UN mission: Journalists in Libya face repeated online harassment

Tripoli, June 4, 2025 (LANA) – The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) confirmed that journalists in Libya face frequent online harassment, hindering their ability to carry out their role in monitoring corruption, human rights violations, and other issues.

The mission said in a statement issued on Wednesday that the most common form of harassment is abusive comments or messages on social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, according to Libyan journalists during a discussion panel with UNSMIL last week.

According to the mission, the journalists discussed how some people manipulate images and videos using deceptive editing or artificial intelligence, then disseminate them widely to harass journalists and their work.

According to the participants, the reasons for harassment vary, ranging from the subject of the news story to the reporter's gender, age, and cultural background. In many cases, the subject of the story fuels harassment against the journalist, especially if the journalist covers a sensitive political or human rights angle.

According to the UN mission, 31 journalists from across Libya joined the discussion group last Thursday as part of the Basira professional development program, in coordination with the mission's human rights department.

The mission will hold a workshop on June 19 on ways to protect journalists from online harassment, led by a digital safety expert from the Committee to Protect Journalists, an international nongovernmental organization.