Executive Summary
Online harassment and abuse are increasingly widespread in today’s digitally connected world. This can include online threats and intimidation as well as various forms of technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV), such as the non-consensual distribution of intimate images, including non-consensual intimate imagery generated with artificial intelligence (AI) tools, cyberstalking, and sextortion. Women, girls, and LGBTQI+ individuals, particularly those who face intersectional discrimination and bias on the basis of race and ethnicity, gender, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and other factors, are disproportionately affected.
To tackle this scourge, on June 16, 2022, President Biden issued a Presidential Memorandum establishing the White House Task Force to Address Online Harassment and Abuse (Task Force), with a mandate to build a comprehensive approach for how the federal government prevents and addresses gender-based online harms. Since then, the Biden-Harris Administration has taken significant action across 12 federal departments and agencies to prevent and address online harassment and abuse, both domestically and globally.
This includes a record investment of more than $36 million to support survivors through newly established victim services, helplines, and training and capacity-building for individuals and organizations—from law enforcement officials to victim advocates—to enhance their response to TFGBV. Through the Task Force, federal departments and agencies have accelerated prevention, awareness and outreach efforts in communities across the country to promote safe and respectful online interactions, enhance digital literacy, and address online misogyny and cyberbullying as risk factors for offline violence. Federal law enforcement agencies have promoted accountability for perpetrators of cybercrimes that disproportionately impact women and girls, children, and LGBTQI+ people, as well as for technology platforms on which these crimes are often committed. Furthermore, our work to address online harassment and abuse has continued to evolve and respond to new and emerging technology and its impact on survivors, including the rise of generative AI.
The Administration has, for example:
- Bolstered support to survivors, including by launching the country’s first national, 24/7 Image Abuse Helpline and Safety Center, and implementing the Safe Connections Act of 2022, which the President signed into law to make it easier for survivors of domestic violence to leave a wireless or phone plan shared with an abuser.
- Strengthened protections for students who have experienced sexual harassment, including online harassment and abuse, by issuing a new Title IX final rule that clarifies schools’ responsibilities under federal law to address sex discrimination and harassment whether the conduct takes place online, in person, or both; and strengthens definitions for sex-based harassment and stalking under Title IX to address the growth in TFGBV, including AI-generated abuse. These protections underscore the need for schools to address online sex-based harassment with the same level of seriousness and responsibility as in person forms of harassment—a needed shift in our culture to recognize the significant harms associated with TFGBV.
- Published new guidance for ending and preventing workplace harassment, including online harassment and abuse, by updating the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace. The guidance clarifies employers’ responsibilities under federal law with respect to unlawful workplace harassment—including whether the conduct takes place online, in-person, or both—based on sex, race, and other protected characteristics. The guidance also highlights the need for employers to address online sex-based harassment that contributes to a hostile work environment, including the non-consensual distribution of intimate images.
- Confronted the role of social media in the youth mental health crisis, including exposure to online harassment and abuse, with the Surgeon General issuing a historic Advisory on Social Media and Youth Mental Health to address the unique safety and privacy risks posed by online harassment and abuse, and highlight its disproportionate toll on the wellbeing of adolescent girls, particularly girls of color and LGBTQI+ youth. Complementing the Surgeon General’s Advisory, the Administration has launched the Kids Online Health and Safety Task Force.
- Championed online safety as a core element of digital equity, encouraging state leaders charged with implementing more than $50 million in funding through the Digital Equity Act of 2021 to integrate online harassment and abuse prevention strategies into their activities, and prioritizing online safety in the State Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program and the Digital Equity Competitive Grants Program.
- Invested in efforts to disrupt online pathways to violent extremism by addressing online harassment and abuse, including through research and community-based programs supported by the Department of Homeland Security to assess behavioral indicators for violent extremism linked to gender-based violence, and tackle risk factors associated with misogynistic threats and online violence.
- Taken steps to address the risks posed by deepfake image-based abuse through the Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence, which: (i) directs the National Institute of Standards for Technology (NIST) to seek input from companies, civil society, and other stakeholders to identify best practices for safeguarding AI systems from generating abuse material; (ii) urges the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to recommend testing and safeguards against the generation of non-consensual intimate images or child sexual abuse material by government-procured AI models; (iii) tasks OMB with issuing guidance for federal departments and agencies on the use of tools to detect synthetic content and label authentic government-produced content to set an example for the private sector and encourage the global implementation of these safeguards; and (iv) launched the National AI Talent Surge, through which the Biden-Harris Administration is committed to hiring at least 100 AI and AI-enabling professionals with both technical expertise and experience addressing AIgenerated harms, including deepfake image-based abuse. These actions build on the principles first established in the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights.
- Elevated TFGBV in our foreign policy and national security efforts by founding and co-leading the 14-country Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse, through which the Administration has advanced global policies to address online safety for women, girls, and LGBTQI+ persons by issuing joint statements and by tackling online harms through the G7, G20, UN, and other fora, such as through the Christchurch Call to Action, which has newly integrated a focus on gender-based hate and its links with online radicalization and mobilization to violence. The Administration has also invested at least $15 million in targeted funding to prevent and respond to TFGBV and counter its chilling effects on women leaders and democratic participation as part of our emphasis on supporting democracies globally, including through new initiatives to provide support to women leaders who have experienced extreme threats or forms of online violence. Complementing this work, the Administration has also advanced a comprehensive approach to addressing the proliferation and misuse of commercial spyware, which disproportionately affects women, through for example new export controls, sanctions, and visa restrictions.