Women's rights activists detail violent online abuse following video game campaign

WARNING: This story contains graphic depictions of gender-based violence.

A year ago, Coralie Alison woke to find her personal phone number, date of birth and passwords had been posted online.

In the hours that followed, she received horrific deepfake images of herself.

Ms Alison was one of five members of the women's rights group Collective Shout who found themselves the target of violent abuse after the group successfully campaigned to remove video games depicting rape, incest and violence towards women and girls from online platforms.

The United Nations' special rapporteur on violence against women, Reem Alsalem, described the backlash that followed as "the most serious form of online violence against women human rights defenders" she had seen "in a long time".

The women detailed the abuse they received in a report released on Wednesday, while the Online Hate Prevention Institute (OHPI) was also commissioned to write a report on their experience.

The report found the targeted abuse was fuelled by misogyny and disinformation that tech platforms were unwilling or unable to stop.

Online terror begins

The furore started when payment processors including PayPal, Visa and Mastercard introduced new rules that compelled video game content to adhere to payment policies.

"Thousands of perpetrators across multiple platforms and countries mobilised to punish us for our 'crime' of successfully persuading gaming platforms, through their payment providers, to halt the sale of games featuring rape, sexual torture and child sexual abuse and incest," said Collective Shout director Melinda Tankard Reist.

Elon Musk, the owner of X, weighed in on the Collective Shout debate, endorsing a petition calling on the payment platforms to reverse their decision by reposting it on X along with the statement, "bravo".

X has no discernible Australian or global press office for the ABC to contact for comment.

Ms Tankard Reist said the coordinated abuse was intended to "humiliate, threaten and endanger our safety."

The women said their families were also targeted and their home addresses published on the internet.

Toxic masculinity

Patrick Scolyer-Gray, author of the OHPI report, told supporters gathered at Australia's Parliament House on Wednesday that the case of Collective Shout was internationally significant.

He said the abuse was dressed up to appear as a defence of free speech and anti-censorship concerns.

"It was never about video games, and it was never about free speech, and the backlash can't be understood without recognising the central role of misogyny," he said.

"Platform moderation systems proved inadequate, disinformation spread faster than corrections, abusive material remained online long enough to create the appearance of public consensus."

The OHPI report made 47 recommendations, the first being that harmful and sexist content specific to women should be identified immediately.

The report suggested the content should be "classified as misogynistic and a form of gender-based hate speech" before being removed by online platforms.

The authors also called on media organisations to act quickly to debunk misinformation.

Hopeful future

E-Safety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant has been calling for more safeguards ot protect women online.

She said the technology industry needed to step up to stop these platforms from being weaponised.

Collective Shout member Caitlin Roper said she was surprised by the profiles of the abusers.

"Some might [think] that the abuse was perpetrated by a very specific subset of misogynistic men in the dark corners of the internet," she said.

Ms Roper said Collective Shout aimed to bring positive change that would "create a different world for our daughters".

"My greatest hope for this report is that the next woman who speaks out against male violence is protected, not punished for refusing to be silenced," said group member Renee Chopping.