Towards 'Safe by Design' Technologies for Protecting Women Online

Online spaces have become an important venue for social interaction in the modern world for engagement, education, and information. However, it is increasingly evident that they are places that are harmful to some, particularly women and girls. From hateful content to the misuse of emerging technologies, such as deep fakes, and the reinforcement of gender bias in AI systems, women continue to face significant risks in digital spaces. For example, 82% of women in the UK have experienced text-based online violence, and 33% have faced image-based online abuse. This presentation explores how existing technologies perpetuate harm against women and girls and the challenges associated with making online spaces ‘safe by design’ and discuss how the OU’s Centre for Protecting Women Online is working to address these challenges by combining expertise from software engineering, artificial intelligence, psychology, policing, and law.