Speaking at a recent symposium, a victim shared how she was attacked online. Eve (not her real name) received a torrent of abusive messages on multiple social media platforms with increasing frequency from some anonymous source. The perpetrator impersonated her and even contacted her on her mobile phone.

Online abuse can take many forms. For example, an architect took intimate pictures of two women and uploaded them to an online sex forum. The women had separately agreed to pose for him, but only on condition that he would not share the images. He did so and was sentenced to 10 months’ jail in April 2023.