‘Women Who Speak Out Must be Exterminated’: the Rising Tide of Digital Violence Facing Ethiopian Activists

Yordanos Bezabih, an Ethiopian women’s rights activist, had faced online threats for years: of acid attacks, gang-rape and death. She tried her best to ignore the abuse as she continued her advocacy work. But in 2025, the threats became more menacing. In April, an anonymous Telegram group with 6,000 subscribers organised an effort to track down her location. They shared deepfakes of her – nude images and videos. The following month, a stranger started to film her in the streets, calling her by her social media handle. In summer, thieves broke into her house and stole her laptop. Soon after, her Telegram account was hacked and her private photos and messages were circulated on social media. The perpetrators later circulated her address, she says, demanding she be found and “executed”. … Bezabih is one of a small but growing number of feminists and women’s rights defenders who have left Ethiopia over the past two years, as online violence has become all-pervasive and uncontrolled. Three years after Facebook was accused of allowing hate speech to spread unchecked in Ethiopia, amid genocidal violence against ethnic Tigrayans during the civil war – claims rejected by Meta – social media inciters in Ethiopia have found a new target: women online. The Guardian