She searched for the perpetrator for years – and lived with him. The Collien Fernandes case shows how difficult it is to recognize digital violence in your own relationship. The expert Simone Eymann classifies.
Mar 23, 2026, 5:59 p.mMar 23, 2026, 7:22 p.m
A seemingly ideal world: the actor couple Christian Ulmen and Collien Fernandes.Image: Getty Images Europe
For years, German television presenter and actress Collien Fernandes searched for the person who ran fake profiles and published sexualized content in her name. She assumed that the perpetrator must have come from outside. But it was her own husband, Christian Ulmen, she says, who filed a complaint against him. The presumption of innocence applies to elms.
To person
Simone Eymann is the managing director of “Tech Against Violence”, a non-profit organization that develops digital solutions against violence, such as the “With You” initiative, which supports those affected by toxic relationships and domestic violence.
Image: Amalia Freneuil
In view of the case of Collien Fernandes and Christian Ulmen, many are currently asking themselves: How can you be so mistaken about your husband/partner?
Simone Eyemann: This is the wrong question because it reverses responsibility. It suggests that the person concerned is to blame because they “didn’t notice”. But this distortion must not happen. The case reminds me strongly of that of Gisèle Pelicot, who also asked how one could live with someone for so long and not notice anything. But something crucial was said there: Shame must change sides. Therefore the question should not be: “Why didn’t she notice?” but: “Why did he do that?”
How do you explain that?
Such relationships are almost always about power and control. Digital violence is not a completely new form of violence, but rather an extension of existing patterns. It reinforces what is already there – emotional violence, control, manipulation, and in extreme cases, physical violence. At the same time, digitalization is making everything faster, more extreme and more difficult to control. Deepfakes can now be created in seconds. There are tools and platforms that even laypeople without special skills and experience can use to generate such content. In the past, this required expensive software such as Photoshop and the corresponding know-how. Today, a screenshot from a Zoom meeting or an image from LinkedIn is enough to create deceptively real, sexualized content.
How common is this?
We don’t yet have reliable figures in Switzerland, but international studies provide indications. In just eleven days, over three million sexualized deepfakes were created on Grok alone in December 2025. Including around 23,000 with minors. That’s around 190 images per minute. More than 80 percent of creation requests come from male users. And an Australian study shows: Around 70 percent of perpetrators are current or former partners.
What do you hear from those affected?
Perpetrators often have two faces. From the outside, everything seems normal: a functioning relationship, children together, a stable life. But within the relationship there is control, jealousy and manipulation, even gaslighting.
What does that mean?
Gaslighting means systematically distorting reality. It often starts with very small things. One affected person told us: She set the table and her partner cleared it away again when she left briefly. He then claimed that she never set the table. Such seemingly banal situations cause people to doubt their own perception. This does something to them over a long period of time. They begin to believe that it is their own fault, that they exaggerate or are mistaken. Those affected lose confidence in themselves. And that is exactly what makes it so difficult to recognize the situation or to get out of it. This is particularly difficult in long-term relationships. If you have built a life together, perhaps have children and function as a couple on the outside, this reality does not match what is actually happening.
What consequences does digital violence have for those affected?
The consequences are serious: massive psychological stress, often with traumatic effects. In addition, there is damage to reputation, both professionally and privately. A central point is also the so-called “empathy gap”.
What do you mean by that?
When there is physical violence, people in the environment are more likely to react: This is bad, someone is hurt. When it comes to digital violence, you often hear: “Just delete the pictures.” But it’s not that simple. The content looks real, spreads extremely quickly, is downloaded, redistributed, appears on platforms behind logins – and stays there. This makes the situation extremely stressful for those affected because they lose control over where these images appear.
What advice do you have for those affected?
Confronting your partner directly if you suspect something is often difficult. Then the typical dynamic often begins: denial, reversal, appeasement. That’s why we recommend getting outside support. In Switzerland there are anonymous, free and confidential victim support centers that specialize in relationship violence. At the same time, it is important to act quickly technically.
How?
Content must be reported before it spreads further. There are specialized reporting centers: for children and young people, for example clickandstop.ch or the international system «Take It Down». Fedpol also has a reporting form for relevant content. Adults can use the platform Stop NCII report. This works with digital fingerprints, so-called hashes, to prevent further spread. It is also important to secure evidence. That means not just deleting everything, but documenting it.
For legal action?
Yes. There are already legal bases in Switzerland, for example for unauthorized forwarding of sexual content, identity abuse or violations of personality. However, it must be said that prosecution is often difficult in practice. Especially when perpetrators are anonymous or based abroad. There are initial approaches to platform regulation, but deepfakes have not yet been explicitly regulated. In my opinion, there is still some catching up to do here.