Tech-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) is a threat to women, girls and marginalised groups, with harms ranging from online harassment, cyberstalking and doxxing to non-consensual image sharing and AI-generated sexualised content. Rapid advances in AI and digital technologies are creating new forms of abuse faster than existing regulatory, institutional and protective mechanisms can respond. Young women, LGBTQI+ people, activists and women journalists are particularly exposed, while gaps in digital literacy, policy frameworks and institutional capacity further constrain effective prevention and response.
The Africa Digital Rights Fund (ADRF) AI, Safety, and Equality: A Rapid Action Programme Against Tech-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence responds to these challenges through a project that combines rapid research, capacity building, and policy engagement in South Africa. The project will generate evidence on the drivers and forms of TFGBV, examine regulatory and AI ethics gaps, and identify practical approaches to strengthening digital safety and survivor-centred responses.
Research findings will inform targeted capacity-building workshops for civil society organisations, frontline service providers, legal practitioners and policymakers, as well as a multistakeholder policy roundtable and public webinar. The project will contribute to stronger institutional capacity, greater awareness of digital safety risks, and more ethical, gender-responsive approaches to digital governance and AI.
Research objectives
- Map the forms and drivers of TFGBV in South Africa, identifying the most prevalent forms of online and technology-mediated abuse and the inequalities that shape exposure to harm;
- Examine the role of AI in enabling and intensifying online harms, including emerging risks such as deepfakes, AI-generated sexualised content and automated harassment;
- Assess regulatory, policy and institutional gaps in the prevention of and response to TFGBV, including gaps in platform accountability and AI governance;
- Identify groups that are particularly vulnerable to AI-mediated abuse, including women and girls, LGBTQI+ people, activists and women journalists;
- Assess existing digital safety and response interventions and identify approaches that could strengthen prevention, protection and survivor-centred responses; and
- Develop actionable recommendations for policymakers, platforms, civil society and other institutional actors to strengthen gender-responsive digital safety and AI governance.
Methodology
The project uses a rapid mixed-methods approach, combining desk and literature research, stakeholder mapping and interviews, and survivor-informed consultations to build an evidence base on TFGBV in South Africa. The research will examine the forms and drivers of digital harms, the role of AI in enabling emerging risks, and gaps in digital safety, platform governance and regulatory frameworks. A regulatory and AI ethics scan will complement the contextual mapping by assessing legal, institutional and platform governance gaps. Findings will be synthesised into an analytical report and assessment brief and used to inform capacity-building activities and policy engagement.
