Q&A: A copyright for the human body to help tackle online violence

Online abuse such as harassment, cyberstalking, and the sharing of private images of people without their consent can have devastating consequences for victims. Women are particularly affected by this type of online violence — and it starts from a young age. For example, a worldwide survey for Plan International’s “Free To Be Online?” 2020 report found that 58% of girls and young women aged 15-25 experience online harassment, and 50% of those surveyed said they experience more online harassment than street harassment.

While there are long-established processes and copyright laws for dealing with other forms of content sharing online — for example, illegally downloaded movies or music — there is often very little that survivors can do to stop image-based digital abuse.

If, for example, a woman whose photographs are being shared online without their consent requests they be removed from a platform such as Instagram or Facebook, they can often be denied or face long delays — as is highlighted by the United Nations Population Fund’s Bodyright campaign, which calls for more action from policymakers and technology platforms on the issue.

The campaign, which launched in December, explores the possibility of applying a form of copyright to photos of bodies online —  a “bodyright.” It’s an idea that underscores the importance of bodily autonomy in the virtual world.

Stories from survivors of digital abuse can be found on an accompanying website The Virtual is Real, revealing that while the abuse might be virtual, it causes real-life trauma. As well as often insurmountable barriers to stopping it, those who experience image-based abuse can face long-term psychological distress, fears for safety, as well as stigma, and isolation from their communities.

Could the notion of a bodyright help? It’s an innovative idea that Selinde Dulckeit, UNFPA’s chief of communications, said has caught the attention of campaigners fighting for better regulations around online abuse. She spoke to Devex about what the campaign hopes to achieve, and why it’s such a necessary conversation as more  aspects of life move online.

The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Where did the idea for this campaign come from, and why is it important to draw attention to digital violence?
As the sexual and reproductive health agency of the U.N., we have three main areas that we focus on — one is ending gender-based violence. And that means gender-based violence in all forms and in all spaces, including digital spaces. Obviously [digital violence] has long been a huge problem but we noticed that it became an even bigger problem during the pandemic as online usage spiked [in lockdowns].

The statistics are dramatic. In our campaign, we quote statistics from an Economist Intelligence Unit worldwide survey, which found that 85% of women have witnessed or experienced digital violence perpetrated against other women, and 38% of women have experienced it themselves. 

It’s not only women who suffer from this, but women are the majority of those targeted. There’s an intersectional dimension too, as with all violence and discrimination; your gender, race, ability, and other forms of marginalization can mean more violence. We started thinking about it — specifically the nonconsensual use of images — and said, how is it that these images can get out there but there seems to be very little that can be done if you’re a victim and want to get them removed?

The bodyright mark — a kind of copyright for images of bodies online — could help address issues around the nonconsensual use of images specifically. How does it work?

There’s the nonconsensual sharing of images across platforms and there’s also something called deepfakes [AI-generated fake videos that can use real people’s faces]. With deepfake videos, research has shown that 96% of it is pornographic and it’s all women.

If you want to stop your image being used in this way, and you want it removed, then what rights do you have? Well, your rights are very spotty and inconsistent. Tech platforms have a button to report something but nothing seems to happen and it’s very slow. Every time you're trying to address it, you're constantly re-traumatized.

Yet, as a society, we have figured out how to protect intellectual property — we’ve made copyright infringement illegal and companies and platforms have figured out a way to identify infringements. You can’t just use corporate logos that you don't have the rights to, and you can't download films or watch films that you don't have the right to. Our point is: if that's possible, it must be possible to do more in this space to protect people, right? We want policymakers and we want tech companies to take digital violence — the nonconsensual use of images — seriously, and actually apply their skills to the problem.

Everyone knows what copyright is, everyone recognizes the “C” in a circle as the mark for copyright. So we wanted to start using that concept as a way to talk about an issue that people don't know much about or understand very well — we decided the Bodyright mark [a B in a circle] was a way to communicate that in a relatively simple manner.

Can you tell me more about the kinds of issues people face when trying to get images of themselves removed from the internet and digital platforms?

Often people will complain to the tech platforms, and the process is very slow or there’s no response — tech companies will often say they’ll wait for a court order first before acting.  

We’ve launched a petition to go alongside this campaign and one of the calls to action in the petition is for digital platforms to improve and scale-up moderation and also remove harmful and abusive images immediately rather than wait for a court order. That’s because part of what makes online violence so insidious is the delay — it's forever and repetitive. Is this sort of ongoing, never-ending thing once it's out there, and that causes ongoing trauma.

We want those reporting processes and tools to be easy to use, easy to find, and also ensure they give the user more control over who can see or share or comment on their online content. Finally, we also make the point that it’s important that women and survivors are in the room when solutions are designed. If you want to have a survivor-centered approach, you really need to involve them in the process.

What impact does digital violence have on young women and girls’ experience of the online, and offline, world?

It’s a complicated question because each type of online violence is so different and can have a different impact. But we can say that generally, it can cause long-term psychological and physical distress. When the body reacts [to a threat online] it doesn't always understand what's physical and what's just perceived. This is particularly something we’ve seen reported on in the metaverse where you’re having an immersive experience.

Of course, often online abuse can lead to real-world violence too. Cyberstalking, as we call it, sometimes can lead to actual stalking, while threats of rape and death threats aimed at, for example, female journalists and politicians, can sometimes come to pass. While suicide is also something that can happen as a result of online violence — one of the stories we profiled on our website, The Virtual is Real, sadly ended in suicide.

In addition, women may end up withdrawing from these platforms. That has an impact on their ability to connect with the world, it affects their ability to earn money, where their income is dependent on reaching online audiences.

Society is then losing their voice, their creativity, and their innovation. We all lose out when we lose these voices, not just of women but all of the diverse people who get harassed online, it's people of color, people who have different abilities, and the LGBTQI community. If all these people withdraw because they fear for their safety that leaves us with a relatively uninteresting and pretty toxic online world.

Has this idea of a bodyright mark been taken on by policymakers and is there a way it can be applied in real life?

Right now, this is a visibility and awareness campaign — it’s designed to spark conversation and debate rather than be a legal tool. Maybe it can be used one day, however.

What we can do is bring people to the table and we're trying to raise the profile of this as an important issue. We're standing at the precipice of the metaverse world, so how are we as a society going to move forward?

Our technical experts are speaking to organizations in this space, for example hate speech organizations [that work to tackle hate speech]. We’re also hosting events, and we’re talking to governments and hearing they are interested in this topic. Our goal is really for the term bodyright to be a concept that people know and use.

We want policymakers to implement clear legislation that makes it illegal to misuse and abuse people's images — as it is not universally illegal. It is illegal in the United States to varying degrees across different states and I believe the [United Kingdom] is considering legislation, but we really need national governments to make it illegal, just as they have made copyright infringement illegal.

I want the term bodyright to be in the dictionary. And I want everybody who is online to understand that they have rights — they have rights in the online world and the offline world. So I'm hopeful but at the same time, I understand it's a relatively long road to be on.

Visit the Generation Why series for more coverage on how we can ensure the digital space advances the rights of all young people and leaves no one behind. You can join the conversation using the hashtags #DevexSeries on #DigitalRights.