Digital violence in the public space

Digital technologies connect us regardless of place and time. They have expanded public space and should be a place where everyone can move freely and safely. The way platforms are built and the way we treat one another online amplify existing forms of violence: discrimination, sexual violence, and intimidation.

Digital technologies amplify violence

No safe haven for those targeted

Digital violence takes no breaks and pursues those targeted into every corner of their lives (the workplace, home, the bus…).

The internet does not forget

Once published, content often remains accessible: through screenshots, archives, and re-uploads. Digital violence can catch up with those targeted again at any time.

Algorithms amplify violence

Platforms are not neutral spaces. Recommendation systems preferentially surface whatever triggers the most reactions. Content that outrages or attacks therefore gains more reach than factual posts. Attacks on individuals spread faster and further as a result.

One click is enough

An image or a post can reach thousands within minutes. Once it has spread, the content can hardly be taken back.

Young people: Digital violence hits children and young people especially hard. For young people, social life can hardly be separated from the digital. More information here.

Folgen von digitaler Gewalt im öffentlichen Raum

Auswirkungen von digitaler Gewalt

Digitale Gewalt ist echte Gewalt: Sie kann Angst, Depressionen, Traumata bis hin zu Suizidgedanken auslösen und bei Doxing sogar die körperliche Sicherheit gefährden.

Zudem verstärkt die Digitalisierung Ungleichheiten, da bereits benachteiligte Gruppen besonders betroffen sind.

Auch die Demokratie ist in Gefahr: Aus Angst verstummen etwa Journalistinnen, Journalisten und Aktivistinnen und Aktivisten, was als «Silencing» die Meinungsvielfalt einschränkt.

Schliesslich hat digitale Gewalt ihren Preis, denn Betroffene können berufliche Chancen oder ihre Stelle verlieren, und rechtliche Schritte sind kostspielig. Online-Gewalt schadet somit nicht nur Einzelnen, sondern der ganzen Gesellschaft.

The most important forms of violence in digital spaces where the perpetrator and the person targeted do not know each other:

Hate speech

Hate Speech

Hate speech refers to any statement or content that insults, demeans, or discriminates against a person or group – specifically on the basis of certain identity characteristics (such as origin, gender, sexual orientation, or religion).

If a message is not aimed specifically at such a characteristic but is nonetheless insulting, threatening, or vulgar, it is referred to as toxic content.

Legal situation in Switzerland

Possible criminal offenses:

  • Art. 261bis SCC prohibits hate speech with racist motives as well as hate speech targeting religion or sexual orientation.
  • Art. 259 SCC prohibits public incitement to violence.
  • Other provisions may apply: slander (Art. 173 SCC), defamation (Art. 174 SCC), insult (Art. 177 SCC), threatening behavior (Art. 180 SCC).

What can you do about online hate?

The Stop Hate Speech platform offers concrete support to those affected: tips on dealing with hateful content, protecting your own data, and understanding your rights.

Stop Hate Speech also provides information for the people around those affected, so they can respond to hate using scientifically grounded strategies.

Three important steps:

  1. Preserve evidence: Take screenshots, if possible showing the date and URL or the name of the social network. In cases of insults or hateful messages, these screenshots can be useful for a criminal complaint – even if the content is later deleted by the platform or by the person themselves.
  2. Report content: Report all insulting and demeaning statements to the platform where they appear.
  3. Block those responsible.

Doxing

Private data is made public

In doxing, private information about a person is collected and shared publicly without their consent – for example: home address, phone number, employer, family members.

The goal is to get third parties to harass or physically threaten the person affected. Often the mere fact of being findable is enough to intimidate people.

Legal situation in Switzerland

Possible criminal offenses:

  • unauthorized obtaining of personal data (Art. 179novies SCC)
  • threatening behavior (Art. 180 SCC)
  • coercion (Art. 181 SCC)
  • stalking (Art. 181b SCC)

What can you do about doxing?

With Google, you can request that sensitive information such as your address or phone number be removed. Similar steps are possible on other platforms.

A few simple measures can help protect your data and social media accounts.

Seek support at a victim support center. In case of danger, contact the police directly at 117 or the emergency medical service at 144.

Digital sexual violence

Sexual abuse and technology

Image-based sexual abuse means creating, distributing, or threatening to distribute intimate images without the consent of the person depicted. This includes real recordings, including covert recordings made without the affected person’s knowledge – for example under their clothing (“upskirting”) or using connected devices such as Meta glasses or hidden cameras. It also includes images generated or altered by AI (so-called “deepfakes”).

The threat to publish such content is also used as a means of pressure (sextortion).

There are further forms as well: for example cyberflashing, the unsolicited sending of sexual images, or slut-shaming, the public humiliation of a person on the basis of their actual or presumed sexuality.

Such content is spread via pornography websites, in messenger groups, or through social networks.

Legal situation in Switzerland

Possible criminal offenses:

  • unauthorized forwarding of non-public sexual content, Art. 197a SCC
  • offenses against personal honor (Art. 173–177 SCC)
  • identity misuse (Art. 179decies SCC)
  • violation of secret or private information by recording devices, Art. 179quater SCC
  • unauthorized obtaining of personal data, Art. 179novies SCC
  • coercion, Art. 181 SCC, or threatening behavior, Art. 180
  • Minors affected: Depending on the content, criminal provisions protecting sexual integrity (e.g., sexual acts with children, pornography) apply.

What can you do about sexual violence online?

There are several options. If the person affected is an adult:

  1. Document evidence – screenshots, URLs, sender account, platform, date, time – and then report the content to the platform in question.
  2. On a technical level, the tool StopNCII creates a digital fingerprint of the content in order to prevent it from being shared, or shared again, on the major platforms. This also works when publication is being threatened (sextortion).
  3. These steps must be initiated quickly in order to curb the viral spread of the content. If the person affected is unable to do this, it is advisable to hand the task over to a trusted person.
  4. If the person wishes: file a report with the police.

⚠ Caution is required when minors are involved! Storing sexualized content involving minors (including screenshots) can be a criminal offense. Document only the URL of the content. Cases can be reported to fedpol or clickandstop.ch, which also provide advice. Content can be removed via the international platform Take It Down.

Stalking

Following, contacting, controlling

Stalking online, also called cyberstalking, means any repeated, non-consensual behavior that monitors, follows, or contacts a person through digital channels. This includes systematically combing through profiles, tracking activities and whereabouts, an unrelenting stream of messages, fake accounts used for observation or indirect contact, and probing the person’s social circle.

Stalking usually combines several forms of violence – surveillance, doxing, threats, insults – and thereby forms a system of control and intimidation.

Legal situation in Switzerland

Under Swiss law, stalking is directly covered by Art. 181b SCC (in force since January 1, 2026). Depending on the form it takes, further provisions may apply:

  • incessant attempts at contact and coercion (Art. 179septies, 181 SCC)
  • surveillance and data collection (Art. 143, 143bis, 179novies SCC)
  • unauthorized recordings (Art. 179bis, 179ter SCC)
  • offenses against personal honor (Art. 173 et seq. SCC)
  • threatening behavior (Art. 180 SCC)
  • physical violence (Art. 122, 123 SCC)

What can you do about stalking?

The important thing is to get help. Victim support centers can help you. Further steps:

  1. Document: Preserve evidence of the harassment by taking screenshots of calls, messages, and so on. The online evidence storage service for domestic violence and stalking is well suited to this: Safe with-you.
  2. Block the accounts responsible and report the content to the platform.
  3. Strengthen your digital security with simple measures.

Trolling und Shitstorm

Targeted disruption and collective attacks

Trolling refers to deliberately disrupting online discussions through provocations, insults, or content that has nothing to do with the topic – with the aim of unsettling or wearing down the people targeted.

In a shitstorm, a person or organization is overwhelmed by a wave of criticism, attacks, and insults. The trigger may be legitimate outrage, but the dynamic often tips over into collective harassment that the target has no way of countering.

Legal situation in Switzerland

Swiss law has no dedicated criminal offense for shitstorms and trolling. Depending on the form the conduct takes, the acts may fall under the following provisions:

  • offenses against personal honor (Art. 173 et seq. SCC)
  • coercion (Art. 181 SCC), stalking (Art. 181b SCC)
  • hate speech (Art. 261bis SCC)
  • threatening behavior (Art. 180 SCC), and others.

What can you do about trolling and shitstorms?

People targeted by a shitstorm are advised to hand over access to their own networks and messenger services to one or more trusted people and to shield themselves from the attacking content as much as possible. Once the difficult phase is over, all shared passwords should be changed.

Those affected, or the people around them, can:

  • Document: Save screenshots of the messages and the profiles of the people responsible. The online storage service Safe with-you (with-you.ch/de/safe-withyou) is well suited to this.
  • Report the content and the accounts responsible to the platforms in question.
  • Block the accounts responsible.
  • (Temporarily) change the username on the platforms in question and set the accounts to private.

Further tips can be found in the guide to digital self-protection, and measures for strengthening digital security are available on the home page.

Financial violence

Financial violence online occurs when people are defrauded or financially manipulated on the internet. A well-known example is the romance scam: someone sets up a fake profile, builds an emotional relationship with the victim over weeks or months – and then invents an urgent emergency in order to get at their money.

Those who deceive not with feelings but with supposedly lucrative investments, crypto deals, or a prize drawing that doesn’t exist are likewise committing financial violence online. The goal remains the same: to get at the victim’s money.

Legal situation in Switzerland

Depending on the form the offense takes, the acts may fall under the following provisions:

  • fraud (Art. 146 SCC)
  • forgery of documents (Art. 251 SCC)
  • money laundering (Art. 305bis SCC) or others.

What can you do about financial violence online?

The person affected or their relatives can:

  • Get information from Swiss Crime Prevention, the local police, or the Federal Office for Cybersecurity (BACS) about scams currently in circulation and newly used methods.
  • Document: Save screenshots of suspicious messages, profiles, and transactions. A secure storage location can be used for this, such as Safe with-you (with-you.ch/de/safe-withyou).
  • Report the incident to the local police or through the Federal Office for Cybersecurity (BACS).
  • Report and block fraudulent accounts on the platforms in question.
  • Contact your own bank immediately to try to stop transactions or limit their consequences.

As a general rule: Never transfer money to a person you have never met in person. And never grant anyone you know only virtually remote access to your bank accounts or your computer.

Swiss Crime Prevention offers further information.