How is gender-based violence discussed online? Do social media platforms contribute to raising awareness, or do they also amplify stereotypes, hostility, and hate speech? These are some of the topics explored by the “Second report on the analysis of violence against women on social media” published by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), which provides an analysis of online conversations related to violence against women and gender discrimination in the Italian landscape.
Technology-Facilitated Gender Based Violence has become a central theme in international debate. As stated in the report, even though online violence shared the same cultural and social roots of violence experienced offline, it is nowadays essential to examine how the perception and narrative of the phenomenon are evolving within virtual environments.
For this reason, the analysis of conversations on social media has emerged as an important tool for understanding how gender-based violence is perceived, represented, and discussed by users. Through techniques such as sentiment analysis, emotion analysis, and topic analysis, it is possible to identify the issues that attract the greatest attention, investigate the emotions expressed by users, and assess whether online conversations help combat violence or, conversely, reinforce hate speech and victimization.
The study conducted by ISTAT examined more than 1.4 million pieces of content published between December 2022 and August 2024 across major platforms, including X, Facebook, Instagram, and web-based sources.
One of the most significant findings concerns the balance between messages condemning violence against women and those expressing hostility or using violent language. Although many users actively engage in discussions to denounce gender-based violence and support victims, the analysis found that content expressing aggressive or hateful language slightly outnumbered expressions of outrage and solidarity. This contrasts with the findings of the previous report (which covered the period from 1 November 2021 to 30 November 2024), which revealed a high level of awareness among social media users regarding the need to combat gender-based violence and stereotypes, as reflected in content expressing outrage and condemnation.
The analysis also highlights a troubling trend: women and female public figures who speak publicly about gender equality and violence against women often become targets of online abuse and hate speech. Such patterns demonstrate how digital spaces can reproduce and exacerbate the gender-based stereotypes underpinning the plurality of forms of discrimination and harassment affecting women offline.
Emotional analysis of online conversations showed that anger is the dominant emotion across both hostile and supportive discussions. Violent content is often associated with anger and surprise, while conversations expressing condemnation of violence tend to combine anger with sadness. These findings underline the strong emotional impact that gender-based violence has on public debate and clearly highlight the polarisation that can characterise online interactions.
Among the topics most frequently mentioned and discussed were femicide, domestic violence, misogyny, patriarchy, body shaming, psychological violence, stalking, and discrimination in sports and public life. The prominence of these themes not only confirms that gender-based violence is widely recognised as a structural social issue but also underscores its persistent and pervasive nature.
As we await the findings of an updated report, the evidence emerging from digital environments confirms that gender-based violence extends well beyond isolated incidents, affecting multiple dimensions of women’s lives and participation in society. The diversity and evolving nature of its manifestations online further highlight the close relationship between digital and offline forms of violence, underscoring how deeply rooted and interconnected these expressions remain.
Source: ISTAT, Secondo Report sull’analisi della violenza contro le donne veicolata dai social media. Periodo 1 Dicembre 2022 – 31 Agosto 2024, https://www.istat.it/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Report_uso-dei-social_dati_novembre-2024_def.pdf.