The violence, perpetrated through digital platforms manifests in ways such as controlling behaviours, sexual harassment, cyberbullying, hacking, doxing, sextortion of creation and distribution of deepfakes.
A survey by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) found that women aged between 15 and 49 years in Trans Nzoia County reported the most cases of TFGBV.
According to the Kenya Mini Demographic and Health Survey, 2025/2026, Trans Nzoia County reported prevelance of 29%. This was closely followed by Machakos and Kericho Counties, which had a 28% prevalence of TFGBV. =
On the other hand, TFGBV was lowest in Wajir and Mandera Counties (2%).
KNBS found that TFGBV was mostly through online control, which affected 19% of women in the 12 months preceding the survey in 2025. This was followed by online harassment (5%), hacking (5%), and online sexual harassment/sexual abuse (3%).
Further, 27% of women experienced TFGBV committed by a current, most recent, or previous husband or intimate partner.
In addition, the most common perpetrators of TFGBV among women who have ever been married or have ever had an intimate partner are current husbands or intimate partners (61%), former husbands or intimate partners (22%), and strangers (13%).
KNBS found that for never-married women and those who have never had an intimate partner, the most common perpetrators of TFGBV were strangers (45%), online attackers (23%), and friends or acquaintances (20%).
The survey further showed that cases of TFGBV were common on social media platforms, with Facebook taking the lead at 59%. Another 47% experienced TFGBV on Messaging Apps.
While KNBS findings paint a picture of TFGBV among women, children in Kenya are also subject to cases of abuse and sexual exploitation.
In September, a report by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has revealed that millions of children in Kenya are not safe online, as digital technologies have continued to perpetuate harm.
UNICEF’s report showed that up to 1,292,364 children, aged between 12 and 17, were subjected to at least one form of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation and abuse.
The findings were from a survey conducted between 2020–2021 and 2024–2025, which found that 26.83% of children in Kenya using the internet were subjected to at least one form of abuse.
Majority of children who were abused online were exposed to unwanted sexual content online. Here, at least 995,260 children were exposed to sexual content they did not want to see.
These children reported being exposed to sexual images or videos they did not want to see.
