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Invisible No More: How AI Chatbots Are Reshaping Violence Against Women and Girls

Clare McGlynn Orcid Logo, Yvonne McDermott Rees Orcid Logo, Stuart Macdonald Orcid Logo, Rüya Tuna Toparlak Orcid Logo, Fabienne Tarrant, Samantha Treacy Orcid Logo

Swansea University Authors: Yvonne McDermott Rees Orcid Logo, Stuart Macdonald Orcid Logo, Samantha Treacy Orcid Logo

  • Invisible No More - How Chatbots Are Reshaping Violence Against Women and Girls v6.pdf

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    ©2026 Clare McGlynn, Yvonne McDermott, Stuart Macdonald, Rüya Tuna Toparlak, Fabienne Tarrant and Samantha Treacy.

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DOI (Published version): 10.23889/SUreport.71633

Abstract

This report provides the first comprehensive mapping of how chatbots are implicated in violence against women and girls (VAWG), identifying new forms of harm - chatbot-driven and chatbot-simulated abuse. It develops a new typology to better understand, and then prevent and redress, the varying forms...

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Published: Durham University and Swansea University 2026
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa71633
first_indexed 2026-03-16T15:30:48Z
last_indexed 2026-03-19T05:33:03Z
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spelling 2026-03-18T09:33:45.4553929 v2 71633 2026-03-16 Invisible No More: How AI Chatbots Are Reshaping Violence Against Women and Girls e6e1ae537327fc3f38d2af4a9d9834d8 0000-0003-0111-9049 Yvonne McDermott Rees Yvonne McDermott Rees true false 933e714a4cc37c3ac12d4edc277f8f98 0000-0002-7483-9023 Stuart Macdonald Stuart Macdonald true false 53962bf646ea480d4309ff5b0405aba8 0000-0002-9755-7686 Samantha Treacy Samantha Treacy true false 2026-03-16 HRCL This report provides the first comprehensive mapping of how chatbots are implicated in violence against women and girls (VAWG), identifying new forms of harm - chatbot-driven and chatbot-simulated abuse. It develops a new typology to better understand, and then prevent and redress, the varying forms of chatbot-VAWG, namely chatbot-driven, chatbot-enabled, chatbot-simulated and chatbot-normalising abuse. It aims to render visible the very real harms and threats to the freedom and safety of women and girls. It identifies for the first time the range of platform design choices and policies that enable, encourage and normalise VAWG. It examines how far current legal and regulatory frameworks respond to these risks, exposing significant gaps. It sets out urgent recommendations for governments and AI platforms to address the escalating threat. Policy briefing report Durham University and Swansea University 16 3 2026 2026-03-16 10.23889/SUreport.71633 This report is accessible online at https://www.claremcglynn.com/ and through Durham University and Swansea University institutional research repositories. COLLEGE NANME Hillary Rodham Clinton Law School COLLEGE CODE HRCL Swansea University Not Required UKRI (grant number UKRI3600). Grant number UKRI3600 2026-03-18T09:33:45.4553929 2026-03-16T15:25:12.5909296 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Hilary Rodham Clinton School of Law Clare McGlynn 0000-0002-6186-0333 1 Yvonne McDermott Rees 0000-0003-0111-9049 2 Stuart Macdonald 0000-0002-7483-9023 3 Rüya Tuna Toparlak 0000-0002-5339-4360 4 Fabienne Tarrant 5 Samantha Treacy 0000-0002-9755-7686 6 71633__36424__03c97464db64447586fa013985a7635b.pdf Invisible No More - How Chatbots Are Reshaping Violence Against Women and Girls v6.pdf 2026-03-16T15:30:17.1816644 Output 5441872 application/pdf Version of Record true ©2026 Clare McGlynn, Yvonne McDermott, Stuart Macdonald, Rüya Tuna Toparlak, Fabienne Tarrant and Samantha Treacy. true eng
title Invisible No More: How AI Chatbots Are Reshaping Violence Against Women and Girls
spellingShingle Invisible No More: How AI Chatbots Are Reshaping Violence Against Women and Girls
Yvonne McDermott Rees
Stuart Macdonald
Samantha Treacy
title_short Invisible No More: How AI Chatbots Are Reshaping Violence Against Women and Girls
title_full Invisible No More: How AI Chatbots Are Reshaping Violence Against Women and Girls
title_fullStr Invisible No More: How AI Chatbots Are Reshaping Violence Against Women and Girls
title_full_unstemmed Invisible No More: How AI Chatbots Are Reshaping Violence Against Women and Girls
title_sort Invisible No More: How AI Chatbots Are Reshaping Violence Against Women and Girls
author_id_str_mv e6e1ae537327fc3f38d2af4a9d9834d8
933e714a4cc37c3ac12d4edc277f8f98
53962bf646ea480d4309ff5b0405aba8
author_id_fullname_str_mv e6e1ae537327fc3f38d2af4a9d9834d8_***_Yvonne McDermott Rees
933e714a4cc37c3ac12d4edc277f8f98_***_Stuart Macdonald
53962bf646ea480d4309ff5b0405aba8_***_Samantha Treacy
author Yvonne McDermott Rees
Stuart Macdonald
Samantha Treacy
author2 Clare McGlynn
Yvonne McDermott Rees
Stuart Macdonald
Rüya Tuna Toparlak
Fabienne Tarrant
Samantha Treacy
format Policy briefing report
publishDate 2026
institution Swansea University
doi_str_mv 10.23889/SUreport.71633
publisher Durham University and Swansea University
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str Hilary Rodham Clinton School of Law{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}Hilary Rodham Clinton School of Law
document_store_str 1
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description This report provides the first comprehensive mapping of how chatbots are implicated in violence against women and girls (VAWG), identifying new forms of harm - chatbot-driven and chatbot-simulated abuse. It develops a new typology to better understand, and then prevent and redress, the varying forms of chatbot-VAWG, namely chatbot-driven, chatbot-enabled, chatbot-simulated and chatbot-normalising abuse. It aims to render visible the very real harms and threats to the freedom and safety of women and girls. It identifies for the first time the range of platform design choices and policies that enable, encourage and normalise VAWG. It examines how far current legal and regulatory frameworks respond to these risks, exposing significant gaps. It sets out urgent recommendations for governments and AI platforms to address the escalating threat.
published_date 2026-03-16T05:33:03Z
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