
With bedrooms and kitchens turning into offices over the past six months as Britain and other countries around the world introduce measures to stem virus transmission, we’ve seen a magnitude of unforeseen consequences. Across the country, incidents of domestic violence have rocketed and mental health problems have seen widespread deterioration. A vital and yet tragically overlooked consequence has been the ripple effect playing out on our online spaces, leading to an epidemic of online abuse, especially for women and non-binary people. Now that a new report has exposed that almost half of UK women and non-binary people have experienced online abuse since the lockdown, it’s time institutions deal with this growing problem.