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Women are 27 times more likely to experience online abuse than men. In Türkiye, 1 in 5 women is subjected to digital violence. Yet digital violence is often not perceived as “real violence”; instead, it is normalized and ignored. As part of the 16 Days of Activism campaign, our project was launched to make digital violence visible and to build a collective response mechanism against this form of abuse. The main objective was to increase recognition of digital violence and create a wave of awareness that would help make digital spaces safer for women and girls. The campaign aimed not only to support victims, but also to turn passive “bystanders” in the digital world into active participants in the fight against digital violence.
At the heart of the strategy was the creation of a powerful symbolic tool that could both stop and expose digital violence: the orange dot emoji. The dot symbol served as both a marker and a way to put an end to sentences containing digital abuse. We first revealed real social media comments to show that these expressions were, in fact, forms of digital violence. Then, we offered users a simple way to respond: leaving a single orange dot under abusive comments. In this way, people were able to show collective resistance without engaging in direct confrontation. The movement grew through the participation of volunteers and different communities.

The campaign launched on November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and was carried out through an intensive 16-day communication plan that continued until December 10, Human Rights Day. The campaign was introduced through videos featuring well-known public figures, who explained different forms of digital violence and encouraged their followers to leave an orange dot. Holdings, sports clubs, and municipalities integrated the orange dot into their social media posts. Throughout the 16 days, digital violence guides and informative content were shared. Users organically helped the campaign go viral by leaving the emoji under abusive comments and posts they encountered online. Thousands of dots were posted, hundreds of comments were deleted, and some abusive comments were never posted at all.

The campaign was designed to create high impact with a limited budget. Its communication strategy relied primarily on organic reach and voluntary participation; therefore, no media buying was used throughout the campaign. All content was produced by the project team and amplified through the organic support of volunteers, brands, sports clubs, broadcasters, and academic communities. In a short time, the orange dot became a symbol against digital violence and evolved into a viral social media movement. The project generated more than 6,500,000 impressions through 570 digital news placements, reached 2,000,000 people through 14 print media features, and gained over 1,100,000 impressions through 27 television news stories. In outdoor and digital channels, the campaign achieved more than 5,500,000 impressions and generated a media value exceeding $33.000. What began as a low-budget initiative ultimately created widespread impact through the participation of numerous institutions and individuals.