Online Gender Based Violence advice: What to do if you are targeted

• Talk to a family member, friend, colleague or educator that you trust not to judge you or spread or report your concerns to the wider community.
• Report incidents to the appropriate authorities.

• Do not respond or express a reaction to the perpetrator or those responsible for spreading the violence, as this will only provoke further incidents including spontaneous intimidation.
• Block the perpetrator and those spreading the violence.
• If the violence takes the form of intimate content shared online, report it to the website or social media platform concerned, request that it is removed and the offending user blocked.
• You can report online bullying, image-based abuse or other forms of online abuse to the Police.
• Report threats of physical harm, blackmail, stalking, hacking or sharing of private content to the Police.
• If you have been traumatised by online gender-based violence, you can seek professional psychological help. You should be able to find information by searching online. There are also a number of relevant help communities on social media platforms, but make sure that any you join are genuine.

For further information visit: https://www.getsafeonline.org.rw/personal/articles/online-gender-based-violence/