The Ripple Effect: Covid-19 and the Epidemic of Online Abuse

Glitch and the End The Violence Coalition, (EVAW), the leading coalition of specialist women’s support services, have released a report in response to the gendered online impact of Covid. In Summer 2020, we undertook the largest dataset into the gendered impact of Covid-19 online. 

Key findings include: 

• Almost 1 in 2 (46%) women and non binary people reported experiencing online abuse since the beginning of COVID-19
• 1 in 3 (29%) of those who had experienced online abuse prior to the pandemic reported it being worse during COVID-19
• 84% of respondents experienced online abuse from strangers – accounts that they did not know prior to the incident(s).
• Most of the abuse took place on mainstream social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) despite tech companies’ commitments to making their platforms safe and addressing gender-based and intersectional abuse
• Gender was the most often cited reason for online abuse, with 48% of respondents reported suffering from gender-based online violence 

The full survey findings have been published in our new report, The Ripple Effect: Covid-19 and the Epidemic of Online Abuse.  The report also highlighted key inequalities in the experience of white women and women from Black and minoritised backgrounds. Black and minoritised women were more likely to have experienced an increase in online abuse, were more likely to modify their behaviours as a result and were more likely to feel like their complaints had not been addressed. If we’re to truly tackle online abuse, we can no longer ignore that women and non-binary people – especially those from already marginalised communities – are disproportionately impacted.