Overview
- Regional leaders warn that social media, messaging apps and AI are intensifying harassment, control and humiliation online, urging society to recognize these harms as real and damaging.
- Fembloc reports 367 assistance cases since 2022, with 44.6% of callers aged 33–44 and 28.9% aged 45–59, indicating most help‑seekers are over 30.
- An Instituto de las Mujeres study finds 80% of girls aged 16–24 have suffered offensive or aggressive behavior on social networks, with 56% of abusive messages being sexual.
- Experts and police detail evolving abuses including grooming, sextortion, mass harassment, doxing, identity theft and deepfakes, while youth reluctance to report for fear of being labeled “tattletales” hinders detection.
- Governments and services call for digital education, updated laws, platform accountability, more research and training, with Pacto de Estado proposals under review and 25N campaigns in Catalonia and Barcelona highlighting the issue.