UK and Australia step up action on technology-facilitated gender-based violence

If you have ever heard someone dismiss online abuse as not quite real, this joint UK-Australia statement pushes back hard against that idea. In a statement published by the UK Government, both countries say gender-based violence does not stop at the screen, and that protecting women and girls from abuse, harassment and sexual exploitation is part of foreign policy as well as domestic policy. That matters because the statement is not only about individual safety. It also speaks to development, humanitarian and peacekeeping settings, which tells us this is being framed as a cross-border problem that affects institutions, communities and public life, not just private messages or isolated incidents.

The statement says gender-based violence remains one of the world’s most widespread human rights abuses, affecting one in three women globally. It also puts the annual social and economic cost at about US$1.5 trillion, or 2 per cent of global GDP. Those figures are a reminder that this is not a side issue. It shapes health, work, education, family life and public trust. As digital tools reshape everyday life, the same harms are being copied and intensified online. The statement warns that misogynistic content is increasingly reaching men and boys in ways that normalise abuse and make violence seem acceptable. Put simply, what happens online can help set the tone for what people think is normal offline.

This is where the language becomes especially strong. Australia and the UK describe technology-facilitated gender-based violence as a national security threat. That is a serious claim, and it is worth pausing on. **What this means:** the concern is not only that online spaces can be used to target individual women and girls. It is that the same spaces can spread harmful ideas, organise abuse, push women out of public life and weaken democratic institutions. The statement says these harms can damage women’s social, political and economic participation, while also putting social cohesion at risk.

In May, the two countries joined six others to launch the International Coalition to End Violence against Women and Girls. The statement also comes two years after Australia and the UK signed a memorandum of understanding on ending gender-based violence, and both governments now say they are recommitting to carrying that agreement through in full. That recommitment covers the long game as well as the immediate response. The statement talks about preventing violence by challenging the norms, behaviours and systems that allow it to continue. It also talks about holding perpetrators to account, improving access to services and keeping a survivor-centred approach whether the abuse happens offline or online.

There is a clear international lesson running through all of this. The two governments say they want more coordinated advocacy through global forums and through initiatives already under way, including the coalition itself, the Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse, and an upcoming Violence Against Women and Girls Summit. **Why that matters:** online abuse rarely stops at national borders. Harmful content, coordinated harassment and intimate images can move from one country to another in seconds, while laws and reporting systems often move far more slowly. If the harm travels internationally, the response has to be more joined up too.

One of the most urgent parts of the statement focuses on the online and technology-facilitated abuse of women and children, especially non-consensual intimate image abuse. Australia and the UK say this harm is growing and is increasingly being enabled by generative AI. For readers new to the term, this covers the sharing or creation of intimate images without permission, including AI-made material designed to humiliate, threaten or control someone. The response they outline is practical as well as political. The statement says the two countries will work with partners to align standards, promote safety by design and scale up solutions that already work. In everyday language, that means tech products and platforms should make abuse harder from the start, rather than waiting until the damage is already done.

The statement points to several next steps: piloting and seeking endorsements for a Preliminary Model National Framework for non-consensual intimate images, continuing work through the global partnership on online harassment and abuse, and launching a new round of the Tech Safety Showcase with UNFPA. It also says these efforts sit alongside the 2024 Australia-UK Memorandum of Understanding on Online Safety and Security. **What it means for you:** this is a sign that governments are being pushed to treat online violence against women and girls as a public, political and international problem, not a private inconvenience. A joint statement does not solve the problem by itself, but it does make one thing clear: safer digital spaces will need shared rules, survivor-focused support and a willingness to treat misogyny as a real threat, not just part of internet culture.