Debate contribution: Artificial Intelligence and Online Violence Against Women and Girls

Debate contribution by Ms Sinéad McLaughlin on 26 January 2026.

MLA

Ms Sinéad McLaughlin

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

26 January 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Artificial Intelligence and Online Violence Against Women and Girls

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5341496

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I thank all the Members who made really powerful contributions to this evening's debate, and I thank the Minister for attending and responding to it. A number of important points were made, particularly on the need to have robust criminal offences, enforcement powers and proper victim protections. I do not intend to go into each of those areas, but I do want to return to some of the realities behind the motion. For all of us, the discussion about artificial intelligence platforms and criminal offences is ultimately about power, harm and dignity. It is about women and girls whose images are weaponised against them. It is about lives disrupted, reputations destroyed and voices silenced, often anonymously and without consequence, and, too often, without adequate protection from the law. It is also about fear and uncertainty. The future is scary, and it is frightening to consider the world in which our children are growing up and what unknowns lie ahead. We continue to fall behind the pace of technology and the scale of harm that is now being inflicted. I pay tribute to my colleague Cara Hunter. Her campaigning has really forced the issue on to the political agenda, and she knows personally what it is like to be targeted and abused online. It never stops for her. It just keeps going on, not because of anything that she has done but because she is a woman who speaks out publicly and refuses to be silent. That really matters. I also thank Diane Forsythe for her testimony today about the attacks and the hate that she has experienced. The attacks started during her election campaign and have not eased up. I am really grateful that we have people in the House such as Diane who speak up for other women. When women in political life are subjected to that kind of abuse, the message that is being sent is clear: stay silent and shut up. That is an attack on women's participation in public life and an attack on democracy itself. The creation and dissemination of non-consensual intimate images, including AI-generated images, is a serious and escalating form of abuse. It is not funny or a joke; it is a really serious crime.

AI has accelerated that harm, making it faster, cheaper and harder to trace or prosecute. We must, however, be honest. The technology is not the root cause. As Emma Sheerin and Gerry Carroll said, it is a symptom and tool of a deeper problem: a wider culture of online misogyny that normalises humiliation, rewards cruelty and treats women's bodies as content, and it is happening at scale. It is happening in spaces where anonymity is not just a feature but a protection for perpetrators. It is giving anonymity behind the abuse, and the protection that falls in behind the perpetrators is on a scale that we have never seen before. Someone can cause profound harm and disappear behind a username or an encrypted group while the victim lives with the consequences. We also need to be honest about the mindset behind these acts. The people who commit such abuse do not care about their victims, and they do not care about trauma, reputational damage or lifelong harm. They care about themselves, gratification and power — nothing else. That is why this must be treated as a serious form of abuse. None of this exists in a vacuum. Online misogyny has been amplified and monetised. We see it embodied in figures who have built enormous platforms by selling grievance and hate back to young men as empowerment. Andrew Tate is one example of that. He has described himself as a misogynist, said that women belong to men and suggested that women should bear responsibility for violence committed against them. That world view teaches young men that dominance is strength, that women are objects and that cruelty is something to be admired. However, it is not about one individual; it is about a wider ecosystem that profits from anger, insecurity and resentment and targets young men who feel lost or disconnected. They, too, are victims of these platforms. We are now seeing the consequences spill into our schools, as has been mentioned by the Minister. In recent months, schools across these islands have had to respond to the online circulation of explicit images, misogynistic content and threats of sexual violence. Teachers and parents have spoken of their shock at the language that is being used and the casual way in which abuse is being shared. That should be a concern for all of us, because it forces us to ask about the type of world our children are being raised in and the kind of future that they are absorbing as normal. I want to be clear that this is not about blaming men. Most men are appalled by what has been described. Many are actively challenging misogyny and abuse. I appreciate my male colleagues speaking passionately about the issue today. However, when misogyny is amplified and monetised at scale, it becomes a culture and a system, and politics has a responsibility to act. When online spaces are controlled by those with vast wealth and influence and accountability is weak, it is ordinary people, particularly women and girls, who pay the price. As Kate Nicholl said earlier, there is so much darkness in this space. The motion is clear. It calls on the Minister to ensure:

"effective criminal offences, enforcement powers and victim protections are in place no later than those in England and Wales."

That should be the bare minimum. I welcome the Minister's resolve to table an amendment to the Justice Bill so that legislation can be passed on deepfakes. That is urgent, and it needs to be done. As Cara said in her opening remarks, we could lead the way. We have cross-party support on the issue, and it would be great if the Minister could force it through as quickly as possible. If the Committee intends to act quickly — I think that it does — let us get it to the Committee and through the House.

I welcome the Minister's comments and her response to the motion. As Members said in the debate, law without enforcement is not protection; it is symbolism. Victims deserve far more than symbolism. However, as we all know, legislation alone will never be enough. If we are really serious about ending violence against women and girls, we must tackle the culture as well as the crime. Ciara Ferguson made a really good point. She drew attention to the importance of properly resourced education, digital literacy that keeps pace with technology and support for schools, parents and youth workers. Tackling the culture means asking deeper questions about masculinity, identity and belonging. If young men are being drawn towards voices that teach them to hate women, it is because someone is offering them belonging, certainty and status, however toxic their message may be. We must offer them something better: respect, equality and empathy. Steve Aiken and Doug Beattie spoke on the need to act with urgency. If we do not act with urgency, we are contributing and continuing to hurtle towards the worst place possible. If we keep falling behind, we will be debating not the same issue in a few years but something much worse. Women and girls deserve more than reactive politics. They deserve safety and dignity. They deserve leadership that refuses to look away. Thank you, Members, and I ask you to support the motion.

1,261 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:31 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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