Content warning: This article contains examples of gender-based online violence, including hate speech and sexualized abuse. We publish them deliberately, to document and explain how these attacks work.
On March 23, 2026, Bihus.Info published a video report by journalist Svitlana Stetsenko on its YouTube channel. Titled “The Truth about U420 ‘Souvenirs’: What Did the Tests Show?”, the piece investigates a chain of shops operating under the U420 brand.
The stores present in Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, and Odesa market themselves as “modern CBD shops” selling products “based on legalized cannabis”: drinks, edibles, and dietary supplements, including some containing fly agaric mushrooms.
The description of the video says that Bihus.Info team made test purchases at the shops and sent samples for laboratory analysis — both to a private lab and to Interior Ministry forensic experts. The testing revealed a substance classified as a particularly dangerous psychotropic under a Cabinet of Ministers decree, the circulation of which is prohibited in Ukraine.
The report and its promotional teasers were shared across Bihus.Info’s social media channels. The YouTube video, along with Facebook, Instagram, and X posts, quickly drew a surge of comments defending the shop chain.
The comment sections also showed clear signs of technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV): gendered disinformation, defamation, sexism, sexualized harassment, and hate speech. The reporting team was called “clowns,” “presstitutes,” and “trash,” while Stetsenko personally was referred to as a “rat,” “skank,” “idiot,” “dumb cow,” as well as comments about her appearance and personal life, including questions about her relationship status: “Is Svitlana married?”
Speaking to Women in Media, Svitlana Stetsenko said the initial response after publication was largely positive and supportive. Within days, however, accounts began appearing that sought to discredit both the report and the journalist herself.
She started receiving rude and abusive messages in her direct inbox, apparently from fake accounts. She documented one example: an Instagram user with the nickname kortejnervequ called her a “four-eyed hick.” Such messages were often deleted shortly after being sent.
“There were comments on Threads and on Instagram under the video. But I had no desire to screenshot and save them. I also had another story to work on,” Stetsenko says. “Getting messages like that in your inbox is disgusting. But it doesn’t mean I’ll stop doing what I do.”
Svitlana Stetsenko emphasizes that covering topics like this is difficult, emotionally draining, and comes with real risks. She is clear-eyed about the emotional weight and the near-certainty of backlash:
“After the video came out, friends and family were genuinely worried about my safety. And the online attackers feel untouchable. It’s easy to hide behind a blank fake account with some random avatar.”
This is not the first time Svitlana Stetsenko has faced a wave of online aggression following an investigation. In May 2025, Women in Media documented an attack against her after she published a report on the Goncharenko Centres. That attack also had hate speech, gendered disinformation, sexualized harassment, and image manipulation.
“Insults and disgusting comments, thankfully, don’t come that often. Most of the time, stories get a mix of good and bad reactions — just criticism, constructive or not, which is normal in a free speech environment. But on topics like this one, things always turn ugly. That’s why so few journalists are willing to touch them. From the start, you know you’re going to take a lot of hits,” she says.
“This case shows that online attacks against women journalists are not isolated incidents — they are a predictable response to their professional work, especially when sensitive or investigative subjects are involved. And as long as this aggression goes unpunished, it will keep threatening not just journalists’ safety, but freedom of speech as a whole,” says Liza Kuzmenko, head of Women in Media NGO.
It is worth recalling that in August 2025, another Bihus.Info journalist, Oleksandra Fedorko, faced a similar online attack. MP Oleksii Goncharenko posted criticism on Telegram and Facebook targeting Fedorko over a supposedly expensive T-shirt she had worn during an interview. In that same post, Goncharenko referenced Svitlana Stetsenko directly: “My favorite Bihus.Info journalist Svitlana Stetsenko should take note. Svitlana, it looks like they’re underpaying you. You work hard, you try, you dance bachata, and then there’s this…”
According to the study Her Voice, Their Target: Gendered Online Violence Against Ukrainian Women Journalists, conducted by Women in Media NGO together with UNESCO in 2025, 81% of the 180 media women surveyed reported experiencing some form of online violence.
Of those, 14% said threats had crossed from digital into the physical dimension. Only 19% had turned to law enforcement for help.
If you are a journalist who has experienced online violence and needs support, write to ngo.womeninmedia@gmail.com or fill out the online form at the link provided. Women in Media can offer information support, as well as free consultations on cybersecurity, psychological support, legal protection, or other assistance on request.