Women, religious minorities, and gender minorities in Pakistan face escalating digital intimidation, according to a new report by the Digital Rights Foundation (DRF). The report, whose findings were cited in editorials by Pakistani dailies Dawn and The News International, identifies sextortion, hacking, and deepfake imagery as rapidly emerging threats — with Artificial Intelligence accelerating the scale and anonymity of abuse.

Scale of the Crisis

Between May 2024 and December 2025, the DRF's cybersecurity helpline handled 5,041 new cases. Of those who sought assistance, 64% received a swift response, 93% were counselled on digital safety practices, and 92% reported a reduced sense of risk following support. The numbers, analysts note, represent only reported cases — the actual scale of digital harassment is believed to be significantly larger.

How Harassment Operates Online

According to the DRF's security helpline, harassment in Pakistan's digital space does not always take overt forms. It operates through coded language, slang, political and faith-based insinuations, and what the foundation describes as 'context-specific hate campaigns.' Algorithms and social media dynamics further amplify identity-centric harm, making it harder for victims to seek redress or even identify the source of abuse.

The DRF has called on authorities to deploy digital tools to address compromised accounts, hacking, blackmail, fraud, and image-based violations — arguing that individual-level solutions such as switching off devices are insufficient. 'The state must clean up the internet environment, especially for marginalised sections, with targeted campaigns to spread awareness about digital safety,' an editorial in Dawn noted, citing the foundation's position.

Children and Women Bear the Heaviest Burden

An earlier annual report by the DRF, released in April, flagged a particularly alarming dimension: children as young as six years old are being drawn into ecosystems of digital harm involving grooming, sexual exploitation, and AI-enabled abuse. The report warned that the state is 'woefully unprepared' to confront this reality.

Women, the DRF found, continue to bear the heaviest burden of digital violence. Non-consensual image sharing, blackmail, and sextortion are described as part of a 'continuum of gendered harassment designed to silence, shame and intimidate.' Women journalists are identified as frequent targets, with orchestrated abuse campaigns aimed at pushing them out of public discourse.

For survivors outside major cities, access to justice is further constrained. Even though 79% of cyber harassment cases are reportedly referred to the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA), the process often requires travel, resources, and resilience that many victims — particularly those in rural or semi-urban areas — do not possess.

The AI Factor

The DRF's April report underscored Artificial Intelligence as the primary driver transforming harassment into something 'more scalable, more anonymous and far harder to trace.' Deepfake imagery, in particular, has emerged as a tool of targeted abuse against women and gender minorities, enabling perpetrators to fabricate compromising content with little technical expertise.

What the DRF Is Calling For

The foundation has urged the Pakistani state to move beyond reactive measures and invest in structural interventions — including targeted awareness campaigns, stronger legal frameworks, and digital tools that can assist victims in recovering compromised accounts and documenting evidence. As AI-enabled abuse continues to outpace regulatory responses, the DRF's findings point to a widening gap between the scale of harm and the systems designed to address it.