Crimes against women – Digital violence is also on the rise

A femicide takes place in Germany almost every day. These are gender-related killings of women and girls. This is one of the findings from the situation report on crimes against women presented by Nancy Faeser, Federal Minister of the Interior, and Lisa Paus, Federal Minister for Women's Affairs. It also includes figures on digital violence against women. According to the report, more than 17,000 women and girls were victims of digital violence last year. This is an increase of 25 percent compared to the previous year. The aid organization HateAid is therefore calling for tougher action against deepfakes, among other things. These are becoming increasingly easy to create using AI.

According to the situation report, 62.3% of victims of digital violence are female. Only known cases can be evaluated, so there is a number of unreported cases. Digital violence includes crimes such as cyberstalking and cybergrooming – where underage victims are lured into a trap, for example by exposing them to revealing images and putting them under pressure. The police were able to catch almost 13,000 suspects.

BKA against violence against women

The situation report was compiled by the Federal Criminal Police Office. It writes that there are many reasons for the increase in violence against women. But also: "One reason is social change: The increasing emancipation of women can be perceived by men as a threat to their male position in traditional role models due to the patriarchal structures still anchored in our society." In addition, hate messages against women are widely disseminated on the internet, which increases the willingness to use violence.

At the same time, however, women are also more willing to report violence and are less and less willing to condone it. This also leads to the higher number of cases in the statistics. The recorded crimes are initially recorded as such and are committed using the "Internet as a means of crime".

HateAid calls for tougher action

The aid organization HateAid is calling for more consistent action against image-based sexualized violence. These are recorded under "violation of the intimate sphere through image recordings" and have more than doubled since 2021. Anna-Lena Hodenberg, Managing Director of HateAid, says: "These figures are shocking and must shake us awake. They confirm what we at HateAid have been observing with great concern for a long time. A whole generation of young girls and women are at the mercy of sexualized violence on the internet. AI is exacerbating this trend."

HateAid has therefore long been calling for providers of so-called face swap apps and AI image generators to no longer be allowed to advertise the creation of sexualized deepfakes. The app stores should also be held accountable.

The BKA has already set up the Central Reporting Office for Criminal Content on the Internet (ZMI BKA) and, together with the public prosecutor's office in Frankfurt, the Central Office for Combating Cybercrime (ZIT). The BKA is also involved in scientific research into phenomena such as cybergrooming.

(emw)