Online violence leaves no visible bruise, so its costs are easy to overlook. RFLD’s report Online violence against women in West and Central Africa 2026 devotes a chapter to its impacts on women’s lives. The evidence shows harm to mental health and to income, and a quiet retreat from public life.
Mental and emotional harm
Plan International’s 2020 survey of 14,071 girls and young women in 22 countries, including three in West Africa, measured the effects of online harassment. Among those harassed, 42% reported mental or emotional stress, and 42% reported lower self-esteem or confidence.
The Pollicy study of 2020 found similar effects in Senegal, where 53% of women affected reported stress or anxiety.
Despite this, very few survivors receive help. The 2026 PLOS ONE scoping review of studies in sub-Saharan Africa found that only 5% of victims sought counselling.
Fear and physical safety
In the Plan International survey, 24% of girls and young women who had been harassed felt physically unsafe. The fear is grounded in reality. UN Women’s 2025 Tipping point survey found that 41% of women human rights defenders and journalists had suffered offline attacks linked to online abuse.
This is why the report’s survivor-centred response begins with safety. Online threats may precede offline violence, and support services should help survivors make a safety plan.
Lost income
Online violence has an economic cost that is rarely counted. One study included in the PLOS ONE review, from Malawi, found that 76.1% of women affected by online violence reported a loss of income. The same study found that 68.7% withdrew from online activity.
For women who run small businesses through social media or messaging apps, withdrawal can mean losing customers. For women in politics or the media, it can mean losing a career.
Sextortion adds direct financial losses. In Ghana, the Cyber Security Authority reported that losses to sextortion and online blackmail rose from GH¢103,663 in January to April 2024 to GH¢499,044 in the same months of 2025.
Withdrawal and self-censorship
In the 2019 Internet Sans Frontières survey across 18 countries of West and Central Africa, 28.5% of women changed how they used social media after experiencing abuse. Among women journalists, a UNESCO report from May 2026 found that 45% self-censor on social media.
The report notes that withdrawal protects survivors in the short term while widening gaps in digital participation. Each woman who leaves a platform takes her voice out of public debate.
Why survivors rarely seek help
In the Internet Sans Frontières survey, only 15% of women affected reported the abuse. In Benin, a 2025 WILDAF-AO report estimated that fewer than 20% of victims file complaints. In Senegal, 86% of women in the Pollicy study were unaware of laws protecting them. Low reporting means that the costs described here rarely reach official statistics.
Where help exists, it can be hard to find. The report recommends that women’s organisations prepare simple guides in local languages on preserving evidence and reporting abuse, so that survivors know their options in the first hours after an attack.
Relationships and education
Online harassment also affects women’s relationships and studies. In the Plan International survey, 19% of those harassed reported problems with friends or family, and 18% reported problems at school.
What a better response looks like
The report calls on states to fund support services for survivors, from legal aid to help with content removal. It asks funders to support women’s organisations that provide digital safety training and legal support, through flexible, multi-year grants.
For women’s organisations, the report recommends some practical preparation:
- keep a referral list of police units, lawyers, counsellors and helplines;
- train a digital safety focal point;
- set clear rules on consent and confidentiality;
- support staff who are themselves targeted.
Counting these costs is the first step to addressing them. The report summary gives the full set of recommendations.
About the report
This article draws on RFLD’s report Online violence against women in West and Central Africa 2026, published on 4 October 2026. Read the summary, download the English edition or the French edition.
