NEW RULES ON COMBATING CYBERVIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: LEGAL FRAMEWORKS AND POLICIES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

Abstract

As a result of the increasing use of advanced technologies and the internet in everyday life
and activities, violence against women in the digital sphere has become a growing legal and social
issue at European Union level. In an effort to provide an adequate response to this growing challenge,
the Union has, in recent years, introduced comprehensive legal measures and policies aimed at
protecting women from various forms of digital violence. Among the most prominent forms are cyber
harassment, online stalking, gender-based hate speech, and the unauthorized sharing of intimate
content. This paper analyses the latest legal regulations adopted by the European Union to improve
the protection of women in the digital space, with a particular emphasis on the Directive on
Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence. Directive represents the first legislative
act at the EU level that explicitly recognizes cyber violence as a form of gender-based violence. It
mandates that member states criminalize specific forms of digital violence, establish effective
mechanisms for victim protection, and ensure access to legal remedies. In analyzing the EU’s legal
approach to combating cyberviolence against women, special attention is given to the role of the
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in safeguarding women’s privacy and security online, as
well as the Digital Services Act (DSA), which introducess stricter obligations on digital platforms to
remove illegal content and take preventive measures against cyberviolence. The objective of this paper
is to present the EU’s legal regulations and policies as a significant step forward in the context of
combating violence against women in the digital sphere, while also highlighting the challenges in
their implementation. Through an analysis of current policies and their impact, as well as the
experiences of the European Union Member States in the field of implementing legislative measures,
the paper highlights the importance of further developing integrated strategies that will ensure
comprehensive protection of women in the digital space at the EU level.