There is a need for cross sectoral capacity building workshops on online GBV. Media Media, through its power to reach people en masse with information, should provide education on online violence and how this can be prevented or prosecuted, as well as meaningful engagement online; Must ensure training on online safety; Should ensure development guidelines on online safety for newsrooms; Should ensure investigative reporting on how cases of ICT enabled gender based violence are dealt with and their detrimental effects on society is critical; Develop in-house strategies to tackle online harassment and cyber sexism against female journalists; Invest in digital safety and security training as well as tools for journalists in newsrooms; and in particular provide specific training for women journalists to help them deal with cyber misogyny; Establish partnerships between private and public media for publicising mechanisms of protecting women in the online space and sharing information on essential contacts and action platforms; There is need for the media to join in the sensitisation of the social media platform users on the adverse effects of online GBV; Should engage in awareness raising and enhanced storytelling on what ICT enabled violence entails and the extent and prevalence of it, including highlighting ways and tools that provide protection and justice to women and girls; and timely and with local context understanding. Machine automated decisions seem ineffective given the diversity of languages and culture; Should benefit from tailored training on how to identify and report on genderbased violence online. Continue working with different communities in the region so that the responses to online GBV are tailored to the challenges that exist in individual countries; Academia Increase research on ICT enabled gender based harms and violence online to add to the body of knowledge and sound evidence based on the prevalence, nature of violations, and mitigating strategies developed; Raising awareness amongst journalism and media studies students on the new and emerging threats encountered by journalists and giving them practical guides and tools to stay safe online; Create databases with statistical data to guide evidence-based research in order to better understand ICT enabled GBV in the region. This can be done at the request of digital platforms, respecting the data privacy of users; Establish partnerships with survey/polling centres and research institutes that already have advanced research experience on online violence elsewhere in the world; and Invest in action research as a way to better disseminate the results of studies conducted by academia, so that there is acceptance of the research within the community. Internet intermediaries Enhance awareness of community standards locally and through local partnerships and provide user-friendly reporting mechanisms; that Taking down content violates human rights Create industry engagement platforms for sharing of best practices, challenges, common solutions and joint standard setting by internet intermediaries on handling online GBV occurrences across different social media platforms; and Facilitate the reporting of cases of violence against women online, as well as removal of offenders from the online space in the event of violation of social networks’ rules of use. Civil society Implement advocacy and awareness raising campaigns on ICT enabled data; Partner with the government, internet intermediaries and other relevant stakeholders to raise awareness of the impact of online GBV and also gather evidence on this phenomenon; Provide digital security training for at risk internet users and support for victims of online GBV, such as strategic litigation, funds for victim support and counselling; and Expand communication platforms between civil society organisations. *In this article, the terms ICT enabled violence is interchangeably used with, online violence, online gender based violence (OGBV) and Online violence against women (OVAW) STATE OF PRESS FREEDOM IN SOUTHERN AFRICA REPORT 2021 25 offline and online.