Imagining digital futures free of violence
What would thriving digital futures look like for women, people of colour, and historically marginalised communities? In 2025 SUPERRR Lab and our co-conveners held a second convening bringing together digital rights activists with communities working on ending gender-based violence, to imagine together what healthy digital futures that are free of violence would look like.
Why focus on digital violence?
For historically marginalised communities, digital violence is commonplace. From hate speech, to the use of ‘stalkerware’ (software that enables spying on another person), intimate image abuse, doxing (revealing personal information) or the use of technology for coercive control and more – digital violence can take many forms, and has far-reaching impacts on the physical and psychological health and well-being of women and marginalized communities. Emerging technologies such as generative AI are set to further exacerbate the situation, bringing new tactics to the fore.
The impacts of digital violence are intersectional, and as such, the responses need to be intersectional, too. In order to develop shared advocacy agendas and policy recommendations, digital rights activists need to learn from and listen to the lived realities of groups who have been active on gender-based violence for decades – noting in particular the ways in which digital violence is deeply intertwined with ‘offline’ violence. In turn, those working on gender-based violence have an opportunity to draw upon the technical expertise and experience of digital rights activists in order to conceptualise violence-free and thriving digital futures.
But none of this is new. The power dynamics at the root of digital violence are not new – digital violence is a symptom of the oppressive and violent structures of patriarchy, racism, homophobia and more that are rife within our societies. In order to meaningfully address digital violence, we must consider those root causes, and consider how to heal and build from there across different spaces and communities. This Digital Futures Gathering was one building block aiming at bringing together these communities, strengthening our relationships and approaches to collaboratively work on just and thriving digital futures for all.
This Digital Futures Gathering was a collaboration between: SUPERRR Lab, bff, Chayn, International Women* Space, and SHARE Foundation, facilitated by Ouassima Laabich.
