German actress and television host Collien Fernandes has spent years seeking answers to a deeply personal and disturbing question: who was impersonating her online, sending explicit content in her name, and creating fake profiles across social media platforms such as LinkedIn?

For years, Fernandes suspected distant internet trolls were behind the harassment. In November 2024, she filed a police report in Berlin regarding the fake profiles—but the truth was far closer to home. According to Fernandes, her ex-husband, fellow actor and host Christian Ulmen, confessed on Christmas Day 2024 to creating fake accounts and sharing pornographic images and videos resembling Fernandes, engaging with multiple men online without her consent.

The allegations involve identity theft, the circulation of “deepfake” pornography—AI-generated images and videos manipulated with alarming realism—and claims of physical and psychological abuse within the marriage. Fernandes’s experience highlights a broader societal issue: the rise of digital violence, particularly against women. Studies in Germany show that only around 10% of such incidents are reported, leaving most victims to suffer in silence. The problem is intensifying with the spread of AI tools capable of producing realistic non-consensual sexual content.

Fernandes has become a vocal advocate for stronger legal protections. She has collaborated with the Berlin-based organization HateAid, participated in campaigns such as #MyFaceMyChoice, and produced investigative documentaries for ZDF exploring deepfake pornography. Her fight is not only personal—she aims to shed light on a form of digital violence affecting countless women and girls, often accompanied by shame and powerlessness.

The Fernandes-Ulmen revelations have also sparked widespread public protests across Germany. Cities like Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich have seen thousands take to the streets, demanding stronger legal protections, corporate accountability, and cultural change in response to digital abuse. Activists carry signs reading slogans such as “Digital Safety Is a Right” and “Consent Isn’t Optional Online,” while campaigns like #MyFaceMyChoice gain renewed traction. These demonstrations reflect a growing awareness that digital abuse is part of a continuum of violence against women, one that requires urgent attention from lawmakers, tech companies, and society at large.

Younger activists and social media users are turning private trauma into public advocacy, using digital platforms to campaign, organize, and amplify voices. The movement calls not only for accountability from perpetrators but also from the platforms that host such content and the legal systems tasked with addressing it.

We warmly invite you to join our event “Stronger Together – Fighting Against Gender-Based Digital Violence” on April 15, hosted together with the German Embassy in Ottawa and the ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen), focusing on this pressing issue. Experts from Germany and Canada will discuss the legal, technological, and societal dimensions of digital violence.

BBC article

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