In Pakistan, a smartphone can be a lifeline, but it can also be a weapon.
Across the country, more than 80 million people use the internet. For transgender communities, many of whom face family rejection, housing insecurity, and limited employment opportunities, digital platforms are not simply social tools; they are survival infrastructure. Social media provides a way to connect to chosen families, income opportunities, advocacy spaces, and emotional support networks.
Yet the same platforms also, increasingly, act as sites of technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV). “Technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) refers to harmful acts such as online harassment, abuse, or exploitation carried out through digital platforms.” While global conversations often focus on women and girls, transgender and gender-diverse people in the Global South remain largely invisible in policy and research frameworks. In Pakistan, that invisibility translates into vulnerability.
Digital Visibility and Its Risks
For many transgender individuals, online spaces offer the first opportunity to express identity openly. Posting a photo, sharing a video, or speaking publicly about discrimination can be empowering. But visibility often triggers backlash.
A transgender community organizer in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa shared that after posting a short video about healthcare discrimination, her inbox filled with threats.In the video, she had highlighted how transgender individuals face refusal of treatment, disrespectful behavior, and lack of gender-sensitive care in hospitals. Strangers circulated her legal name in comment sections and accused her of ‘deceiving society.’ Within days, edited images portraying her in degrading ways appeared on multiple pages. She stopped posting publicly for months out of fear.
This form of digital silencing is common. Harassment includes deadnaming, misgendering, coordinated trolling, and public exposure of legal documents. In a context where documentation often does not reflect lived identity, sharing someone’s legal name becomes a weapon.
When Online Harm Becomes Offline Violence
Digital abuse rarely stays online. In another case, screenshots of a transgender woman’s profile were shared within a neighborhood WhatsApp group. The message warned residents that a ‘fraud’ was living nearby. Shortly after, her landlord asked her to leave to ‘avoid trouble.’
What began as online harassment resulted in housing displacement.
For transgender individuals already living away from their districts due to family pressure, eviction can mean immediate homelessness. Digital exposure amplifies structural vulnerability.
Blackmail and Economic Coercion
One of the most dangerous patterns is digital blackmail. Perpetrators build trust online, request private photos, and later threaten to expose them. A young trans woman described being told that her images would be sent to her family and posted publicly unless she transferred money. Fear of violence and social humiliation forced her into silence.
TFGBV in Pakistan cannot be separated from poverty and mobility. Many transgender people live in shared community housing (deras) and move across districts for safety or work. Limited digital literacy and lack of access to secure devices increase vulnerability to hacking, phishing, and impersonation.
Economic marginalization makes such threats more powerful. Many transgender individuals rely on informal or digital work. Losing access to online platforms or facing reputational damage can mean losing income entirely. One of the most dangerous ways in which this is seen is through digital blackmail. Perpetrators build trust online, request private photos, and later threaten to expose them. A young trans woman described being told that her images would be sent to her family and posted publicly unless she transferred money. Fear of violence and social humiliation forced her into silence.
When survivors attempt to report abuse, they often face barriers. Cybercrime units may lack gender-sensitive approaches. In many cases, reporting procedures require official documentation such as national identity cards or legal names that do not align with the survivor’s lived gender identity. This mismatch can lead to misgendering, questioning of identity, and public exposure, which reinforces humiliation and discourages survivors from pursuing justice. For transgender persons, especially in conservative regions, these processes can feel unsafe and retraumatizing.
Additionally, the absence of confidential and inclusive reporting mechanisms further discourages survivors from reporting cyber harassment, online blackmail, and other forms of technology-facilitated gender-based violence. Without reforms that incorporate gender-sensitive training, inclusive documentation practices, and survivor-centered reporting mechanisms, many transgender survivors will continue to remain silent due to fear of discrimination and retaliation.
Platform Accountability in a Global South Context
Global technology companies frequently rely on automated moderation systems that fail to understand local languages or cultural nuances. For example, transgender individuals in Pakistan often face online abuse through derogatory local terms or coded language used in Urdu or Pashto that moderation systems fail to detect as hate speech. In such cases, when survivors report abusive comments or threats, the platforms may respond that the content does not violate community standards because the automated systems cannot interpret the cultural or linguistic context.
Without contextualized moderation and inclusive design, platforms replicate structural discrimination.
Resilience and Digital Resistance
Despite these harms, transgender communities in Pakistan continue to resist. Community-led initiatives For example, transgender-led groups in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have organized small-group digital safety trainings and created WhatsApp-based support networks where members can quickly report online harassment and receive guidance. now include peer sessions on digital privacy, password security, and safe online engagement. Closed support groups provide rapid response when harassment occurs. Online campaigns have pressured authorities to act in cases of violence.
The same technology that facilitates harm also enables solidarity. Digital platforms have allowed transgender activists and human rights defenders to connect across regions and borders, creating networks of support that were previously difficult to access. For example, social media platforms such as “X” (formerly known as Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram have enabled transgender activists in Pakistan to share their stories, document violence, and mobilize support from international human rights organizations and allies.
These platforms have also played an important role in linking grassroots struggles with global advocacy spaces. For instance, transgender activists have used digital platforms to raise awareness about challenges faced by the community in conservative regions, organize online campaigns, and engage with international forums and networks. This visibility has helped bring attention to issues such as gender-based violence, discrimination, and the need for policy reform.
In addition, digital communication tools have enabled activists to participate in global dialogues and advocacy efforts even when travel or physical participation is not possible. Through webinars, online campaigns, and virtual conferences, transgender advocates can exchange knowledge, build solidarity with other marginalized communities, and strengthen collective strategies for advancing human rights. In this way, technology has become not only a space where harm occurs but also a powerful tool for community building, advocacy, and resilience.
A Global South Call to Action
As previously highlighted in this article, technology is not neutral. It reflects and magnifies societal inequalities. In Pakistan, digital violence mirrors broader systems of exclusion rooted in gender norms, economic precarity, and fragile institutional protection.
An intersectional response to TFGBV must explicitly include transgender communities. This requires disaggregated data that includes gender identity, funding for trans-led digital safety initiatives, reform of cybercrime reporting systems, and meaningful inclusion of trans voices in platform governance discussions.
If digital spaces are to become spaces of freedom rather than fear, transgender lived experiences must be centered not treated as peripheral in global TFGBV frameworks.
In Pakistan today, the internet remains both a refuge and risk. Recognizing this dual reality is the first step toward building safer, more just digital futures. As previously highlighted in this article, technology is not neutral. It reflects and magnifies societal inequalities. In Pakistan, digital violence mirrors broader systems of exclusion rooted in gender norms, economic precarity, and fragile institutional protection.
An intersectional response to TFGBV must explicitly include transgender communities. This requires disaggregated data that includes gender identity, funding for trans-led digital safety initiatives, reform of cybercrime reporting systems, and meaningful inclusion of trans voices in platform governance discussions.
To move forward, concrete action is needed:
- Technology platforms must invest in local language moderation, including Urdu and Pashto, and improve reporting systems that recognize context-specific abuse.
- Donors and development actors should directly fund transgender-led digital safety and advocacy initiatives in the Global South.
- Policymakers must strengthen cybercrime laws and ensure accessible, safe, and non-discriminatory reporting mechanisms for transgender individuals.
If digital spaces are to become spaces of freedom rather than fear, transgender lived experiences must be centered not treated as peripheral in global TFGBV frameworks.
In Pakistan today, the internet remains both a refuge and risk. Turning it into a space of safety and dignity requires intentional, inclusive action now.
