Weaponised AI: How online attacks are silencing Africa’s women leaders
Source: Nation Africa
When a woman parliamentary aspirant in Nyeri County withdrew from an election race after a fabricated sex video was circulated online, the attack went beyond humiliating one individual. It was a calculated attempt to police women's participation in public life by weaponising gender stereotypes and technology, as documented in a 2025 briefing paper on online violence against women in politics in Kenya by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, in which she recounted her experience.
Her story mirrors a growing pattern across Africa, where women in politics are facing coordinated online attacks. In South Sudan, artificial intelligence (AI) was reportedly used to manipulate an image of a senior woman leader, digitally undressing her and placing her suggestively alongside a man. After the image spread online, she was dismissed from office.
When a woman parliamentary aspirant in Nyeri County withdrew from an election race after a fabricated sex video was circulated online, the attack went beyond humiliating one individual. It was a calculated attempt to police women's participation in public life by weaponising gender stereotypes and technology, as documented in a 2025 briefing paper on online violence against women in politics in Kenya by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, in which she recounted her experience.
Her story mirrors a growing pattern across Africa, where women in politics are facing coordinated online attacks. In South Sudan, artificial intelligence (AI) was reportedly used to manipulate an image of a senior woman leader, digitally undressing her and placing her suggestively alongside a man. After the image spread online, she was dismissed from office.