To mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) published the report Ending the Silence on Online Harassment of Journalists. In this document, EFJ specifically highlights the Ukrainian study by the NGO Women in Media — “Her Voice Is Their Target: Gender-Based Online Violence against Ukrainian Women Journalists”.
EFJ also describes our work as an example of an initiative that supports women journalists facing digital violence. In particular, Women in Media is recognised for creating the Map of Gender-Based Online Attacks, which combines data journalism and interactive visualisations and helps document incidents and support independent investigations.
The organisation underlines the importance of the broader support system that Women in Media is building: community-based research, advocacy, coalition work, support groups (self-help circles), cybersecurity consultations, psychological assistance and legal support. EFJ also draws attention to our advocacy efforts, including promoting the inclusion of “cyberstalking” in Ukrainian legislation.
What the new EFJ report shows
According to a survey of member organisations across Europe:
- 87% of respondents reported that women in their newsrooms had been targeted by online attacks;
- 50% mentioned racist attacks;
- the most common forms of abuse are hate speech (82%), insults (78%), threats of sexual violence (40%) and other forms of gender-based violence (65%).
EFJ also notes an increase in technologically sophisticated attacks — impersonation, spoofing (a form of cyber abuse in which an attacker falsifies another person’s or service’s digital identity in order to pass as someone else) and the use of AI-generated content, which can escalate into physical pressure.
Why this matters for Ukraine
UNESCO emphasises that such initiatives are critical in the context of war, when 77% of active journalists in Ukraine are women. They provide a significant share of the public’s access to information, and their voices must be protected.
The report also explains how European legislation — the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) and the Digital Services Act (DSA) — can be used to strengthen the accountability of online platforms and state institutions in protecting journalists.
Although most European countries have certain mechanisms to protect journalists, their practical implementation remains insufficient — both at the level of governments and state bodies, and at the level of online platforms and media. The report stresses that online violence is not an individual problem, but a systemic professional risk that requires a coordinated collective response.
Recently, we wrote about a massive data leak involving Ukrainian journalists through the anonymous Telegram channel “Baza 111”.
Texty.org.ua, together with Women in Media, also conducted an investigation into how artificial intelligence is used on TikTok to create or manipulate videos using journalists’ likenesses.
We would like to remind you that Women in Media’s online attack map documents cases of online violence against Ukrainian women journalists. If you have faced online violence because of your professional work and would like to talk about it, please fill in this online form or write to us at ngo.womeninmedia@gmail.com.