The world was confronted by this form of internet-enabled abuse in 2024 during the mass rape and drugging trial of Dominique Pelicot and 50 other men in southern France.

It was on a so-called dating website, in a chatroom called “Without Her Knowledge,” that Pelicot was able to connect with dozens of other men to instigate the rapes of his then-wife, Gisèle. While drugged unconscious by him, she was raped over 200 times by 70 men, not all of whom could be tracked down by police.

The Pelicot case briefly shone a spotlight on this dark corner of the internet. But while Coco, the website involved, was shut down and public attention moved elsewhere, this behavior did not disappear.

A monthslong CNN As Equals investigation has uncovered a hidden, online world where the commodification and amplification of sexual violence against women is flourishing. . . .