Ofcom urges tech firms to tackle toxic online abuse of women

1. Tech

The regulator says the digital world is ‘not serving women and girls the way it should’

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Technology firms are facing renewed pressure to tackle the "significant and widespread" online abuse targeting women, following new guidance from the UK’s internet and communications watchdog, Ofcom.

The regulator said that women in sport, politics, and other public arenas endure “significant and widespread abuse online every day”.

This was underscored when Sport England chairman Chris Boardman contacted Ofcom regarding abuse directed at the England women’s team during Euro 2025.

Parliament’s youngest female MP, Rosie Wrighting, has also detailed receiving insults like “Barbie” and “stupid girl”, noting “many great women” have avoided politics due to such online harassment.

Ofcom’s guidance now urges social media, dating, gaming, and pornography sites to take increased responsibility for safeguarding their users.

In an open letter to providers, Ofcom’s chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes warned that the digital world is “not serving women and girls the way it should”.

She added: “In fact, it is actively harming their participation and even facilitating abuse. Women in sport, in politics or in any part of public life face significant and widespread abuse online every day.”

Setting out their guidance to firms, she said there is “an urgent need for industry-wide action”.

The guidance, which Ofcom said goes beyond legal duties under the Online Safety Act, includes encouraging firms to bring in prompts asking users to reconsider before posting harmful content; imposing “timeouts” for users who repeatedly target victims; limiting the number of comments or posts a person can make on one account to help prevent mass posting of abuse in so-called pile-ons; and allowing users to quickly block or mute multiple accounts at once.

It also recommends introducing more sophisticated tools for users to make it easier for victims to report abuse as well as simplifying the ability to set accounts to private.

Another recommendation is for firms to use automated technology known as “hash-matching” to detect and remove non-consensual intimate images.

But the guidance is not enforceable, and online safety organisation Internet Matters has urged the Government to make it mandatory.

Rachel Huggins, co-chief executive at Internet Matters, said: “Too many women and girls experience abuse and harassment online. Ofcom’s guidance includes strong measures to make the online world safer – from better privacy defaults, to changes to curb the spread of misogynistic content – but they are just recommendations.

“If Government is truly committed to halving violence against woman and girls in a decade, they should make Ofcom’s “A Safer Life Online for Woman and Girls” guidance for tech platforms a statutory Code of Practice.

“This would require platforms to implement the measures outlined in it, rather than making it a choice.”

Echoing this, domestic abuse organisation Refuge said Ofcom’s guidance “marks a welcome step towards tackling misogyny and domestic abuse in digital spaces, but meaningful protection for women and girls will rely on tech companies engaging fully with the guidance and effectively putting it into practice”, adding that if they do not, the Government must “make this crucial guidance legally enforceable so that all women and girls get the protection they deserve”.

Ofcom has said it will publish a report in summer 2027, setting out progress companies have made.

But it added: “If their action falls short, we will consider making formal recommendations to Government on where the Online Safety Act may need to be strengthened.”

Dame Melanie said: “No woman should have think twice before expressing herself online, or worry about an abuser tracking her location.

“That’s why today we are sending a clear message to tech firms to step up and act in line with our practical industry guidance, to protect their female users against the very real online risks they face today.

“With the continued support of campaigners, advocacy groups and expert partners, we will hold companies to account and set a new standard for women’s and girls’ online safety in the UK.”

Sports Minister Stephanie Peacock branded the abuse aimed at sportswomen on social media “horrific and urged tech companies to “step up and stamp it out”.

Mr Boardman said: “Toxic online abuse has terrible offline impacts. As women’s sport grows, so does the abuse of its stars, and that affects women from every walk of life.

“This Girl Can research shows us that for many women and girls, fear of judgment is a huge deterrent to them exercising – and the horrifying abuse of our athletes makes this worse.

“The hard-won gains in women’s sport must not be destroyed by misogyny, so we’re supporting Ofcom in order to protect women & girls’ participation.”

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