UN report reveals AI fuels online violence against Middle Eastern women

AI‑driven tools are amplifying online violence against women in the Middle East, a UN Women briefing warned this week. The report says that about a quarter of women who have faced digital abuse say the harassment was generated or boosted by artificial‑intelligence applications. The briefing follows a 2025 UN Women survey that found 68 % of women in the region have experienced technology‑facilitated gender‑based violence, and nearly 100 % have witnessed it. The surge in AI‑powered deepfakes and targeted disinformation is turning a long‑standing problem into a more pervasive threat.

The rise comes as internet use expands and AI tools become cheaper and easier to access. The United Nations Population Fund defines technology‑facilitated gender‑based violence as any harmful act committed, assisted, or amplified by digital devices because of a person’s gender. In the Middle East, women are already more likely than the global average to encounter such abuse. UN Women’s 2025 study showed that 49 % of female internet users in the region do not feel safe online, a figure that jumps to almost 70 % for public figures such as activists, journalists and politicians. The lack of a single standard for measuring online harassment makes the problem harder to track, but the data point to a clear trend: AI is making harassment more scalable and more difficult to combat.

Iraqi journalist Kholoud al‑Ameri describes the daily reality of the threat. She says female reporters are constantly bombarded with messages from men who pose as readers, ask to connect on Instagram or Facebook, and then launch abusive attacks. Al‑Ameri, who also leads a network of women covering climate change, advises her colleagues to block the harassers, but the pressure to keep the audience engaged remains. Syrian activist Yaman Amer, a law student in Damascus, reports receiving hundreds of hostile comments when she writes about women’s rights. “Out of every thousand offensive comments, one or two are so vile they feel threatening,” she told DW, adding that the abuse often crosses into humiliating and degrading territory. Their experiences echo the broader statistics: between 40 % and 60 % of women worldwide face online harassment, and the Middle East’s rates sit at the higher end of that range.

The UN briefing calls for urgent action to curb AI‑enabled abuse. Experts say platforms must improve detection of deepfakes and coordinated harassment campaigns, while governments should create legal frameworks that hold perpetrators accountable. Without stronger safeguards, the digital space risks becoming an even more hostile environment for women who speak out, limiting their participation in public life and undermining efforts toward gender equality.