In Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire, women navigating public life are increasingly encountering a particularly aggressive form of online harassment: gendered disinformation. This alarming trend, which specifically targets women, has been brought to light by a recent comprehensive report titled “Gendered Disinformation in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire: Forms, Impact, and Stakes.” Sadia Mandjo, a journalist specializing in women’s rights in Africa and the author of the study, detailed its findings.
The research indicates that a significant 61% of women surveyed across both Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire have experienced gendered disinformation firsthand. Mandjo emphasizes a crucial distinction: “Gendered disinformation is unique because it specifically targets women, and unlike the disinformation aimed at men, it doesn’t attack their ideas. Instead, it focuses on their bodies, their sexuality, and their private lives.”
This reveals a stark imbalance in online attacks. While false narratives directed at men often revolve around political, economic, or diplomatic issues, campaigns against women—whether they are politicians, journalists, or activists—consistently aim to undermine their legitimacy by scrutinizing their morality or intimate affairs.
The “72-hour phenomenon”: A unique challenge in Senegal
Senegalese women frequently describe what they term the “72-hour phenomenon,” a distinct form of digital lynching prevalent in the country. Mandjo explains this involves selecting a female activist, journalist, or politician and subjecting her life to intense scrutiny for three days. “However, truth is distorted; photomontages are created, and her life story is rewritten to portray her as immoral,” she elaborated.
While some Senegalese male politicians also face similar smear campaigns, the researcher notes that when women are targeted, the attacks are “quite violent.” The report concludes that the ultimate goal of these campaigns is explicit: “The aim is to silence them. The goal is to force them out of the digital sphere.”
The methods of discrediting vary depending on the target’s profile. Female politicians in Senegal are often accused of securing their positions through intimate relationships with party officials. Journalists are depicted as being funded by foreign nations for their reporting. Activists, meanwhile, face accusations of receiving Western financing. Mandjo observes, “Their ideas are never the target; instead, the attacks always aim to invalidate their legitimacy.”
Direct impact on women’s public participation
The study’s findings confirm that this digital aggression effectively achieves its intended outcome. Numerous women interviewed for the report admitted to self-censoring their online presence or even completely withdrawing from certain platforms. Mandjo warns, “Withdrawing from digital platforms is not insignificant; it means withdrawing from public life.”
The women most vulnerable to these attacks are those who are prominent in the public sphere: politicians, journalists, feminist activists, public figures, influencers, and artists. “These are visible women; these are women who assert themselves; these are women who claim their place in society,” she summarizes.
The perpetrators behind these campaigns are “primarily men,” typically aged between 17 and 45, and “often from the same country as the targeted women,” the report indicates. The study also identifies some female perpetrators, whom it labels as “patriarchal women.”
Mandjo also highlights the accountability of major platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. She points out that “a lot of content is created in local languages, such as Wolof,” yet these platforms lack adequate mechanisms for reporting content in such languages. “This is because the platforms are developed in the West and are not fully aware of local realities,” she explains.
Call for official recognition in Senegal
A key recommendation from the report urges authorities in both Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire to officially acknowledge digital violence against women as a form of gender-based violence, on par with sexual assault, femicides, or physical violence.
Mandjo argues that “recognizing it would enable the creation of specific laws, and would facilitate the training of police officers in commissariats to handle these complaints.” Official recognition would also lead to training for magistrates and judges to address such cases, alongside the development of digital literacy programs and fact-checking awareness initiatives.
The report’s author underscores that digital violence is not an isolated phenomenon but rather “a continuation of the violence women face outside the digital space.” The high rates of violence against women in homes and on the streets of Senegal are thus mirrored and amplified in the digital realm.
