Safer online spaces for girls: Council calls for stronger action against cyber violence 13:15 The Council has approved conclusions calling on EU countries and the Commission to[...]

Noting the increased prevalence of deeply harmful cyber violence against girls and young women, the Council has approved conclusions calling on EU countries and the Commission to improve protection for girls and young women in the digital sphere. With this declaration, ministers demand more effective measures to prevent and combat the various forms of online abuse, including cyberstalking, online harassment, non-consensual image sharing, and sexist hate speech.

Current situation and vulnerability of girls

The conclusions are based on a report by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE). Interviews conducted among teenagers across the EU confirm the fact that cyber violence disproportionately impacts girls and young women, girls being targeted more frequently than boys, often from the moment they start using digital technologies and social media. Moreover, girls and young women aged 13 to 18 consider existing prevention efforts to be inadequate.

The Council stresses that cyber violence is rooted in systemic inequalities and harmful gender norms that normalise male aggression and victim blaming, and that online violence often extends to harmful behaviour in real life.

Measures to combat cyber violence

Drawing on the findings of EIGE, EU ministers underline the urgent need to take determined action at both national and EU levels. The proposed measures focus on supporting victims, raising awareness, enforcing legislation, and researching the dynamics and causes of cyber violence. Ministers also recall the responsibilities of economic actors online.

Supporting victims

To support victims, the Council calls on national governments to provide care, mental health support, and legal assistance, with a special focus on intersectional factors such as age, disability and sexual orientation. Recognising that the non-consensual sharing of explicit images is a serious form of violence, the conclusions also highlight the importance of education on digital consent and call for the promotion of a culture of digital self-care in schools.

Raising awareness

Ministers highlight the importance of educating teachers, educators, and all students on gender-responsive digital literacy. This includes online safety, disinformation detection and awareness of technologies that promote gender-based violence. School curricula should also address topics such as gender stereotypes, harmful norms and accountability. Moreover, the Council supports involving more women in the design and development of digital technologies, which is vital for improving online safety from a gender perspective.

Parents, caregivers and educators

The Council calls for parents, caregivers and legal guardians to be provided with guidance allowing them to respond to technology-facilitated abuse, as well as practical tools such as free parental control software. The Council also recommends offering bystander intervention training to teachers and other professionals, so that they can step in safely in response to cyber violence.

Enforcing legislation, boosting resources

To strengthen the legal response, the Council stresses the need for improved regulation and enforcement, including of existing EU rules such as the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the AI Act. Crucially, the conclusions underline that more must be done to identify online evidence and strengthen cross-border cooperation. To achieve this, ministers call for greater investment in the technical expertise and resources of law enforcement and NGOs.

The responsibilities of economic actors

Furthermore, the Council highlights the responsibility of economic actors including online platforms and social media providers to pursue safety proactively and by design, to moderate content effectively and to prevent the misuse of their services. This also entails promoting adequate funding for 'trusted flaggers' who specialise in identifying and reporting illegal content, including cases of gender-based violence. In addition, the conclusions call for closer cooperation between the private sector and law enforcement, especially in order to detect cases of human trafficking.

Investing in research and data collection

Because cyber violence is a rapidly evolving phenomenon, the conclusions emphasize the need for long-term, evidence-based research into its psychological, social, and economic impacts on girls. Furthermore, the Council stresses the importance of studying the root causes, motivations and tactics behind online abuse, including sexist hate speech promoted by increasingly prominent 'manosphere' and 'incel' communities.

Background

The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the UN agenda for gender equality and women's empowerment, serves as the key framework in this policy area on the global stage, explicitly identifying violence against women as a major obstacle to equality, development and peace.

At the EU level, the Digital Services Act established the core principle that what is illegal offline must also be illegal online, forcing large platforms to tackle illegal content and ensure a safer digital environment. The directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence stands as the first comprehensive EU law to officially criminalise specific forms of cyber violence. Finally, the AI Act provides the first-ever comprehensive legal framework on artificial intelligence, introducing for instance definitions and transparency obligations around AI-generated deep-fakes.

• Preventing and combating cyber violence against girls (Council conclusions)
• From lived reality to policy action: Combating cyber violence against girls in the EU (EIGE report)
• Ending violence against women (background information)