Editor’s Note: This story is part of Systems Error, a series by CNN As Equals, investigating how your gender shapes your life online. For information about how CNN As Equals is funded and more, check out our FAQs.
Hundreds of young women and girls around the world have said they want much better support to stay safe online, sharing that they regularly face dangers and many have no one informed or powerful enough to turn to for help.
CNN As Equals and NGO Plan International surveyed more than 600 young women and girls aged 13-24 across nine countries worldwide and found that most (75%) have faced harmful content online at some point, with more than one in 10 experiencing it daily or almost daily.
Almost half, with some as young as 13, reported seeing or receiving unwanted sexual images or videos, and a quarter said they had experienced discrimination or hate speech online when sharing the threats they face.
The platforms participants said they experienced these threats on most frequently are Facebook, followed by WhatsApp, then Instagram and TikTok, which are also among the most actively used social platforms worldwide.
The surveys were conducted in Bolivia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Kenya, Malawi, Nepal, Philippines and Timor-Leste. They are not representative of all girls and young women growing up in those countries, but the results highlight the voices and daily experiences that many of these young women face.
When sharing the impact of these dangers, over a third who answered said they were left feeling sad, depressed, stressed or anxious, and the majority of the young women and girls felt they themselves were most responsible for their safety online – often going offline and making their accounts private to cope.
The result is a generation of resilient but resentful young people who feel they should not be solely responsible for their safety. They want better support and resources from governments, authorities, tech companies and their families.
Scroll down to explore their answers.
A further 73 young women and girls were interviewed about the online harassment they experience and asked about solutions in focus groups divided by age range and led by Plan’s country teams in the Philippines, Malawi and Brazil.
Here, many explained they feel that parents and schools are too uninformed to help, reports to platforms are sent to bots and go unanswered, and authorities don’t hold perpetrators adequately accountable.
They want things to change. Here’s how.
Among those who answered questions on solutions that could help ensure their safety, about six in 10 (61%) called for education and awareness programs on digital safety, for example through school and university curricula, to provide this literacy.
But experts warn the burden should not be entirely on girls to protect themselves.
Placing the responsibility on young women and girls is “inherently unfair,” said Hera Hussain, founder and CEO of Chayn, a UK-based tech NGO addressing gender-based abuse globally. “If you are receiving harassing messages, dick pics, and you have to go on reporting each one of them, and then blocking people, that’s so much administrative burden that you as victim and survivor have to take on.”
What girls want for a safer future online
Strict enforcement by platforms and the need for stronger legal measures were selected by over a third of those surveyed about what’s missing to ensure safety, while around a quarter felt that enhanced privacy settings and safe spaces were needed. One in five said there is a need for more accessible and reliable reporting mechanisms or stricter age verification processes.
In focus groups, some participants said they felt isolated, calling for helplines and local support services, and reiterating a need for digital safe spaces. Systemic changes were also called for, such as greater repercussions for people who abuse others, better moderation, improved identity and age checks on social media platforms and the option to report harassment or other harmful content to trained staff instead of bots.
"We don’t know if these people are really listening,” said Lea, a participant in the 17-20-year-old focus group in the Philippines, speaking of the lack of action or response by the tech sector or authorities. Participants were given pseudonyms for anonymity.
Digital resilience training delivered by tech companies themselves was also suggested.
“Those who provide them [training to stay safe online] should be the companies that make the apps… They are responsible for what can happen to us or what we can encounter,” said Reyna, aparticipant 21-24 year-old group, also in the Philippines.
Of the three regions, Africa stood out, with 40% of girls surveyed in Africa reporting feeling unsafe (40%).
‘I was young and scared’: Why girls feel unsafe online
The push for online safety has become a new frontier in the digital era, with international calls growing from civil society organizations, nonprofits and politicians around the world as more children come online.
European Union and UK legislation offers protections for children, though experts and gender equality campaigners argue these laws fall short in addressing gender-based violence and continue to place the burden of responsibility on users.
In the US, Arkansas and Utah were among the first to sign bills focusing on children’s online safety in 2023 and dozens of states have proposed or enacted legislation to regulate social media platforms in recent years. New York passed a children’s act against addictive social media feeds in June, and a Senate bill for children’s online safety is currently in the works.
Among some of the countries where surveys were conducted, the Philippines has legislation specifically targeting the country’s high levels of online child exploitation, and lawmakers in Nepal and Brazil are working on regulations for young people’s digital protection.
Authorities in Malawi have appointed a child’s protection ambassador and help provide train for school leaders, children’s NGOs and other civil society stakeholders on digital safety as part of a strategy for protecting children online.
Despite this growing body of legislation and policy, the new findings by CNN and Plan International show continued gendered abuse on a global scale.
“It has not changed, it is even worse,” said Sheila Estabillo, SAFE Online Project Manager for Plan International Philippines, who hosts online safety sessions for girls in the country.
Research shows online danger is now so commonplace it has become normalized for girls, who face unequal – and typically more sexualized – types of threats compared to boys.
Young women and girls surveyed told CNN and Plan International their most common experience of harmful content was the receipt of unwanted sexual imagery (known as cyberflashing), videos, or messaging.
“[Some people] harass people on social media and they think it’s okay to send something like that without the other’s consent,” said Reyna, in her early-20s, from the Philippines.
About half of the young women and girls surveyed in Africa (55%) reported seeing or receiving unwanted sexual images.
“I started chilling with a guy and he sent me a naked picture and asked me to send my picture too,” said Maureen, a 21-24-year-old in Malawi. The boy threatened to share her profile photo, which he edited to be nude, she said. “I was young and scared, so I was afraid to tell anyone.”
Objectification and sexualization are well-worn experiences for women and girls online, and abuse through cyberflashing and the nonconsensual release of photos, forged images and deepfakes, is becoming more common, said Hussain. “[Online abuse is] completely embedded in all aspects of your life.”
The young women and girls surveyed by CNN and Plan International reported braving other digital dangers on a regular basis, including coming across dubious money-making schemes (43%), targeted hate messages (42%), ways to self-harm (29%), and ways to be very thin through eating disorders (28%). In the Philippines, for example, 47% of participants reported seeing discussions of ways to harm yourself and 45% had seen content about ways to take your own life.
Online money scams have proliferated globally, boosted by financial technology and advancements in artificial intelligence, according to the international crime and policing body INTERPOL. Among participants in the surveys, young women and girls in Africa were most affected by money scams – with half being exposed to scams and a quarter having lost money.
“I just blocked the number and then deleted it,” she says. “I think they should make strict rules that when a person sends you something which is not what you want, they should just block that person and he or she should not use the platform again.”
She also wants platforms to do more to protect girls like her.
“They should have a very strict set of rules that you can only see what you want to see,” she said.
Left hurting ‘psychologically and personally’
The impact on young women and girls surveyed by CNN and Plan International was stark: Among survey participants who shared how seeing harmful content affected them, more than one in three reported feeling sad or depressed, stressed, worried or anxious (35%), and many said they were subsequently more careful online (40%).
Consequences also included reduced confidence and feeling of self-worth, lost sleep, and impact on relationships with loved ones, and around a quarter said they lost trust in online platforms or felt physically unsafe.
Despite sharing content about studying, Daniela said hateful comments about her appearance littered her posts. So, around four years ago, in the throes of the Covid-19 pandemic, she shut her blog down.
“I was suffering with anxiety,” the 24-year-old said. “I felt like I was looking at others and what they are doing and not really living my life. I wanted to stop and start living my life.”
She now controls her online world by keeping her accounts private and not sharing much. “I’ve become ‘low profile,’” she said.
In the focus groups, many related to Daniela’s experience, and shared their frustration that coming offline or turning accounts private to improve their mental health also comes at a cost to them.
Silencing young ‘overwhelmed’ girls
Nearly one in five young women and girls surveyed reported taking a break from the internet entirely to cope with the dangers they face online, and studies show online abuse has a silencing effect on women and girls.
One study by the NGO Girl Effect found girls in five African countries, Jordan, the UK and the US are more likely to block or privatize their accounts and report behavior than boys.
A 2021 study drawing data from two independent large-scale surveys in Norway also found that “targeted women are more likely than targeted men to become more cautious in expressing their opinions publicly.”
Maureen, 21-24, MalawiI was young and scared, so I was afraid to tell anyone.
CNN and Plan International’s research shows that the “chilling effect” of women in public spaces, such as politics and journalism, in response to online abuse, starts with teen girls, said Professor Gina Neff, executive director of the Minderoo Centre for Technology & Democracy at the University of Cambridge.
“If we’ve got 75% of teen girls saying they have gotten online harassment,” she said, “what happens as they start to develop their careers … professional, outward-facing social media accounts?”
“Blocking and locking” accounts, while dealing with acute danger, are not effective for anyone who wants to have an online persona, said Neff. “We are sending a message that their voices don’t matter and their expectation of being able to be online comes with more risks sometimes than the benefits that they get,” she said.
Fernanda, a 21-year-old participant also from Brazil loves women’s football, but said she is reluctant to engage with online discussions about the sport. “I’m very afraid of commenting on my team’s posts, because I know how toxic the comments are (against girls),” she said adding that taking time offline has helped her deal with the stress.
“When we stay connected for a long time, we feel like, ‘Guys, help, I’m overwhelmed.’”
Where responsibility should lie
A generational gap in understanding online platforms and digital literacy is one reason the young women and girls surveyed and interviewed showed little trust in adults and existing mechanisms to root out abusers and perpetrators.
Mary said one of her classmates, who is transgender, had no one else to turn to after being groomed online. “He mentioned meeting someone last night and earning money from him. I am the only one he told about this because we’re close.”
Estabillo at Plan International Philippines said girls talk to their peers instead because speaking up about child sexual abuse remains a cultural taboo in the Philippines.
“Instead of being helped, they fear being blamed,” Estabillo added.
Experts CNN spoke to stressed the need for tech platforms to take more action.
Current rules and online tools for dealing with ongoing attacks are insufficient, said Neff, as they do not deal with chronic abuse affecting women. “The platform companies have to be held accountable by legislation,” she said.
Proposed laws such as the U.S. Platform Accountability and Transparency Act would mandate researcher access to large platforms’ data – gated by X, for example – which is vital for understanding and alleviating misuse and abuse, and they would also hold platforms to account, said Neff.
A coalition of groups fighting gendered digital abuse in the UK, including Chayn, have also campaigned for platforms to proactively build guards against abuse. Hussain wants to see more platforms prioritize “safety-by-design" and said tech companies are now investing more in controls.
In January 2024, Meta announced new “age-appropriate” restrictions for teen users, automatically limiting “potentially sensitive content” and accounts from their feeds. Both Meta and TikTok also prohibit child sexual exploitation and abuse.
CNN contacted Meta (which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) and TikTok for comment about the findings of this research.
Cindy Southworth, Head of Women’s Safety at Meta, said: "We’re continuing to work closely with experts – including Plan International – to better understand the online experience of women and girls and to help make sure they feel good about the time they spend on our apps.”
“This builds on years developing tools, features and policies to help keep them safe, including blocking people from sending images or videos to anyone who doesn’t follow them, testing a new nudity protection feature that will blur potential nudity in DMs, and applying strict rules against bullying, hate speech, and content that encourages suicide, self-harm or eating disorders."
A TikTok spokesperson shared that the platform prevents under-18s seeing sexually suggestive content and prohibits all nudity, pornography and sexually explicit content. It also makes under-16s’ accounts private and unavailable for direct messaging by default, while a pairing tool allows parents to adjust teens’ privacy and content settings. The platform also launched a council for teens to share views on building a safe platform, according to the spokesperson.
But experts warned that platforms have so far failed to outpace spiraling online abuse and harmful content, often implementing safeguards after problems are raised.
Hussain believes a cultural shift is also needed to curb abuse, concluding: “It’s very easy to think of harm as inevitable and unending but it doesn’t have to be.”
How CNN reported this story
CNN As Equals and Plan International collaborated to survey 619 girls and young women and five non-binary people aged 13-24 online through Plan’s country offices in Bolivia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Kenya, Malawi, Nepal, Philippines and Timor-Leste in February 2024. Surveys were shared online across Plan’s networks in these countries for up to one month, inviting girls aged 13-24 to complete them until an adequate sample size was reached.
In the surveys, participants were asked why they go online, what they like to do online, whether they feel safe, what they do if they don’t feel safe, whose responsibility it is to keep them safe, on what platforms they feel least safe, how often they are bothered online, the impact of harms they face and what is lacking or needed to keep them safe online.
The survey is not a scientific poll, or representative of all girls and young women growing up in those countries. But the results highlight the voices and daily experiences of many of these young women face.
These questions were also discussed in a series of focus groups from Brazil, Malawi and the Philippines, with scenarios of the most common harms reported by girls in the surveys were presented and discussed. Participants were also asked for their ideas for solutions to better address and prevent the harms faced by girls online. These took place in March 2024 and participants names were anonymized through pseudonyms chosen by Plan International.
Some figures from the surveys show girls as a percentage of a total who chose one answer from a select range, while others show percentages of girls who chose answers in multiple-choice questions. Regional results include comparisons of differing sample sizes– between South America (203 girls and young women), Africa (240 girls and young women) and Asia (181 girls and young women).