A new joint report from Refuge and the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), based on nationally representative polling of 2,000 UK women aged 16 and over carried out by Opinium, finds 36% of women overall and 47% of young women aged 16 to 24 have experienced some form of online violence against women and girls (VAWG); rates were even higher among LGBTQIA+ women (65%) and Disabled women (47%)

• Young women reported disproportionately high rates of harm, including misogyny or sexual violence (38%), image-based sexual abuse (31%) and harms suggestive of stalking, coercive control or harassment (30%)
• Most women do not report abuse: fewer than 1 in 3 reported it to the platform where it occurred, and just 12% reported it to the police, with 15% of young women who experienced online VAWG saying it made them feel suicidal
• The report highlights growing concern around AI, with 66% of women worried about AI’s role in enabling abuse, and 80% of young women using AI chat systems regularly, 17% of whom said they had received inappropriate or unsafe dating, sex or relationship advice from one

The report calls for Ofcom’s VAWG Guidance, published under the Online Safety Act in November 2025, to be upgraded into a legally enforceable Code of Practice, alongside a new Safety by Design Code, expanded civil routes to justice for image-based sexual abuse, and ringfenced funding for specialist support services, arguing current voluntary measures aren’t matching the scale of harm