The rise of social media has fuelled a surge in attacks on journalists worldwide. Women journalists particularly face personal attacks, false accusations and sexualised abuse that can erode years of hard work. This is especially so in South Asia, where there is barely any support from law enforcing agencies. No wonder many feel as though their countries are regressing, undermining the progress women have fought so hard to achieve.

Such abuse has become increasingly systematic, with group trolling now a prominent tactic. The Women Press Freedom 2024 report highlights how attacks on female journalists surged during Covid-19, as the global shift online gave abusers more opportunities to strike. From 2019 to 2024, Pakistan recorded 12 major cases of such harassment, followed by India with eight, and the U.S. with seven. Many go unreported.

Weaponising disinformation

High-profile women journalists remain prime targets, like Pakistan’s Asma Shirazi and India’s Rana Ayyub. Critics dismiss their journalism as ‘agenda-driven,’ shifting focus away from the issues they report on. This has led to relentless harassment, not just from trolls but from state and non-state actors weaponizing disinformation.

For Shirazi, a seasoned war correspondent who has covered conflict areas like Swat and Beirut, the latest wave of attacks began earlier this year, when she was caught in the crossfire of an online war between two political parties.

Shirazi believes that one party edited her vlog to make it look like she was abusing the other. This gave the second party ammunition to attack her. They termed the videos as “X-rated journalism” and resurrected old clips and tweets of Shirazi with fresh spins.

Such abuse isn’t new for Shirazi. In 2022, after she wrote a political commentary on the BBC Urdu site, ‘Kahani Bade Ghar Ki’ (Story of a big house), a symbolic nod to Pakistan’s power corridors, she faced online retaliation from then Prime Minister Imran Khan’s supporters who read the metaphors she used as a critique of his government’s economic mismanagement.

Undeterred, Shirazi later that year published a book by the same title, compiling her articles published during Khan’s tenure.

The opposition PTI has long had a shaky relationship with the press. In 2020, the party publicly posted a list of nearly ten journalists, including Shirazi, encouraging its supporters to go after them. The post has since been deleted but the reference remains in use, with screenshots still online.

Lawyer and executive director of Digital Rights Foundation Nighat Dad highlights how PTI’s social media trajectory mirrors the growing political polarisation in the country. Their social media campaign, she says, began as a platform for creative political campaigning and publicity but evolved into a team that systematically maligns political opponents.

Drawing parallels with global trends, Dad points out that polarisation isn’t restricted to Pakistan. “We have seen this in the United States when President Trump was elected for the first time,” she told Sapan News over the phone. “It was not the case in Pakistan back then but now we’re similar to what the US has faced and is facing, it’s like two extremes at the moment.”

Asma Shirazi explains that this tactic has existed for years. In Pakistan, it was initially deployed by security institutions, she says, and later carried out by their “chosen ones.” She believes the rise of PTI amplified it into what she calls “social fascism,” where few dare to challenge the propaganda.

This emboldens the attackers to “spit venom” through social media, Shirazi told Sapan News.

The majority of attacks Shirazi and her peers face come from vloggers or influencers, many overseas. They include supporters of Imran Khan as well as his rival, PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz Sharif. Both political figures have engaged with such influencers to promote their party narratives.

“I was called a traitor and an Indian agent,” Shirazi recalled, describing the organised hate speech against her.

By the time some YouTubers later apologised online, Imran Khan’s government had already fallen. “Khan weaponised them to target safe spaces for independent journalists, aiming to coerce us,” she says. “Other parties do the same, but the systemic scale of attacks carried out by PTI has yet to be matched.”

Toxic ecosystem

Beyond political vendettas, financial incentives drive this toxic ecosystem. “A whole system has been built to serve YouTubers and influencers” – beneficiaries of the system, Shirazi explains. “They earn huge dollars to spread falsehoods, creating a parallel economy that legitimises bribes, and reap the financial rewards.”

Figures released by the Digital Rights Foundation annual Cyber Harassment Helpline Report for 2023 show that women filed nearly 2,500 reports.

A global study in 2020 by the International Center for Journalists found that 73% of women journalists have faced online violence, including threats of physical (25%) and sexual violence (18%). The online harassment of male journalists is less sexualised. The study indicates that women journalists are targeted for their personal lives, appearance and character, making the harassment more invasive. Their families are also threatened.

“It affects their peace of mind. My child faced questions from friends due to a well-coordinated campaign, was mocked and treated with contempt,” says Shirazi.

Threats to women journalists also go beyond the digital space. Two break-in attempts at Shirazi’s home in 2019, which she attributes to Pakistan’s “agencies”, forced her to take extra security measures.

The Coalition of Women Journalists, in a solidarity statement, attributed such intimidation tactics to “powerful circles both in the government and military establishment”, aiming to “silence” female journalists.

In fact, physical attacks on journalists is an ongoing issue in Pakistan, with perpetrators often remaining unidentified and unpunished.

Nighat Dad explains that while online trolling might appear harmless at first, its real-world impact is two-fold.

“It causes reputational damage, turning journalists into controversial personalities and making people hesitant to trust their reporting. It also leads to professional harm, forcing them to work twice as hard to rebuild credibility and maintain their reputation,” she noted.

Dad also notes that doxing, or the public release of personal information, puts targets at risk of harassment and heckling by political figures.

In this context, Sapan News aimed at raising awareness about basic journalistic ethics and providing fact-checking resources provides a tool to counter this trend. At its core, the voluntary pledge encourages users to process emotions before reacting impulsively, focus on facts and context, and resist tearing others down.

Rightwing target

In India, journalist Rana Ayyub, a constant target of the right-wing groups, has long faced death and rape threats, along with doctored images circulated online. Last November her phone number and personal information were leaked, and trolls flooded her with calls.

Global watchdogs have repeatedly urged the government to act and offer her protection.

Nirupama Subramaniam, former Strategic Affairs editor at The Indian Express, describes the overall “degradation” of journalism in India. Talking to Sapan News from Chennai, she points out that politicians have repeatedly treated journalists with sheer disdain, branding them as ‘biased’ or even ‘anti-national’.

“If you’re a journalist who doesn’t align with the ruling BJP party, you become an easy target for online harassment,” Subramaniam says. “The BJP has a highly sophisticated online machinery across social media platforms, making it easy to set up trolling. They run a mega operation, with an IT cell led by a prominent public figure, focused on spreading pro-BJP narratives or disinformation against others.”

Recalling her own experience with online harassment, Subramanian believes that in the absence of institutional support mechanisms for journalists who face it, how each person deals with it is personal.

“I developed a thick skin. I simply avoid looking at notifications, or I won’t look at Twitter for a week. If nothing else, trolling makes you sad about people’s character”.

Subramanian said that she didn’t look for support from anyone at her workplace because there is little sympathy for anyone too active on social media platforms. “The unwritten rule is to keep a low social media profile. Your social media handles are only for tweeting your own stories or observing accounts of others for stories and information”.

Experts and analysts say that South Asia’s deep-rooted patriarchal societal structure makes the region particularly susceptible to this online culture.

“Such behaviour thrives because the society has a space to absorb it,” Dad says, “and the massive consumption of this content only leads to its proliferation and normalisation.”

Online hate

In January this year, when Shirazi was being viciously harassed online, over 60 media professionals endorsed a petition by the Digital Rights Foundation. Similar appeals have been made before but with no results.

Earlier, several women journalists including Shirazi, had raised concerns and shared evidence in a parliamentary meeting in 2020 about the online hate and trolling from political parties and right-wing groups. The assurances given then have yet to materialise.

While past attackers often used anonymous accounts, they’re now more visible, says Shirazi, making their actions easier to verify. “But who will take action?”

While laws like the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act or PECA, 2016 in Pakistan are supposed to protect women against online abuse, enforcement has been slow and in many cases, ineffective. Meanwhile, social media platforms often prioritise U.S. free speech standards over user protection, allowing harmful content like deep fakes to flourish.

“When these platforms fail to comply with human rights laws, how can the state enforce regulations when it has no authority over them?” asks Dad.

Taking political parties to court may be an option but Subramanian believes filing complaints against individuals would be more effective, as parties can easily evade responsibility. She emphasises making the cyber police and relevant departments accountable as they have the authority to identify and prosecute the culprits.

With limited data on women journalists pursuing legal action in both India and Pakistan, predatory behaviour continues to escalate. Regional governments must stop using online harassment as a political tool as it not only takes a psychological toll but also makes it difficult for journalists to do their jobs effectively. Taking serious steps to protect them must be treated as an urgent priority.

(The writer is a communications student at the University of Karachi and a freelance journalist with Sapan News, passionate about covering women-centric stories at the intersection of peace, human rights, and politics. Views are personal. He can be reached on X @AbdullahZahid. By special arrangement with Sapan)