Nizama Hecimovic: It was a name many Bosnians would come to know. On August 11, 2023, Hecimovic was killed in a small town in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The killer was her ex-partner, who then went on to murder two more, wound another, and then kill himself.
Hecimovic's murder, which her killer live-streamed, sparked nationwide protests and legislative change. There was also an increase in the number of women reporting violence.
"'You will be the next Nizama' is the most common threat from abusers, according to many women who reach out to us," says Selma Badzic from the Center for Women's Rights Zenica, an organization that works on the prevention of violence against women in Bosnia.
Hecimovic's murder shook the public, not just for its brutality, but because it was broadcast live on the Internet. Badzic says most of the murder cases in Bosnia over the past five years have included some violent digital component. It's a trend not just in Bosnia but one that's happening worldwide, as technology is increasingly being weaponized to promote and spread violence against women.
Two years after Hecimovic was killed, another murder, this time in Balochistan, a mountainous area of Pakistan, was widely shared online. Eleven people have been arrested after a woman and a man were murdered, allegedly to defend the "honor" of their families after the couple married against their wishes. The video of the killing was widely shared on messaging apps and social media.
There is "no honor" in that, just "disgrace," says Saima Munir, a manager at the Aurat Foundation, a women's rights group in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad.
"Shooting a helpless woman nine times -- only a shameless group of people would do that," Munir says. Violence, she adds, has increased since people became exposed to technology, but that doesn't mean "technology is responsible for the uptick in violence."
"The real challenge in our part of the world is to change [people's] mindsets," Munir says.
Taliban Takeover Of Afghanistan
Since 2021, when the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan, women there have struggled with the loss of fundamental rights, new, tighter restrictions, and the weaponization of technology.
"Fake accounts target me, attempting to discredit or silence my voice. There are even groups of fake accounts, often led by a single individual who coordinates attacks," Nilofar Ayoubi, a women's rights activist, tells RFE/RL. When the Taliban returned to power, she managed to flee to Poland. But, even there, she says, she didn't manage to escape online harassment.
"They use their platforms to spread misinformation and amplify hate, turning social media into a hostile space instead of one for dialogue or solidarity," Ayoubi says.
As Ayoubi explains, digital harassment in many ways is no different from the reality on the ground.
"It reflects the same culture of silencing, intimidation, and control that Afghan women face in everyday life. What happens offline is often mirrored online; the same voices that are pushed out of society are attacked again in the digital world."
None of this is that new, according to Jennifer Adams, an expert and consultant on gender, media, and human rights-centered digital policy. "Misogyny online is a manifestation of and a magnification of misogyny offline," Adams says.
But online space, she explains, has the capacity for anonymity and is also subject to algorithms. "It is a business model that prioritizes engagement," she says. "Unfortunately, what is engaging to more and more of the world's population is violence and misogyny."
Are Social Media Platforms Doing Enough?
Every messaging and social media platform has the option of removing harmful content. Most have moderators (human and automatic), along with various tools, some powered by AI, to monitor problematic materials being shared online.
Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, says the company removes threats of violence and most graphic content. For example, by its community standards, it will not allow the live-streaming of capital punishments or other killings.
Despite that, it took Meta several hours to remove footage showing the murder of Hecimovic from Instagram. By that time, it had already been shared on other platforms. The recent Pakistani video showing the couple's murder went viral on several platforms.
Platforms will prioritize content that people want to interact with, says Adams, and they are "doing this on purpose." And the platforms absolutely have the capacity to do the content moderation, she adds.
"They just choose not to. When you're seeing [that they're] able to do it when it comes to something that they don't politically agree with but not able to do it when it comes to the murder of a woman...that's a choice. That's a business decision," Adams says.
Sarah Little, a journalist and founder of the More To Her Story magazine, is one of those who believe there's growing evidence of social media platforms actively fueling misogynistic content.
"This absolutely fuels real-world violence against women. The fact that a video of a woman's murder went viral shows just how deeply normalized the dehumanization of women has become," Little says.
A survey carried out recently by the London-based Amnesty International says 73 percent of Generation Z users (people people born roughly between 1997 and 2012) have witnessed misogynistic content online. The same study says more young women than young men believe misogyny online mirrors real-world sexism.
A Way Forward?
Hecimovic's death has had a huge impact in Bosnia. The law on protection against domestic violence was changed in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of the two entities that makes up the country. There are proposals for stricter sentences for femicide that are still waiting for final adoption to become law. And while violence against women remains prevalent, women are also more inclined to report it.
Local initiatives have helped. The Center for Women's Rights Zenica created an online map called 4P where women can speak to more than 100 dedicated helpers across the country. They "get necessary information, help, support, and encouragement to help them report violence and achieve protection," says the center's Badzic.
Despite having to flee her homeland, Afghanistan, women's rights activist Ayoubi still believes in the potential of technology to benefit women. "It can connect them to education, economic opportunities, support systems, and global solidarity," she says.
But for women to be able to reach their potential, Ayoubi concludes, they can only do so when online violence is addressed.
