Authored By: REDIET RETA YIGEZU
Hawassa University, Ethiopia
Abstract
The digital era has brought unprecedented opportunities for advancing gender equality but also new risks, particularly through artificial intelligence (AI) generated deepfakes. Deepfakes, though technologically neutral, are increasingly weaponized against women, resulting in privacy violations, reputational damage, sexual exploitation, and blackmail. These harms reproduce patriarchal power structures in digital spaces, silencing women and undermining their dignity. Drawing on Ethiopia as a reference point, including recent cases of deepfake-enabled harassment, this article examines the gendered nature of such abuses and the insufficiency of current legal protections. International instruments like CEDAW, UDHR, and ICCPR provide a foundation, yet existing frameworks are slow to adapt, gender-blind in scope, and limited by weak enforcement and cross-border jurisdictional challenges. In Ethiopia, institutional capacity further constrains redress. To address these gaps, the article argues for gender-sensitive legal reforms that criminalize non-consensual deepfakes, strengthen privacy and image rights, impose accountability on technology platforms, and provide civil remedies such as compensation and the right to be forgotten. By drawing on international best practices, it calls for future-facing, women-centered regulation to ensure that technological progress promotes, rather than undermines, gender equality.
Introduction
In the history of man-kind it is usual to divide eras into dominant forces that shape the specific period of time. From these classifications that are different in period of time and factor of characterization, 21st century is marked as digital era based on the technological influence. This era also called as information age, marked by a rapid change from traditional industry to an economy based on information technology.1 This ‘information age’ has created a digital society in which daily life is highly influenced by technological systems. Due to the technological advancement many things are changed like the main focus of this article which is the way in which women’s rights violated.
While technology has brought many opportunities including widening avenues for advocating women’s rights, it has also introduced new challenges in the protection of women’s rights. According to Ayşe Güneş 2this kind of feature of technology is described as “double-edged sword”. Safeguarding women’s rights by combating violence against women have been the concerns of a legal system through all the time. Despite the advocation over recognition of women’s rights women remain vulnerable irrespective of the changes and developments. This is because violence evolves with time, adopting technological tools to target women in digital world. Meanwhile, the law has struggled to evolve at the same speed as the technology developed which is responsible for leaving critical gaps in protection of women’s rights.
This article critically analyzes the effect of the misuse of Artificial Intelligence (hereinafter AI) generated deepfakes, as one of the most pressing technological concerns of the digital era, over women’s rights and the challenges faced by legal system in regulating AI deepfakes. Moreover, it emphasizes how the law should respond to this emerging challenge directed against women’s rights. Additionally, this article draws on examples and scenarios with Ethiopia as a reference point.
AI Deepfakes as a Gendered Threat in the Digital Era Amongst the prominent technological advancements of the time AI placed at the top of all. AI generated Deepfakes (hereinafter deepfakes) are known by their high realism that fades the distinctive line between the real and the fake one.3 Deepfakes, as the name suggests, is used to create online contents similar with the real one but deeply fakes when more attention is given to the details. Deepfake created contents maybe a video, audio, or image, or a combination of these three that show someone as if he/she performs an action or says something that they never actually did. Like any other technological developments deepfakes are double-edged sword which is not their inherent nature.4 Rather it is created by how these technologies used.
While progressing and solving many problems of the recent world deepfakes are becoming threats for women. However, deepfakes are targeted at any individual or group women are disproportionately affected due to many reasons such as, social stigma, patriarchal culture, victim blaming that exist in offline women’s rights violation.5 Deepfakes goes beyond merely reflect the existing gender inequalities but actively reinforce and promote the inequalities through sexualizing, silencing, and discrediting women in digital world, resulted in strengthening and reproducing the existing patriarchal power dynamics in new technological forms.
Women’s Rights in the Digital Era: Promise vs. Reality Women should deserve a safe digital zone as they need violence free real world. According to the report of world wide web foundation6technological advancements, particularly the internet, is seen as a force that narrow downs the existing gender inequality by eliminating previous barriers that holds back women from getting equal opportunity as men, thereby internet promotes greater equality. In addition to this internet viewed as a platform that is useful in combating gender
violence through simple and cost-effective way world widely by eliminating time and geographical constraints. Therefore, the in digital world technological advancements are promised to contribute positively for gender equality.
Even though technological internet was served as a tool for empowering both men and women participants of these advancements, especially women, have much concern about having their personal data misused due to these very technological advancements expose women to unique vulnerabilities such as online harassment, privacy violations, and reputational harm.7 The rise of deepfakes has further intensified these risks, as the technology enables the large-scale creation and dissemination of manipulated images and videos at little cost and without requiring any professional expertise. Unlike traditional forms of abuse, deepfakes carry a heightened threat due to their anonymity, permanence, and viral spread using the internet, leaving women disproportionately targeted and with limited avenues for redress. This demonstrates that technological progress, without adequate safeguards, can reinforce existing gendered harms rather than dismantle them.
AI Deepfakes as a New Legal Challenge
Although gender inequality is not a new legal concern it has shifted its form throughout different periods of time due to its strong interaction with the societal makeup. This creates new forms of violence against women that arise with the changes in terms of political and economic aspect or cultural and societal shift.8 Since technology bought these changes to the society of 21st century, digital violence, particularly for the purpose of this article weaponizing deepfakes against women, is taken as one of the new forms of violence against women. While considered as new, technology related violence is the continuity of different forms of violence against women that existed.9
The misuse of deepfakes has used for privacy invasion, non-consensual sexual exploitation, reputational destruction, silencing women’s voices in politics/public life. Deepfake abuses are different from traditional abuses by their nature that doesn’t require physical presence and meeting of both the victim and the abuser, there by non-creation of direct physical harm on the victim.
There is an argument from the side of those who work on deepfakes. For instance, one of the most successful deepfake pornography sites owner claims that no need to have consent for contents created by deepfake and posted in his site because they are not real.10 This is not a sound argument. Because by the mere fact of being fake the consequences followed deepfake pornography are not stopped from happening. And also, it has an effect on the victim’s life as if it was real.
Deepfakes sextual exploitation is no more hypothetical. A recent incident that happened in Ethiopia is evident for this. The case is about a man accused over online blackmail and sexual harassment using fake social media accounts and arrested by Addis Ababa Police.11 According to police, the suspect created false profiles on Tik-Tok and Telegram, where he uploaded photos and videos of women without their consent some of these photos taken from social media and others captured in public spaces. He then used these edited and AI manipulated images to intimidate the victims, threaten to expose them, and demand sexual favors. The police investigation revealed that the suspect had collected similar materials involving more than 20 women, suggesting a broader pattern of abuse. This scenario amplifies that the deepfake abuse is not only about making non consensual sexual videos and use them to destruct women’s reputation and their public acceptance thereby silencing the voices of women’s. Here these deepfake generated photos and videos used as instruments of blackmail against women, coercing them into unwanted physical sexual acts.
Existing Legal Instruments and Their Shortcomings Internationally women’s rights are recognized through instruments like Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The latter two instruments guarantee human rights equally for men and women. On the other hand, CEDAW is there for women’s right in particular. Even though all the three instruments are not strong in recognizing specific digital rights, by interpreting the provisions they serve as a right recognition instrument for women in digital world. For instance, as per the interpretation of article 1 and 3 of CEDAW digital violence against women considered as a form of discrimination against women.12
As mentioned in the previous paragraphs these instruments are weak in recognizing specific digital rights. One of the short comings is that they are not evolved as the technology thereby technology outpaces the law in many aspects. Since the principle of criminal law requires the enactment of specific act as a crime before penalizing it and criminalization though interpretation and analogy is prohibited. So, the law fails to enact misuse of digital world as a specific criminal act following technological advancements. The other is that the rights incorporated there are gender-blind while studies tell us that the degree of women affected by the deepfake generated images are highly greater than men13 and also gender is the main driving force behind this misuse.
Policy and Enforcement Challenges: Beyond the Letter of the Law Enforcing laws against deepfake abuse is far more difficult than drafting them. The digital space allows perpetrators to hide behind anonymity, while the cross-border nature of online platforms makes it nearly impossible to hold them accountable through domestic systems alone. In Ethiopia, these obstacles are heightened by the limited resources and technical capacity of courts and police to investigate complex cybercrimes. As a result, even where laws exist, weak enforcement and jurisdictional gaps leave victims with little more than symbolic protection. For instance, in the case raised in this article, while the suspect is currently under investigation by the Women and Children’s Crime Investigation Department, Police urged citizens to protect themselves from such crimes by avoiding contact with strangers on social media platforms.14 Therefore, there is no move for women to secure their safety except shutting down women from digital world. Overall, the solution suggested by the police as a method not to be a victim of such kind of violence has an effect of forcing women to withdraw from digital space which limits their opportunity to educate, career and social support. And this adds additional discrimination rather than being a solution.
Addressing this problem requires more than reform on paper. It demands practical measures such as digital literacy programs, closer cooperation with technology companies and international actors, and gender-sensitive training for law enforcement. Only by combining legal reform with these broader strategies can the gap between rights in theory and rights in practice begin to close.
Towards Better Protection: Gender-Sensitive Legal Reforms for Rights-Centered Digital Future
Protecting women from deepfake abuse requires more than extending existing legal frameworks; it calls for a fundamental rethinking of how law approaches privacy, dignity, consent, and image rights in the digital age. Stronger remedies are needed, including the clear criminalization of non consensual deepfakes, civil liability for damages, and recognition of the right to be forgotten. Technology platforms must also be held accountable through duties of rapid takedown and transparent reporting.
Although gender was recognized as relevant to digital violence, it was undervalued for years15 only treated as a side factor which has an impact in the rate of vulnerability like age, class, internet access. Over time it is revealed that gender is not just one of the factors for digital abuse rather it is the main driving force behind this kind of violence. Therefore, Furthermore, the reform should be gender-sensitive built on women’s lived experiences with digital violence and shaped through their direct involvement in lawmaking processes.
Overall, while legislations play a crucial role in combating the dark side of deepfakes a combination with technological strategies makes it even more powerful. Without these reforms, the law risks remaining reactive rather than future-facing, leaving women vulnerable to new forms of exploitation in digital spaces.
Conclusion
This article has shown that existing legal frameworks are inadequate to address the unique harms of AI generated deepfakes, leaving women exposed to new forms of digital violence. Deepfakes have exposed a dangerous gap between technological progress and legal protection. While existing frameworks recognize women’s rights in principle, they remain too slow, too weak, and too detached from the realities of digital abuse. Women continue to face reputational harm, privacy violations, and exploitation without meaningful avenues for redress. Closing this gap requires more than symbolic recognition. It demands enforceable, women-centered reforms that criminalize non-consensual deepfakes, strengthen remedies, and hold technology platforms accountable. Unless the law becomes both future-facing and gender-sensitive, deepfakes will continue to silence women instead of technology serving as a tool of empowerment.
Bibliography
Laws
- Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Dec. 18, 1979, 1249 U.N.T.S. 13.
Research Papers
- Chapman, Unveiling the Threat: AI and Deepfakes’ Impact on Women, Univ. of Mary Washington Student Research Repository (2025), https://scholar.umw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1627&context=student_research (last visited Aug. 24, 2025).
Journal Articles
- Ayşe GÜNEŞ, As a Continuity of the Different Forms of Violence: Gender-Based Digital Violence Against Women, 5 Sosyal Mucit Academic Review 118 (2024).
- Chiara Gius, (Re)thinking Gender in Cyber-Violence: Insights from Awareness-Raising Campaigns on Online Violence Against Women and Girls in Italy, 14 Media Educ. 95 (2023).
- T. C. Jing & H. Mat Saad, Truth Distorted: Deepfakes and the Fight for Women’s Rights, 10 Int’l J. L., Gov’t & Comm. 332 (2025).
News
- TIKVAH-ETHIOPIA, Statement on Social Media Exploitation and Arrest of Suspect, Addis Ababa Police Commission, Aug. 20, 2025, 12:47 EAT, https://t.me/tikvahethiopia/99368 (last visited Aug 20, 2025).
Internet Source
- Linda Tucci, What is Information Age?, TechTarget (2023), https://www.techtarget.com/searchcio/definition/Information-Age (last visited Aug. 21, 2025).
- Maria Onatt, Challenges during the Age of AI: Deepfake Abuse on Women, The Young Women’s Movement (2025), https://youngwomenscot.org/voices/challenges-during-the age-of-ai-deepfake-abuse-on-women/ (last visited Aug. 22, 2025).
- World Wide Web Foundation, Women’s Rights Online: Closing the Digital Gender Gap for a More Equal World, World Wide Web Foundation (2020),https://webfoundation.org/research/womens-rights-online-2020/ (last visited Aug. 22, 2025).
1 Linda Tucci, What is Information Age?, TechTarget (2023), https://www.techtarget.com/searchcio/definition/Information-Age (last visited Aug. 21, 2025).
2 Ayşe GÜNEŞ, As a Continuity of the Different Forms of Violence: Gender-Based Digital Violence Against Women, 5 Sosyal Mucit Academic Review 118 (2024).
3 T. C. Jing & H. Mat Saad, Truth Distorted: Deepfakes and the Fight for Women’s Rights, 10 Int’l J. L., Gov’t & Comm. 332 (2025).
4Ibid.
5 Chapman, Unveiling the Threat: AI and Deepfakes’ Impact on Women, Univ. of Mary Washington Student Research Repository (2025), https://scholar.umw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1627&context=student_research (last visited Aug. 24, 2025).
6 World Wide Web Foundation, Women’s Rights Online: Closing the Digital Gender Gap for a More Equal World, World Wide Web Foundation (2020), https://webfoundation.org/research/womens-rights-online-2020/ (last visited Aug. 22, 2025).
7 World Wide Web Foundation, supra note 6.
8 GÜNEŞ, supra note 2.
9Ibid.
10 Maria Onatt, Challenges during the Age of AI: Deepfake Abuse on Women, The Young Women’s Movement (2025), https://youngwomenscot.org/voices/challenges-during-the-age-of-ai-deepfake-abuse-on-women/ (last visited Aug. 22, 2025).
11 TIKVAH-ETHIOPIA, Statement on Social Media Exploitation and Arrest of Suspect, Addis Ababa Police Commission, Aug. 20, 2025, 12:47 EAT, https://t.me/tikvahethiopia/99368 (last visited Aug 20, 2025).
12 GÜNEŞ, supra note 2.
13 Onatt, supra note 10.
14 TIKVAH-ETHIOPIA, supra note 11.
15 Chiara Gius, (Re)thinking Gender in Cyber-Violence: Insights from Awareness-Raising Campaigns on Online Violence Against Women and Girls in Italy, 14 Media Educ. 95 (2023).
