The Mayor of London has launched a new £6 million fund aimed at tackling tech-enabled Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG).
The fund will be launched at the Tech Abuse Conference in London, organised by University College London (UCL), which brings together 250 people from around the world, including those with lived experience of tech abuse, policymakers, academics, industry, and more. Participants will share their experiences and insights to take practical action to tackle tech abuse.
New research from UCL shows that advances in technology are making it easier for perpetrators to carry out abuse remotely. Everyday devices such as mobile phones, camera doorbells, smart glasses, virtual smart home assistants and other connected devices (IoT) are being used to abuse, harass, monitor, intimidate, and gaslight victim-survivors.
The research also shows that there are significant gaps in defining, measuring and responding to tech abuse, and this is having a significant impact on the ability of law enforcement agencies to respond to this crime globally.
The new fund will spearhead a new collaborative approach to providing better support for victims and survivors of tech-enabled VAWG - including women and girls being stalked and those who are victims of other forms of tech-enabled VAWG such as deepfakes, revenge porn, ‘nudification’, cyber-flashing, and medical hijacking.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “Tech-enabled Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) is a global emergency. It transcends borders and the rapid pace of technology has provided new spaces and means for men to monitor, harass and control women and girls using everyday devices.
“It is turning doorbell cameras, social media, sunglasses and mobile phones into weapons used by perpetrators to target, harass and abuse in the digital age. The growth of other forms of tech enabled abuse such as revenge porn, online harassment and AI deepfakes underlines the urgent need to respond.
“That’s why it is so vital we are acting on this ground-breaking UCL research and bringing survivors, policy makers, academic experts, tech leaders, VAWG sector, campaigners, and those with lived experience of tech-abuse together to deliver lasting solutions and practical support. I’m backing this work with a new £6million fund to spearhead a urgent new approach to provide better support for victims and survivors of tech-enabled VAWG and deliver a safer London for all.”
Conference organiser, Dr Leonie Tanczer (UCL Computer Science), said: “Technology-facilitated abuse is no longer a niche or emerging issue — it is sadly part of the everyday reality of coercive control. We do not need to keep proving that it exists or that it matters. The urgent question is how we respond, and how we build systems, institutions and technologies that prevent harm rather than simply react to it after the fact.
“This conference is not a talking shop. It brings together researchers, frontline services, policymakers, industry, civil society and survivor-informed expertise to work through the real challenges each sector faces in recognising and responding to tech abuse. Through hands-on workshops and practical discussions, we want to identify what is already working, where current systems are failing, and where there are concrete opportunities for intervention.
“Too often, victims and survivors are left to manage risks created by technologies, institutions and infrastructures they did not design and cannot control. That has to change. Safety, consent, prevention and perpetrator accountability must be built into products, policies and frontline responses from the outset. That is why this conference is about moving from awareness to action, from fragmented responses to shared accountability, and from simply naming the problem to building the conditions for real-world change.”
