage with masculinity influencers, some of whom are guilty of glorifying harmful attitudes and violence.  

If left unchecked, the report clearly shows that online violence can soon spiral out of control, with the most extreme abusers taking their attacks beyond screens and into the offline world.

The UN found that 41% of women have experienced offline harm linked to digital abuse, such as harassment, physical attacks, or stalking – a figure more than double that of a previous study taken in 2020, notably before the explosion of AI tools.

While this torrent of abuse may be fuelled by technology, the ability of lawmakers to keep up with emerging threats is exacerbating the risk for women in digital spaces. 

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According to the UN, less than 40% of countries have laws in place to address online harassment or cyberstalking, with 1.8 billion women and girls lacking strong legal protections against technology-facilitated abuse.

As of 2025, 117 countries reported efforts to address digital violence, but UN Women said that progress remains fragmented, with regulation often lagging technological advances. A key way to overcome these challenges is to involve women more closely in the design of their own protections, with the UN calling for tech firms to hire more women in development roles. 

However, addressing the crisis also demands serious investment in digital literacy, alongside efforts to disrupt toxic online cultures, and globally coordinated initiatives and laws, especially around AI, to rein in abuse.

“These figures confirm that digital violence is not virtual – it’s real violence with real-world consequences”, said Sarah Hendricks, director of policy at UN Women. 

“Increasingly, those attacks do not stop at the screen – they end at women’s front doors. We cannot allow online spaces to become platforms for intimidation that silence women and undermine democracy.”