By Chitrangada Sharma and Akhila Kolisetty; Edited by Esha Meher
At End Cyber Abuse (ECA), we’re working to address gender-based violence in digital spaces. We do this by raising awareness of rights, advocating for survivor-centered systems of justice and advancing equitable design for technology to prevent gendered harms. Now, we are partnering with Chayn on Orbits: a joint project to produce a field guide for stakeholders across research, policy and technology on technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TGBV).
We know from our work that the path towards justice can often traumatise and re-traumatise victims and survivors of abuse. Survivors are forced to recount their stories dozens of times. They’re required to trust largely male police officers who blame them for sending intimate images or speaking with their harassers online — and to even share their most intimate images with them. Their memories of the abuse are questioned, and their character attacked in the courtroom and out. Not only that, but laws and policies are often written narrowly, failing to encompass the full spectrum of TGBV — from deepfake abuse to doxxing — and excluding the particular experiences of survivors from marginalised identities, like gender non-binary or LGBTQ survivors. Survivors are rarely given agency and autonomy in the justice-seeking process to choose alternatives to the criminal justice process, while accountability for those who hold power — large tech companies and perpetrators of harm — is often lacking.
These, and other challenges, have prompted us to explore the question: If laws and policies were designed with survivors and their diversity of experiences in mind, what would our system look like? We need to completely reimagine our legal and policy frameworks, justice systems, and the dominant paradigms we all live in. This requires us to be mindful of survivor life experiences and sensitive to their needs. Since the experience of abuse is often uniquely personal and can be compounded by multiple forms of oppression faced by individuals at the margins of race, caste, class, religious, ethnic and gender identities, we suggest a number of principles to design research and policy interventions that are non-extractive and that prioritize survivor needs.
Drawing from our own experiences and series of consultations with civil society groups, we propose a guiding framework to enable policymakers to design and implement policies and legislation that address TGBV and provide survivors with trauma-informed pathways to justice guided by an understanding of the plurality of survivors’ needs and experiences. We aim for these principles to be both universal and also easily contextualized.
We are aware that there might be blindspots in our analysis, and therefore are designing this framework to be iterative to incorporate new feedback as we test our model. We see these as guiding principles that can remind those building policy solutions of our commitment towards centering survivor needs and honouring their dignity.
OUR POLICY FRAMEWORK
Equity
Survivors of technology-facilitated gender violence are not a homogenous group. Equity moves beyond equality to recognize that we do not all start from the same place. This requires a tailoring of policy and practice to ensure access to resources, support, and justice that considers an individual’s position, identity, or existing skill set. By being sensitive to these vulnerabilities and individual positionalities, we advocate for survivor-centric policies that address the nuances that are often ignored in policy making.
| Example: The West Bengal state government in India was mindful of the increasing and widespread threat of the AIDS disease in the country. Understanding that people from all strata of society can contract this disease, the state designed an information campaign called the ‘Buladi campaign,’ which was popularised across radio, TV and other print and electronic media. The awareness messages were in simple language available in all major vernaculars spoken in the state. The government also moved beyond the realm of media and posted ads on billboards and street kiosks. The campaign has had its own critics, yet, through this campaign the government adopted equitable approaches acknowledging that not all people have access to TV and newspaper, therefore using radio, which is popular in rural areas. For people with little or no tech or electronic access, street kiosks and billboards popularised the message. A similar approach can, and should, be utilized to address TGBV. |
Consent
One of the ways in which violence and abuse operates is by removing power and control of the narrative from the survivor. By honouring the survivor’s wishes and how their story is told, we can restore their pride and dignity. This requires seeking informed consent from survivors at every step. What information is sought, how it will be used, what could be the possible implications of such disclosure, and the options available to the survivors — all these form important aspects of informed consent. Ensuring survivors retain control over their stories and each step of the justice-seeking process shapes their sense of self and agency, and helps in healing.
| Example: The Indian Cyber Cell complaints portal (State Cyber Crime Unit or National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal) allows individuals to file complaints in two ways. First, an anonymous complaint can be filed. However, in this case, the complainant is not informed of what happens in the later stages since the “track your complaint” option is absent for anonymous users. On the other hand, one can use the “report and track” complaint option if the complainant’s details are included. Here, the law requires that on receipt of the complaint, the police must file a First Information Report (FIR) once a cognizable offence is made out. This means that the police chooses whether or not to move forward with the case, without seeking the permission of the victim, or even informing them of their options. In fact, for crimes related to women and children, the complaint cannot be withdrawn once made, even by the complainant themselves. Unfortunately, consent is lacking in this scenario. Justice requires that the survivor’s consent is sought at every step of the judicial process. |
Confidentiality
A survivor’s identificatory and descriptive information is personal and is an extension of one’s being. Ensuring that such information — such as data, images, videos, or statements — is kept secure and not disclosed to the public is pivotal for protecting the privacy of survivors. It becomes even more important in TGBV and sexual abuse cases because of the stigma associated with such sexual violence and societal attitudes which place the blame of such violence on the victim’s shoulders instead of fixing accountability on perpetrators. Research also suggests that survivors whose identity has been disclosed or leaked publicly have faced the risk of physical stalking, online harassment and have also recieved rape threats. We therefore advocate for laws and policies which respect survivor’s personal data, privacy and shield them from public scrutiny.
| Example: The Sexual Offences Act (Amendment) 1992 in England and Wales prohibits public disclosure of the identity of victim-survivors of certain sexual offences. However, these laws need to be extended to apply to image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) and other forms of TGBV, which are generally not considered sexual offenses. Still, there are promising developments. In the UK, the Law Commission recommended in 2021 that lifetime anonymity, restrictions on cross examination, and special measures provisions at trial (e.g. allowing survivors to give testimony behind a screen or in private) be made available for victim-survivors of IBSA. |
Accessibility
Access determines one’s ability to seek information, resources and support. It is also dependent on one’s position in societal hierarchies of incomes, class, caste, race, ability which determine if, when, how and where an individual can access information and justice. For instance, an individual from the Global South who has not been exposed to English as their first language might face difficulty in seeking resources. Policies should be drafted in simple, clear, understandable language which is also made available to linguistically diverse groups of people, and that is accessible to differently abled individuals (for example, also presented visually or via audio). Social media reporting and policies, as well as legislation, should be made available in different languages, font sizes, and braille, for example. Policies, laws, and reporting mechanisms should be made available offline for those who lack strong Internet connectivity or familiarity with online processes.
| Example: In India, a number of vernacular language social network apps are becoming increasingly popular. These platforms, like Sharechat, Roposo, and Helo, allow individuals to communicate and find content in their native language — a step forward for linguistic accessibility. However, even these applications fail to clearly provide their “terms and conditions” in the user’s native language, but rather often only in English. Platforms such as these, alongside more dominant social networks, must prioritize linguistic accessibility across all aspects of the user experience. |
Intersectionality
Policies should be created keeping in mind the particular material experiences of different people. Since harms manifest in different and disproportionate ways for people living at multiple sites of oppression, policies must redress this by recognizing a plurality of individual experiences, and not assuming a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. We ensure that our work speaks to the experiences of such individuals — and that their lived realities are counted in the making of laws and policies.
| Example: In Australia, a law addressing image-based sexual abuse — the Enhancing Online Safety Act, 2018 — incorporates an intersectional understanding of the experiences of survivors of different religions. The law defines intimate images broadly and includes those images where an individual is pictured without their religious or cultural attire which they consistently wear in public (such as a headscarf or a turban, for example). In some religious communities, practices concerning the covering of one’s hair symbolises sexual modesty. If a picture of a woman without a headscarf / uncovered hair is released without her consent, it might be considered a violation and could lead to further harm. This law recognizes and incorporates such experiences as intimate image abuse. |
Decentralization
It is important to acknowledge that power to make decisions, including setting policy, is often concentrated in the hands of a few. As such, policy-setting must be decentralised, distributing power more widely among communities and individuals who are impacted the most by TGBV. Laws and policies must be co-created with those ultimately impacted, such as survivors, thus centering their perspectives, needs, priorities, and expertise to create remedies that are accessible, meaningful, and real.
| Examples: Some civil society groups, tech companies, and government agencies have begun to develop participatory processes to work closely with survivor advocates to shape their product and policy from the outset. For instance, Bloom is a free, web-based support service run by Chayn for individuals experiencing domestic or sexual abuse. It has been co-created with survivors of abuse who have modelled the courses based on their own experience of trauma. Tech company Pex has embarked on a consultative process, speaking with survivor advocates and civil society groups to develop online tools to facilitate the blocking and removal of unwanted intimate images. And governments, like the UK Law Commission and the government of British Columbia have initiated consultation processes to gather feedback to develop tailored laws surrounding intimate images. We hope these processes go beyond civil society consultation — and to direct engagement with survivors who have experienced harm. |
Accountability
Accountability must look at whether the action taken has led to any positive impacts, whether it has addressed the problems that were identified, and whether the change has been operationalised in a way that is truly sustainable. This means some form of community, social or legal accountability for those who hold power and perpetuate harm: tech companies that allow abuse to proliferate on their platform, and perpetrators of harm themselves. Without this, we end up with performative action, tick box exercising and, ultimately, white-washing the issue at hand. While we do scrutinize our own biases and blindspots, we are also open to critical and constructive feedback and therefore encourage others to engage with us in this journey of learning and unlearning. We believe that policymakers and institutions should also create space for accountability and informed critique from those impacted.
| Example: In 2020, Facebook created its first-ever Oversight Board to review its decisions around freedom of expression and online safety. Comprised of a diverse set of global activists, academics, and civic leaders with expertise around issues of digital rights, the independent Oversight Board is a crucial tool to hold Facebook accountable, review its decision-making, and ensure that the platform’s content decisions are made with the rights of users and marginalised communities in mind. |
One of the biggest challenges of countering TGBV through sound policy using a survivor-centric framework is in the nature of the framework itself. The elements of this framework are highly contextual, and should be tailored depending on the needs of the community. It is difficult and perhaps undesirable to assess them in quantitative and qualitative values. However, what we must remember is that documentation is the first step of this long winding and important process. This is a small yet monumental step towards starting a conversation on trauma-informed tech policy, and we hope that you will join us in our quest to end cyber abuse!
We thank the Robert Bosch Stiftung for generously supporting this project.