Executive Summary

In this study we look at the statistical data concerning the exposure of LGBTI+ individuals in general and activists in particular to digital violence. This study defnes Digital Violence as any hostile act done via social media platforms (such as: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.…) or dating apps, and results in- or perceived to result in- any sort of harm or suffering whether physically, sexually or psychologically. Such acts include even the threat of doing so, subjugation, stalking, extortion, violation of privacy, publishing private pictures or personal data without consent or prior notice. The study is divided into two sections; the frst one pertains to violence faced by community activists. This part targeted 24 individuals on the ground while considering the importance of providing a comprehensible picture by getting to various activists of different backgrounds and giving them equal opportunities to participate through using the snowball sampling technique. Secondly, the entire LGBTQI+ community was targeted to participate in an online survey to which a lot of responses were received but only 50 of them were eligible to be used in coming up with the results used in this report.

This part of the survey reached out to 24 activists- who all currently reside in Egypt- in the feld. Most of the participants are from Cairo, but 8 other governorates have been represented. Of all the LGBTQI+ factions, Gay men had the most contribution to the study and were followed by Lesbian women, Queer and pansexual individuals respectively. The age range bracket of the participants was from 18 to 30 years old, with an educational background ranging from middle school to graduate degrees and a majority of employed individuals. The list of social media platforms and dating apps included in the study were 12 different website and application. Each participant was allowed to share two incidents of digital violence which they were subjected to and had the most detrimental effect on them. The majority of cases recorded cited Facebook as the platform in which they were subjected to violence most frequently and 2017 as the year when most incidents recorded had taken place. Digital violence has taken various shapes and forms, among which are: threatening to “out” those individuals to their families and friend, verbal harassment, publishing personal photos of and sending pornographic material to the survivors without their consent. The greater part of the participants mentioned that the perpetrators of such violence were strangers, those incidents results in a wide array of reactions but the most prominent one was the psychological toll of such incidents on the survivors which led them to deactivate their accounts on the platforms where the attacks had happened. The majority of participants concurred on the futility of taking a more proactive approach in their reactions. The majority of participants attributed their activity on Facebook to various reasons, such as: reaching a bigger demographic, ease of communication with desired social circles and a bigger space for freedom of expression as it could be a resort away from real life