Tough anti-gay laws fuel online attacks

Online attacks against Uganda's LGBTQ communities have drastically increased, owing to overly broad laws that criminalise various aspects of the lives of LGBTQ people and entrench discrimination, Amnesty International said in a new report last week. The report (Everybody Here Is Having Two Lives and Phones: The Devastating Impact of Criminalisation on Digital Spaces for LGBTQ People in Uganda), details widespread patterns of technology-facilitated gender-based violence against the LGBTQ community. It documents cases of doxing, outing, threats of violence, blackmailing, impersonation, hacking and disinformation – further marginalising LGBTQ people, especially those from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds. The Anti-Homosexuality Act, in particular, was found to have fostered a climate of impunity for attacks against LGBTQ people, forcing both individuals and organisations to significantly alter how they present themselves and engage with people online. ‘Our research shows that, while LGBTQ activists and organisations have continued to use digital spaces in a very hostile environment, the stigma, violence, and discrimination they face in offline spaces has been mirrored and amplified in digital spaces,’ said Shreshtha Das, Amnesty International's gender researcher/adviser.