Advancing Gender Equality in the Digital Public Sphere: Tackling Online Violence and AI-Discrimination – WS 04 2026

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27 May 2026 | 11:30 - 12:30 CEST | SICCO MANSHOLT | Video recording | Transcript
Consolidated programme 2026

Proposals: #29, #35, #36, #57

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Session teaser

Digital technologies are reshaping European societies, creating opportunities to advance gender equality by expanding access, participation, and empowerment for women, girls and diverse groups. At the same time, online and technology-facilitated violence is a growing cross-border threat to democracy, human rights, and gender equality, as digital tools can amplify and reinforce structural inequalities, including online and offline violence, discrimination, and exclusion.

This session examines how effective measures and regulatory frameworks – including Council of Europe standards such as the Istanbul Convention, the recently adopted Recommendation on accountability for technology-facilitated violence against women and girls and its monitoring mechanism GREVIO, as well as the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) – combined with best practices and multistakeholder cooperation, can address online violence, prevent AI-driven discrimination, and harness digital technologies to protect fundamental rights and advance gender equality in the digital public sphere.

Session description

Youth are reporting increased feelings of extreme pessimism in relation to the internet. This is due to many reasons, such as content designed to produce cover-consumption, the data market, but also the overflow of AI content on social media platforms and technology facilitated violence. These attitudes towards the internet are reflected in, ironically, social media trends such as the analogue bag, self-sufficiency inspiration, trad-wife-content and viewing the possibility of being offline as a luxury only reserved for the rich.

When new forms of technology are developed, they are advertised to investors and consumers as essential tools to make life easier and better. The internet was thought to be the great equaliser, giving people of diverse backgrounds and from all corners of the world equal access to knowledge and connection to other people. Yet the relationship between new technologies and equality is ambivalent: while they have opened new opportunities, they have also deepened existing inequalities. Structural inequalities shape who benefits from technology and who does not. The digital gender gap is one of the most persistent expressions of this dynamic. Women and girls face unique barriers to equal participation online: artificial intelligence increasingly encodes and amplifies discrimination, while technology-facilitated violence against women and girls drives many to withdraw from public spaces altogether.

Age plays a crucial role in how women and girls experience technology-facilitated violence. Young women and girls are particularly likely to encounter such violence due to the significant role that technology plays in their daily lives, influencing how they communicate, socialise and access information. This is reflected in the numbers: in the 2024 Building Digital Resilience report by Plan International, 75% of girls and young women (13–24) reported experiencing online harm, with around 40% facing harassment at least monthly and 11% daily or almost daily. Sexualised abuse is prominent, with 44% encountering unwanted sexual images and 37% receiving inappropriate sexual messages.[1]The evaluation reports of GREVIO, the monitoring body of the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention, reveal an increasing prevalence of technology-facilitated violence among young people, including image-based abuse, as well as growing anti-gender narratives in online spaces.

The rise of artificial intelligence is transforming how discrimination manifests, particularly in the ways young women and girls are seen, treated and included in online and offline spaces. The rise of digital forgeries (“deepfakes”) exposes young women and girls to new and serious forms of online exploitation and abuse. In addition, misogynistic online communities, such as the “manosphere,” further fuel harmful narratives and violence against women and girls. Algorithms can amplify gender-based violence and misogynistic narratives, as they are designed to maximise user engagement and therefore tend to promote content that provokes strong emotional reactions.

In addition to causing serious psychological and social harm, the rising prevalence of discrimination and technology-facilitated violence often leads young women and girls to self-censor and withdraw from public debate. In a world where online spaces and social media have become the modern town square, young women removing themselves from online spaces leads to them being further underrepresented in the political conversation. Particularly in a political context where youth are already less likely to participate, youth deciding to remove themselves from the sphere of mobilisation might lead them to step back from political activities altogether. This makes these issues a threat to democracy from the perspective of youth and especially young women and girls.


[1] Plan International (2024), Building Digital Resilience

Format

The session will be organised in an interactive breakout format combining short panel inputs and group discussions. First, a panel of four speakers representing youth organisations, international organisations, the private sector and civil society will provide brief 3-minute introductory remarks. The session will then move into four breakout discussions reflecting these perspectives: 1) youth experiences and participation; 2) policy and institutional responses; 3) platform design and industry responsibility; and 4) civil society approaches. The outcomes of the breakout groups will be shared in the concluding segment, highlighting key concerns and identifying recommendations to strengthen accountability, inclusivity and trust in digital environments. The breakout group on platform design and industry responsibility will be held online, ensuring that remote participants can actively contribute and that their inputs are fully integrated into the plenary feedback and overall outcomes of the session.

The speakers are the following:

Youth perspective: Ella Cancara, Generation Equality -youth

International organisations and policy perspective: Flurina Frei, Council of Europe

Civil society perspective: Nico Schmidt, EU Policy Advisor, HateAid

Private sector perspective (online): Azmina Dhrodia, Tech Policy/Trust & Safety Expert


Programme:

11:30 Welcome and Topic Introduction, Session Format (Breakout Groups, Guiding Questions), Quick Introduction of Speakers – 5 min

11:35 3-minute Statements by Speaker – 15 min

• Ella Cancara (Game Changer Project, Generation Equality -Youth)

• Flurina Frei (Gender Equality Policy Advisor, Council of Europe)

• Nico Schmidt (EU Policy Advisor, HateAid)

• Azmina Dhrodia (Tech Policy/Trust & Safety Expert)

11:50 Discussion Segment (Working Groups)

• Introductions of Guiding Questions – 2 min

• What is the current most pressing issue you face in terms of GBOV?

• What would the ideal internet look like without GBOV?

• How can youth/international organizations/ the private sector/ NGO’s perspectives help to shape a more inclusive digital sphere?

12:15 Conclusion:

• Each breakout group shares their key concerns and 1-2 recommendations

12:28 Final Remarks – 2min

Further reading

Links to relevant websites, declarations, books, documents. Please note we cannot offer web space, so only links to external resources are possible. Example for an external link: Main page of EuroDIG

People

Please provide the name and affiliation/institution of all people you list here like this:

  • First Name Last Name, Affiliation/institution

Programme Committee member(s)

  • Milica Vesović, Programme Manager in the Digital Development Unit, Directorate of Security, Integrity and Rule of Law at the Council of Europe
  • Minda Moreira, Internet Rights and Principles Coalition (IRPC)
  • Yrjö Länsipuro, ISOC Finland

The Programme Committee (PC) supports the programme planning process throughout the year and works closely with the Secretariat. Members of the PC give advice on the topics, cluster the proposals and assist session organisers in their work. They also ensure that session principles are followed and monitor the complete programme to avoid repetition. 1-2 PC members have signed up to each session and will compile the messages.

Co Focal Points

  • Oona Kurppa, Chairperson, Generation Equality Youth Group Finland
  • Grit Marti Lange, Netzforma* e. V., Youth IGF Germany

Focal Points take over the responsibility and lead of the session organisation. They work in close cooperation with the Programme Committee and the EuroDIG Secretariat and are kindly requested to follow EuroDIG’s session principles

Organising Team (Org Team)

List Org Team members here as they sign up.

  • Ella Cancara
  • Iina Jauhanen
  • Flurina Frei, Gender Equality Policy Advisor, Council of Europe
  • Simayijiang Zumureti
  • Milica Vesović, Programme Manager in the Digital Development Unit, Directorate of Security, Integrity and Rule of Law at the Council of Europe

The Org Team is a group of people shaping the session. Org Teams are open and every interested individual can become a member by subscribing to the mailing list.

Key Participants

Key Participants are experts willing to provide their knowledge during a session – not necessarily on stage. Key Participants should contribute to the session planning process and keep statements short and punchy during the session. They will be selected and assigned by the Org Team, ensuring a stakeholder balanced dialogue also considering gender and geographical balance. Please provide short CV’s of the Key Participants involved in your session at the Wiki or link to another source.

  • Ella Cancara, Generation Equality Youth
  • Flurina Frei, Gender Equality Officer, Council of Europe
  • Nico Schmidt, EU Policy Advisor, HateAid
  • Azmina Dhrodia, Tech Policy/Trust & Safety Expert


Moderator:

  • Oona Kurppa, Chairperson, Generation Equality Youth Group Finland

Messages

Rapporteur: Minda Moreira, Internet Rights and Principles Coalition (IRPC)

  1. Advancing gender equality in the digital public sphere faces some major challenges:
    • Offline gender-based discrimination is often replicated online with changes in speed and sophistication driven by emerging technologies, driving women and girls out of the public sphere, curtailing the diversity of views, and damaging democracy.
    • Lack or limited response of the platforms and the step back from major companies on political grounds makes accountability and enforcement extremely difficult, creating an environment where perpetrators feel invincible.
    • Moderation responses often limit the right to privacy leading to deeper layers of discrimination.
  2. The ideal Internet should offer a warm, friendly, engaging and accountable space that creates confidence and engagement without fear. It also fosters an environment of accountability where people speak up against online violence.
  3. Multistakeholder collaboration and dialogue is essential to shape a more inclusive digital sphere built on global rules and standards, civil society led capacity-building initiatives, better education, information and preventive measures:
    • International organisations play an important role in addressing digital violence, including through standard-setting, monitoring and international cooperation.
    • Meaningful and evidence-based policy-making and regulation for online platforms need to respect the right to privacy.
    • Technical solutions need the input of those facing discrimination, particularly members of disadvantaged groups and must include safety and equality by design.

Video record

https://youtu.be/r-PjBnZymgY

Transcript

Disclaimer: This is not an official record of the session. The DiploAI system automatically generates these resources from the audiovisual recording. Resources are presented in their original format, as provided by the AI (e.g. including any spelling mistakes). The accuracy of these resources cannot be guaranteed.

The Geneva Internet Platform will provide transcript, session report and additional details shortly after the session.


Oona Kurppa: workshop. I’m Oona Korppa, the head of Finland’s Generation Equality Youth Group and today’s moderator of the session. I’m here at the end of the room. I hope everybody can see me. I really wanted to use the podium, but apparently it doesn’t translate to the online participants, so I welcome everybody here. Finland’s Generation Equality Youth Group has been a part of organizing this workshop and the delegation focuses on equality work in the field of tech and innovation. Today we’re here to discuss advancing gender equality in the digital public sphere. During the discussion we focus on tackling online violence and AI discrimination. I welcome everyone to participate in the discussion and have a meaningful dialogue today. We will be addressing three questions during the session.

What is the current most pressing issue in the face in the terms of gender -based online violence? The second one is, what would the ideal internet look like without gender -based online violence? And the last one is, how can international organizations, youth, the private sector, and NGOs’ perspectives help to shape the more inclusive digital space? Don’t worry, you don’t have to memorize all of these questions. They will be put on the screen when we move on to the discussion segment. Next, I will introduce our great key speakers joining us today, and after that, I will give each speaker three -minute time to address your concerns on the topic. First, we have Florina Frey, Gender Equality Policy Advisor from the Council of Europe.

She was the co -secretary and an expert committee that drafted a recommendation on accountability for technology -affiliated violence against women. She is the co -secretary and an expert committee that drafted a recommendation on accountability for technology -affiliated violence against women and girls. This recommendation was adopted on 4th of March this year, and is the first international lead. Thank you. Thank you. areas. Ella has also been active advocating in the tech field since 2021 and has represented youth voices in various international forums. And finally, we have our public sector representative joining us online. Pleased to have you here as well, Asmina Doria. Asmina is an independent tech policy and trust safety expert. She has 10 years experience from across civil society in technology sector working in the intersection of public policy, content policy, and production policy.

She previously served as the safety policy lead in the dating app Bumble and currently works in the ride -sharing company as a senior trust safety policy advisor. Before her work at Bumble, Asmina has also led research at Amnesty International on violence and abuse against women online, including authoring the landmark Toxic Twitter report. So, Marina, would you like to start and tell us briefly your key concerns on the topic?

Flurina Frei: Thank you very much. Yeah, so thank you very much for the introduction and thank you very much for being here for this important discussion. I think, as we all know, digital technologies are really shaping every aspect of our lives today. But for many women and girls, the online world is also a place of fear, of humiliation, of intimidation very often. A teenage girl may discover that her intimate images are being shared online. A woman fleeing from domestic violence might be tracked by spyware installed on her smartphone. Or a woman politician may be driven out of politics because she receives online, online threats and online hate for her public appearances. And too often, the answer they hear is, just lock off.

But women and girls should not have to disappear from online spaces in order to be safe. The burden should not be on the victims to retreat. The responsibility must lie with those that perpetrate such violence against women and girls, those that facilitate it, and those that allow it to flourish without any consequences. Because what we have seen is that online violence doesn’t stop at the screen. For individual victims, it has very strong impacts, such as anxiety, fear, even self -harm. It may drive them into isolation. It may have very serious consequences for their education, for their career, for their livelihoods. But also the broader societal impact is very important, because if women and girls have to withdraw from public spaces, this means that we have fewer diverse perspectives in public debate and in democratic discourse.

So the question is, how can we address such online violence? International organizations play an important part to the response to these questions, because as we know, online violence crosses borders, which means that the response also needs to be international, coordinated and coherent, because no state can address this problem on its own. So international organizations provide a platform for collective action and for shared responses to such challenges. The Council of Europe has developed a multilayered response to technology -facilitated violence based on standards on monitoring and on cooperation. Standards help ensure a shared understanding of states’ responsibilities in addressing technology -facilitated violence against women and girls. The Istanbul Convention is the flagship instrument in this regard when it comes to preventing and combating violence against women, including digital violence.

And GREVIO, the monitoring body of the Istanbul Convention, has developed general recommendation number one specifically on the digital dimension of violence against women to clarify how the Istanbul Convention applies to online violence. Building on this framework, as Ona has mentioned in her introduction, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers on the 4th of March adopted a recommendation on accountability for technology -facilitated violence, which provides dedicated guidance on institutional, legal, and regulatory aspects to strengthen accountability. And also on the 4th of March, the Committee of Ministers also adopted a recommendation on equality in AI, which provides guidance on promoting equality and combating discrimination specifically by AI system. But standards alone, they don’t have a real -life impact.

What matters is implementation of those standards. And for this, cooperation is very important in order to provide practical tool and support to states and to implement standards effectively. In this regard, the Council of Europe supports member states through capacity building, including a new online course that has just been launched for legal practitioners on technology. violence against women and girls. This course is available freely, so feel free to take it. And lastly, monitoring helps states identify gaps and improve how standards are implemented in practice. And for this, Graveous Country Evaluation under the Istanbul Convention provides important guidance to states by identifying areas for improvement in addressing online violence against women and girls. So overall, the response to technology facilitated violence against women shows the important role of international organizations in supporting collective responses to such shared challenges, and I look forward to further also discussing this in the group.

If you’re interested by our work on technology facilitated violence, we have this very entertaining and easy -to -read brochure here, so feel free to take a copy when you leave the room. Thanks.

Oona Kurppa: Thank you, Florina. Nico, do you want to go next?

Nico Schmidt: Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me. as Florina pointed out the topic of gender based technology facilitated violence is broad I want to focus on one aspect in particular which is sexualized digital violence and I thought you might be interested to hear what Haydate’s experience with this phenomenon is so I brought you some numbers and want to share some experiences we had last year Haydate dealt with roughly 300 cases of sexualized digital violence half of which were image based sexual abuse or non -consensual images or if you want to use the alternative term revenge porn and the other half consisted of sexualized deepfakes, dick pics and other forms of sexual harassment online and sex torsion which as you may know is intimate content is used for blackmail you won’t be surprised to hear that most of our clients who report those cases are women but even in cases where men come to us, we see that there’s quite a different gender dynamic.

Let me give you one example, for example, like sextortion, right? So when a man, the perpetrator gives the hand on content, you know, of a man, they often use it to present for money. They say like, oh, you know, I sent you 300 euros in Bitcoin, and otherwise you’re going to share those videos and images with all your Instagram contacts, right? But in cases where women are concerned, they usually don’t ask for money, but they ask for more material. They ask for more videos, more pictures, right, to continue the abuse. We’ve also, of course, reported cases to platforms. In total, we reported 168 IPSA or deepfake cases, the majority of which we reported on smaller porn platforms.

This is where it was. Total of 103 cases. out of which 16 were removed. One couldn’t be removed because I think it was already removed. And 68, so that’s 81 % of all the cases, we didn’t get any reaction. And this is a major problem. Just to give you a comparison, for example, the response rate we got from X, like regarding everything, you know, also insults and so on, like even X replied in 75 % and 85 % of the cases, right? And with the porn platforms, we have like a known response rate of 81%, which is a major issue. And this is what I would like to highlight, that we often find that enforcement is incredibly difficult, especially when it comes to like the smaller players which fly under the radar of enforcement authorities.

There was one case in particular. I was sort of appalled by there was a small German porn site hosted on the Cocos Island that actually offered complaint forms for victims and those who tried to help them but this complaint form was basically a joke it was a mock form so they asked you not only for your name and address but also for your body weight, IQ, text number, license plate number I mean, I think you get the joke and you can say, okay, this is maybe like a poor testimony to the poor taste and poor state of German humor but I would also argue this is just a sign how invincible perpetrators feel and how much they feel they are beyond the reach of the law and I think this is something we need to change and I look forward to discussing with you how to do so Thank you

Oona Kurppa: Thank you so much, Nico Ella, please

Ella Cancara: Hi all So nice that there are so many people attending this event this session today it’s an important topic It’s also a very complicated topic because gender -based online violence is such a varied issue. It can mean so many things, private messages, comments that are hateful, coordinated hate campaigns, misogynistic comments and content online, unwanted sexual messages. We’ve heard some examples already during this session. And these are all things that are leading increasingly more and more women and girls to choose to be online only privately amongst their friends or maybe not even at all. But women are choosing to not be online publicly and participate in public conversation online. And this is obviously an issue for our democracy, among other things.

Because the issue is so varied and so complex, we need meaningful and varied responses as well. moderation, legal protection for victims, educating our youth, and also we need to question the Internet’s algorithmic and data capitalistic culture that empowers this violence. The gender equality youths have been working with this topic for the last five years, and we have also written two manifestos on gender -based online violence and how to combat it. I would encourage everyone to go read those. In those five years, we see that increasingly all different sectors of society have started to ask public policymakers and also private companies to address this issue meaningfully. It has gotten wider recognition that it’s an issue that we need to combat.

But at the same time, we see a lot of social media companies, especially those that are headquartered in the United States. They have taken steps back on actually combating harmful content that are supposed on their platforms. decision makers and politicians hear the pleas to step in and do something however the responses we have seen lately is we’re talking about identification online we’re forcing people to use their real passports their real names their real faces when they’re online we see takedown services being implemented without specific limitations on what sort of content is is able to be taken down and what sort of content is not we are seeing platforms being encouraged to monitor personal private messages these are all steps that can make perpetrating violence online less lucrative to perpetrators but this also limits our privacy as internet users I am worried about my peers who decide to remove themselves from societal and political discussion that’s happening online.

I am worried about the boys and young men who become indoctrinated and radicalized by hateful content that platforms don’t want to take down because it increases their profits. I am worried that the most popular Internet platforms that are mainly headquartered in the United States seem to be very affected by the country’s political leadership. But I am also worried that our calls for moderation, meaningful moderation, meaningful intervention, is getting turned into policy proposals that risk users’ privacy. While gender -based online violence is a risk to democracy, so is an online world where people cannot organize and mobilize without state supervision. Open democracy is no more guaranteed here in Europe than it is anywhere else. so we need to come up with more creative solutions to combat this issue that also don’t impede on our privacy as internet users thank you

Oona Kurppa: thank you so much ella and i i really want to congratulate all of you for sticking to your time well done all um and finally we have as mina online are you able to open your mic and tell us your views on

Azmina Dhrodia: the topic yes hi good morning everyone from london and thank you for the invitation to join this very important session i will also try to stick to my three minutes um i’ve been working on on my gender -based violence for more than a decade now across civil society with international organizations and inside technology companies as well and i think one of the most striking things is that the core problem has remained the same which is that discrimination and the violence that women experience offline continues to manifest in digital spaces What’s changed is obviously the speed and the scale and the sophistication of the harms that women are experiencing. So, you know, whether we’re talking about coordinated harassment, non -consensual intimate image sharing, AI -generated harms like deep fakes, you know, all of these forms of violence can evolve incredibly quickly.

I work in the trust and safety side of industry and technology companies. And I’ve often described trust and safety work as a game of whack -a -mole. I’m not sure if that’s a North American reference, but you’re constantly trying to find the next mole to whack. And it’s because I feel like inside a company, we are constantly trying to anticipate and respond to emerging harms as technologies and as behavior shift. But I think my peers have given a very good overview of all the different problems and harms that women face. So I’ll focus a little bit on what I think. And I think that those of us who work inside the industry, you know, can and should be doing differently.

So there’s a few things that I brought into my work that I think, you know, others should continue doing or start doing. The first is centering the experience of women from marginalized communities in both policy development and in product design. You know, I think we all know by now that not all women experience online abuse in the same way. And those who are facing intersecting or overlapping forms of discrimination are often the ones who are exposed to the most severe types of harms. I strongly believe that if we design digital spaces with the safety of the most vulnerable people using our services in mind, we ultimately create a better and safer experience for everyone. The second thing that I’d like to bring into my work is around safety by design as an actual genuine organizational principle and not just using safety as an afterthought or a form of a compliance exercise.

You know, I think that’s a really important thing. You know, I have seen firsthand what happens when safety teams are brought in too late, right? Harms occur. the users using the platform lose trust, companies end up scrambling to fix preventable problems after a product has already launched. And I think it’s always really important to remember that safer platforms are not just better for the people that are using our platforms. As I like to remind, you know, those working in the industry, they’re also better for business, they’re better for sustainability, and safer platforms are better for user trust overall. Third is that companies need to be evidence -based in their policymaking. Platforms have huge amounts of data, as we’ve just heard about, and a lot of insight into how harms manifest on their services.

And that information should be used responsibly to understand the risks, to evaluate the interventions, and to also identify emerging trends. But it’s also really important to listen to people on the front line, so the content moderators and the safety specialists. They often have the most clear understanding of how harms manifest on their services. farms are evolving in real time across different cultural and regional contexts. And having those open conversations with moderators and keeping that feedback loop open is something that I have found incredibly useful and important in the policy development that I’ve done with companies. You know, for me, effective policy development has always been informed by diverse perspectives and the live realities of the people actually using the platform.

And then lastly, this work cannot just sit within one small trust and safety team or one small policy team. You know, if you’re really intent on creating a safer digital space for women in your platform, I think it requires cross -functional collaboration across product teams and engineering and operations and leadership teams. And beyond companies themselves, it requires ongoing collaboration with governments and regulators and researchers and civil society. You know, online violence is… a societal issue that is reflected in digital spaces. And so no single actor can solve it in isolation or in a silo. I think ultimately, if we want a digital public sphere where women can safely and freely and equally participate and express themselves, then safety just simply cannot be treated as a side issue.

It really has to be embedded into the ways that we design technologies and govern platforms and

Oona Kurppa: Thank you so much, Asmina. Great. Thank you for all of the key speakers for the insightful statements. I hope these brief introductions to the topic can inspire you to think outside of the box now when we move to the discussion. So how we will proceed from here, we have flipboards around. We have the meeting room. So we ask or participate to gather around three of those flip boards and follow the lead of our key speakers who will be around the flip boards. We will put the questions onto the board and you will write your answers to the given post -it notes that we have here with our key speakers. So please, our key speakers, you can stand up now and lead to the discussion.

So please choose which discussion group you will join today. And for our online participants, we have a Flinga site where you can join and do it online. Azmina will lead our online discussion, so you can also write your online post -it notes to the Flinga board. We have approximately 25 minutes for the discussion, so you can join us. Please, you can stand up, move a bit, get your pens that you’ve been given by the Eurodig. Yeah, let’s get a good discussion flowing. And just to add to the, make it a bit more clear, Ella will represent the youth. So that will be, she’s waving up there. Nico, you will lead the NGO discussion. And Florina, you will have the public sector.

And Asmina, you will have the private sector discussion online. So please choose your group you want to join too. Thank you.

Participant: I’m sorry. I don’t know.

Azmina Dhrodia: Hi, everyone. Hi, everyone that’s online. Do you all have access to the Flinda page?

Participant: Yes.

Azmina Dhrodia: Yes? Okay. Fantastic. I’ll just wait a minute, and then we can start the session. All right. Okay, let’s start. Can everyone hear me okay? Can you give a, just maybe say yes or make sure, I don’t know if you can give a thumbs up here. Can everyone hear me?

Participant: Yes,

Azmina Dhrodia: Great. Thank you. Thank you, Arvind, for confirming. Okay, wonderful. And the rest of you. Hi, everyone. So, yes, thank you for joining the session. Because you’re online, you are automatically placed with me. So thank you for joining. And sorry if you prefer to be in another group. So, yeah, for the next 20-ish minutes, we’re just going to be answering some of the questions that are on the screen right now in this discussion segment in terms of what we think the most pressing issues are, what the ideal Internet looks like without gender-based violence, and then how youth and international organizations and the private sector and NGOs can work together to help shape a more inclusive digital sphere.

I think that’s encouraging. No? I’m not sure. To participate. Participate. Sorry, I think the main room has their microphone on. With, as you can see. One second. Thank you. Great, sorry about that. So I think the best way to do this is if everyone can go into the Flinga, it’s a pretty, I’ve never used this before, but it seems to be a pretty easy way to use it. Raise some more thoughts. I think people in the room are using flip charts. So under each question, you can just add your thoughts about what your answers are to the question. So let’s spend maybe. three minutes on the first question and then we can sort of discuss and then the same for the second question and then we’ll spend the last ten minutes on the third question because I think that’s the most interesting and I think what the organizers would like us to spend the most time on.

To do a to make a post-it note, there’s a little square. You can choose the shape of your post-it. You can keep it at square and there’s a color and then you just type in the message. So I’m writing testing and then you press send and then it literally just puts it on the screen and then you can just drag your mouse to the question that you’re trying to answer. Does that sound okay with everyone? If you can just say yes or give me a thumbs up. You can give a thumbs up by the reactions emoji at the bottom. The next three minutes, just on the first question. Oh, yes, Josephine. Feel free to unmute and ask your question.

Okay, otherwise we can just start. If you have any issues using Flinga, just let me know I’m happy to put that posted its notes in for you, but we’ll touch base in two minutes and can just, it’d be great if you guys can unmute and talk a little bit about what you’ve put and why you put it there, but I’ll let you work for now. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. okay so looking at the the flinga um the question again is what is the most the current most pressing issue you face in terms of gender -based online violence um and unsurprisingly i think we have some of the key trends of non -consensual sharing of intimate images sexualized deep fakes gender -based hate tracking tools and online abuse moving offline um with the person who wrote tracking tools are you able to just explain a little bit more in terms of the issue there if you’re able to

Participant: So, sorry, one more. No, that’s okay. No problem. Thank you. I’m not sure if I can explain it in detail because we as an organization are not really dealing with this, but we are dealing with child rights in the online environment. And so we are also facing this issue as one of a broader situation. But it’s not the main topic we are dealing with.

Azmina Dhrodia: And are we referring to it in the terms of intimate partner violence and domestic violence, like where women are being surveilled by abusive partners? Is that the context or is it the tracking of, you know, algorithms more broadly in what’s shown?

Participant: Yeah, no, no, no. In today’s context, it’s more what you described here.

Azmina Dhrodia: OK, cool. OK, thank you. Are there any other questions about what’s been put? I think they’re pretty self -explanatory, but I put online abuse moving offline just because I’ve worked in I work with tech companies where the first interaction is online, but then you facilitate offline interactions. And so there is obviously that that harm as well that can and the risk of how to prevent harm from happening, not just online, but then continuing offline or starting offline. OK, great. So let’s move on to the second question. I’ll give another three minutes. I think this is a really interesting question. So it is what would the ideal Internet look like without gender based online violence? So, again, I’ll give three minutes and if you can just use some sticky notes and share your thoughts.

That would be really helpful. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, so we have a few more post -its that have been put. So we have friendly, engaging, welcoming. I’d love to hear from someone, one of the people that posted that, in terms of what does friendly look like? What does engaging and welcoming look like? And how is it different than what currently stands? It would be great to sort of unpack and explore that a little bit, if whoever put friendly or engaging or welcoming. Thank you.

Participant: Hello again. Hi. Um, yeah. I think it’s the opposite from the current version. So many people are just passive recipients of social media and the opportunities because they are recognizing the hate they are worrying about. They could also become targeted. And so they are silencing them by themselves. So they are not that much engaging. They are more reading, watching, but not commenting, not so much participating. And if we can stop the gender -based online violence, then it’s… It would be, yeah, the opposite. It would be more welcoming. It would be easier to take part. And the… barrier or the hurdle to open up and speak out what you think, to comment on. And so it would be easier because you don’t have to worry about that you have to face any problems.

Azmina Dhrodia: Yeah, no, that’s a great explanation. Thank you. And yeah, I think I know I’m guilty of being a sort of passive consumer. The consumption is there, but I’m not necessarily the outward engagement because sometimes the fear can take over whether it’s worth it to speak out. And I know that’s something that many women experience. So thank you for raising that. I put recourse and accountability. Perhaps it’s a slightly pessimistic view, but, you know, just like in the offline world, I think a world without gender -based violence online is ideal. But probably not realistic anytime soon, sadly. But I do think that, you know, just like… how we see it offline, when it happens, there needs to be recourse, there needs to be accountability and responsibility and mechanisms of support.

And I think, you know, that model needs to be replicated online as well, you know, whether that’s through governments or whether through platform services that are provided. But I think that it’s important to ensure that there’s recourse and access to justice for what women experience. Would anyone else like to add anything before we move on to the last question? No? Okay. So we will move on to the last question. We’ll spend a little bit more time on this. We’ll give you about five minutes. Okay. So we’ll move on to the last question. We’ll spend a little bit more time on this. We’ll give you about five minutes. I really encourage you to sort of engage with this one.

We do have a couple of minutes at the end to share our thoughts. So the last question is, how can youth, international organizations, the private sector, NGOs… all of us basically, how can our perspectives help to shape a more inclusive digital sphere? So, again, if you can put your comments in the Flingo board and then we’ll have a few minutes to discuss and then we can decide what points we want to share more broadly with the group. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We have one comment. So maybe if I give one more minute and then we can sort of discuss, that would be great. But, yeah, if you could all just share your thoughts again on, you know, how we can all sort of work together to.

help shape a more inclusive digital sphere, that would be fantastic. Thank you. Okay, great. So thank you to those of you who put forward some thoughts. Josephine, I know you put how can women peer with Internet companies. I put that in there. I wasn’t sure if it was a question or just an answer to this question here. So we have activate bystander, no amplification of hate, better moderation, and I added research collaboration and incorporating trauma -informed and survivor -centered policies and practices. I’d love to just hear a little bit more about the better moderation. Obviously, that’s a big topic and can cover quite a few things. So is the person who wrote that able to explain a little bit more about what you meant or what you mean?

Participant: So it seems to me that we are. maybe not alone but we’re both active persons here I think that that we or the social, online social environments shifted in the last years to very much strong emotional language and that if there would be a more kind of a positive and friendly tone and atmosphere in the language and the wordings then it will shape it more in a positive and a friendly way and it will change a lot and I think that moderation can support this not by saying we don’t want to publish this or we will delete this comment but to say put it, phrase it differently say it maybe in other words that could help a

Azmina Dhrodia: lot no yeah that’s really interesting i think there’s a lot that um companies can do specifically to nudge as i sort of call it better behavior of a kinder more welcoming friendly way of uh stating your opinion that’s not hateful or abusive um and sometimes people just need that reminder or that check -in um and then someone just put create global rules and standards so all languages and cultures are respected online um do you want to explain that one just a little bit oh i don’t think that was you time is the person who wrote that okay maybe not no problem Oh, yes, Josephine, is that?

Participant: Yes, I’m here. Oh, hi. Yeah, hi. Yeah, really, I’ve been in this world of Internet quite a long, and I’ve been seeing communists imagine and drop falling ads as they go on. Well, women have less privilege of getting involved. It is a sort of, I don’t know, created for just men to govern and women to be like, I don’t know what we are doing now. We are just in an advocacy sector, sensitizing. But sometimes I feel that we are left out from the onset of starting or working together with bigger communists to know that we are also there with our businesses. And NGOs, sometimes the bigger communists don’t have passion for NGOs or nonprofit organizations, things like that, or for schools or something, you know, the social aspect of it.

But women, if women are given more opportunities. Now you should be all the people. They can also work alongside the private sectors, schools, NGOs, all the social sectors can come together and it can also create a huge, I don’t know, huge. So please, I think we’ve been put back into the main session, but thank you for that. Oh, sorry. No, thank you. Well, we’ll talk to you later, please.

Oona Kurppa: I’m hoping that our online discussion from the private sector perspective is able to start. And then after that, we can go to the NICOS group and after that to Verena. And finally, Eli, you could even present your group’s thoughts and ideas. But thank you, everyone, for participating so actively and being kind. And I want to thank you for your question.

Azmina Dhrodia: sorry would you like us to start first

Oona Kurppa: yes thank you so much

Azmina Dhrodia: uh yes i’ll um present unfortunately we didn’t have time to choose a speaker um sorry no um so yes um overall we uh you know we answered the three questions and you know the first question around the um most pressing issue i think is unsurprising um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that’s a really interesting question um and i think that having that kind of environment would then mean that women would be more confident and more freely able to express themselves and engage without fear, because it was a friendlier space to participate in.

And then on the flip side, when there are instances of gender-based violence online, because we can’t simply, you know, I mean, one day hopefully we’ll eradicate it, but for now it still exists, to ensure that there’s recourse and accountability. You know, even when it does exist in an ideal internet world. And then for the last question about shaping a more inclusive digital sphere, you know, Josephine was just speaking about creating global rules and standards so that all languages and cultures are respected online, and the importance of women being, you know, leading and collaborating in that process and not just being left behind or brought in at the last minute. We also spoke about better moderation.

and ensuring that, you know, it’s not just about restricting content or taking down content, but, you know, promoting healthier ways of having conversations and engaging online. And the last one was just around having better research collaboration and also incorporating trauma-informed and survivor-centered policies and practices.

Oona Kurppa: Perfect. Thank you so much. Nico, do you want to go next?

Nico Schmidt: Sure. Thank you. So my group was very much focused on solutions because I think everybody knows what the problem is. We came up with three sort of kinds of solutions. The first one were technical solutions where we proposed, for example, having a decentralized network of image databases, which would help to take down and ensure that IPSA content stays down. to create platforms which are saved by design that, you know, use risk assessment before the product launch, as was mentioned earlier. Maybe systems which use Karma point systems like Reddit, which would discourage certain type of content to proliferate rather than just engagement -driven algorithms. And generally speaking, like federated platforms or platforms which work differently to the ones we’re currently having.

We also came up with a societal solution. So we said, okay, we need more public awareness, better education for young people, especially young boys and men in particular, a content -based definition of NCI and civil society working as a bridge between industry regulators and marginalized community and amplifying those voices in the discourse, helping them to be heard and helping those voices to be incorporated into the design of platforms. Thank you. and the last group of solutions were legal solutions where of course we said civil society could push for the better enforcement of existing laws but we could also try to advocate for stricter rules meaning harsher punishment for perpetrators but also better regulation on social media platforms and we could buy our work through strategic litigation and researching online harms or to try to push platforms into better compliance.

Oona Kurppa: Drop the mic. Thank you so much. Lorena, do you want to go next?

Flurina Frei: Thank you very much. So our group had a lot of overlap with those actually. So in terms of challenges, what was voiced is that accountability is something that is very difficult to ensure in the context of online violence for different reasons. I mean the scale of the harm, we were referring to it as Mina. described as a mole walking, basically. It’s very hard to keep pace, like the responses keep pace with the technology that evolves. Also, technology, including AI, become very accessible, so everybody can commit violence online. The responses are very difficult, including for investigation, for prosecution, and for the judiciary. For instance, if perpetrators are often anonymous or delete their accounts after having posted, for instance, pictures, which leads to challenges in terms of evidence and of identifying the perpetrators.

It’s difficult to capture the harm and the impact of online violence, including psychological harm. Cooperation with platforms is difficult, but it’s very necessary in order to obtain evidence, for instance. A third strand of problems, basically, that leads to a lack of accountability is a lack of sensitization and of victim blaming. victims are often not taken seriously they experience secondary victimization they’re not believed when they report violence or they’re being told to just grow a thicker skin which also leads to victims not reporting. And a fourth area of the challenges that lead to a lack of accountability are the root causes basically that remain the same. So it’s a continuum of violence online and offline violence work in a continuum of violence against women the root causes remain discrimination, patriarchal structures a lack of balanced participation of women and men in law enforcement, in the judiciary but also in tech platforms so there’s a need for more diversity also online violence often targets those that are very active which leads to silencing them so this leads to a vicious circle where women are even less represented and then access to pornography was identified as a big problem with young children being able to access it and there’s a lack of age verification and the ideal world we haven’t really touched upon it so much, but what came out between the lines is that it’s kind of a lack of an environment of accountability where violence is basically normalized and where people don’t speak up against it.

So the ideal world would be an environment of accountability where such behavior is not accepted or condoned and where people take this violence seriously. And in terms of measures, prevention was mentioned as very important, education, including young children to let them know what gender -based violence is, what online violence is, to also get them to report. Capacity building of professionals, including prosecutors, judges, investigators on digital evidence, on legislation and how online offenses can be prosecuted and also the use of AI. Rehabilitation was mentioned, collaboration by the state, institutions and social sector and also the need. For CSOs to be able to monitor this international stance. such as the second additional protocol to the Budapest Convention that will facilitate cooperation with platforms, free legal aid, strategic litigation, but also more balanced representation of men and women in society.

I tried to capture all that was said, but if anybody from the group has any additional input, of course, feel free to take the floor.

Oona Kurppa: Thank you so much. If nobody else opens the mic, I will give the floor to Ella.

Ella Cancara: Yes, I will try to not repeat things that have already been said. Thank you, everyone, for participating in the discussion so actively. So what came up in our discussion is that we are still very, very desperately need. meaningful way to prevent and moderate online violence. It’s something that we haven’t figured out yet, and we need to keep working towards solutions to that. But in the meantime, it could be ideal to also provide women with meaningful tools that allow them to protect themselves online without having to take themselves completely out of the digital sphere, to allow them to still participate meaningfully, but find ways to protect themselves from gender -based online violence. And we also need, on state levels, clearer instructions for victims on what are their options to take action if they want to do so.

Then we need to ensure that there isn’t a gender gap in knowledge of online security risks, so that men and women and people of all genders have equally the knowledge of what steps they can do to protect themselves. And then we need to increase digital literacy, especially for youth. And this could be done through schools. But along with that, we also need meaningful regulation and legal frameworks. And within schools, we should beyond just practice for beyond just focusing on practical skills. We also need to take into account the emotional and social dimensions of the online world and prepare young people for those as well. Thank you.

Oona Kurppa: Thank you so much, everyone, for the full conversation and highlighting the key aspects of the discussion. Today, we have addressed the key concerns regarding advancing gender equality in the digital public sphere. I try to kind of come up with the key messages here. I think. it was interesting to hear that you all had a different perspective but similar suggestions how to move forward we need approaches from all the sectors and as it has been stated already in the introductions and during the conversations in europe at least we have tools and mechanisms to address online violence but we lack resources cooperation between sectors and their cultural challenges lack of education and capacity building and disproportionate burden and accountability between sectors to add on that i think we need also further collaboration and dialogue between the sectors and i i encourage you all to get in touch with the people you you spoke today and if there’s interesting interesting personalities and backgrounds please please stay in touch you to close the session we have minda moreira from the eurodic program committee who will kindly share us the key messages from this session minda approaches from all the sectors and as it has been stated already in the introductions and during the conversations in Europe at least we have tools and mechanisms to address online violence but we lack resources cooperation between sectors and there are cultural challenges lack of education and capacity building and disproportionate burden and accountability between sectors to add on that I think we need also further collaboration and dialogue between the sectors and I encourage you all to get in touch with the people you spoke today and if there’s interesting personalities and backgrounds please stay in touch.

To close the session we have Minda Moreira from the Eurodic Program Committee who will kindly share us the key messages. From this session Minda, you’re welcome.

Minda Moreira: Hi, hello everyone can you see the messages already online? I will just go through them and read it was quite difficult to put such a big range of messages together but let’s address the questions that you were discussing before and one I started with the major challenges and how it affects democratic participation online and one of the major issues in advancing gender equality in the digital public sphere is that the core problem remains the same, the gender discrimination that exists offline, fear, humiliation, intimidation, sexual harassment and gender based violence is often replicated in the online environment which changes on the speed and sophistication driven as well by emergent technologies including artificial intelligence and the use of and the use of artificial intelligence this discrimination drives women and girls out of the public digital sphere, curtailing the diversity of views and damaging democracy.

The lack of limited response of the platforms is another challenge to addressing issues of online discrimination and online gender -based violence. And the step back from major companies, for example, the US -based companies on political grounds is particularly concerning and makes accountability and enforcement extremely difficult, making perpetrators feel invincible. When calls for moderation are heard, the responses may limit freedom of expression and privacy, creating deep levels of discrimination. On the ideal Internet, we hope that a warm, friendly, engaging space that creates more confidence and engagement without fear and also an environment of accountability. And how can multi -stakeholders help to shape a more inclusive digital sphere? Well, international cooperation is crucial, and international organizations play an important role by setting standards, monitoring, and providing tools for implementation and capacity building.

One of the examples is the Council of Europe’s Greview. The issue needs to be addressed meaningfully through more creative solutions that do not interfere with other rights, such as the right of privacy. And it is important to take the experiences of women from marginalized communities in the design and implementation of digital spaces for better and safer experiences. On technical solutions, we also have the safety and equality by design instead of being an afterthought. On regulatory measures, meaningful and evidence -based policymaking and regulation, information used and shared has to be done responsibly. the need to listen to people in the front line, content moderators and users, stricter rules and better regulation for online platforms. Move is stakeholder collaboration and dialogue is crucial for global rules and standards and capacity building, better education, information and preventive measures.

That’s all what I have. I hope that I didn’t miss anything. That’s all I could gather. If there is consensus, we can move to the end of the session. If not, if you need me to make any changes to include anything that I couldn’t take, just let me know now.

Oona Kurppa: it appears that we’re all having common sense on this next up i think we have a lunch so we can end this session i i thank all the participants all the key speakers and all the juridic personnel who have been supporting us during this this session um thank you all i hope to see you at the lunch table and continue the discussion on the topic thank you so much you

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